WICKED KITCHEN BRAND JOINS WITH TRANSFORMATIVE PLANT-BASED LEADER FOR INDUSTRY EVOLUTION

Brand Consolidation Strategy to Propel Plant-Based CPGs & Support Category Growth, Greater Accessibility

MINNEAPOLIS, June 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wicked Kitchen, a plant-based global food brand offering a range of chef-created foods, and its associated brands, Good Catch and Current Foods, have joined the Ahimsa Companies. Wicked Kitchen is the latest cutting edge plant-based company to be brought under Ahimsa.

With a mission to remove animals from the global food system, Ahimsa Companies is leading an industry-wide consolidation effort generating opportunities for vertical integration and scale.

"Wicked Kitchen is proud to join the Ahimsa Companies," said Pete Speranza, CEO, Wicked Kitchen. "We are aligned in our mission, and we believe that Wicked Kitchen is stronger today and better positioned to serve the health and environmentally conscious consumer who does not want to sacrifice on taste or convenience."

With crowded product categories and a downturn in investment funding over the last two years, industry leaders have cited consolidation – uniting brands to leverage collective strengths – as critical to the growth and success of the plant-based food sector.

Multiple additional brands, as well as manufacturing and sales enablement businesses, are targeted to be acquired under Ahimsa Companies in the near future. Matt Tullman, Group CEO, Ahimsa Companies, says the goal will be to vertically integrate and leverage resources to build momentum.

"We've said all along that consolidation will drive success for the plant-based industry," said Tullman. "As Ahimsa Companies brings together more brands, it can leverage this strength to help stabilize and shape the new landscape for the plant-based industry."

As a part of Ahimsa, Wicked Kitchen will expand to additional retailers, add food service offerings, invest further in innovation and continue to bring one of the largest varieties of animal-free consumer packaged goods to the U.S. and U.K. markets. The brand currently has products available in leading U.S. retailers including Target, Wal-Mart and Kroger. The Wicked Kitchen brand family, which launched in the U.K. with Tesco in 2018, grew to 150+ products, helping to fuel the U.K.'s plant-based movement.

Founders, chefs and brothers Derek and Chad Sarno are pioneers in bringing a true culinary perspective to plant-based products, resulting in Wicked Kitchen's signature bold and flavor-packed foods. The brothers are stakeholders in the new brand business.

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