Coca-Cola has added its first line of kombucha through the acquisition of Organic & Raw Trading Co. The Australian-based business makes the Mojo brand of organic kombucha drinks.
Kombucha is made from fermented tea and is the fastest-growing beverage category in Australia. This is the first time Coca-Cola has acquired full ownership of a brand in the category. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
President of Coca-Cola Australia, Vamsi Mohan said this is a “strong opportunity” for the soft drinks giant.
“Across Australia, we now have more than 165 products and 25 brands. The addition of Mojo Kombucha fits perfectly with the growing popularity of organic, probiotic drinks,” Mohan said.
“With this acquisition, Coca-Cola Australia can take a leading role in helping The Coca-Cola Company in the still-emerging, premium-probiotic kombucha category, which is the fastest-growing beverage category in Australia,” he added.
Mojo crafted kombucha is a low-sugar, naturally-fermented, live-culture, organic drink made from real fruit. Anthony Crabb, co-founder and CEO of Organic & Raw, perfected his handmade drink in his home in 2010. Since then, Mojo has grown rapidly to become of Australia’s leading organic kombucha brands.
“When we started out, we couldn’t have imagined the incredible growth and consumer demand we see today,” Crabb said.
“As we continued to innovate, we soon realized that for us to take the business to the next level and provide probiotic beverages to even more people, we needed to find the right strategic partner. We found this partner in Coca-Cola.”
Crabb says both companies can learn a lot from each other.
“Coca-Cola is a total beverage company with massive intellectual capital,” he said. “We can learn a lot about consumer trends and marketing innovation, while Coca-Cola can benefit from Mojo’s unique understanding of fermentation and what it takes to build great-tasting brewed beverages.”
Crabb and sales and marketing director, Andrew Buttery, will remain in their current roles.
