January 4, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Sweet Harvest Foods, a leading natural sweeteners platform, one of the largest honey packers in North America, and a portfolio company of Blue Road Capital, has announced the acquisition of Nature Nate’s Honey – the largest honey brand in the U.S. and the leading provider of 100 percent raw and unfiltered honey to the retail sector. 

Led by John Duryea, Blue Road focuses on making control investments in North American companies primarily in agriculture, the food supply chain, and their related industries, with equity investment per transaction totaling $75 million, or greater.

Together, Blue Road’s partners, who have worked together for more than 13 years and have more than 70 years of experience in investing in private equity in these sectors, have raised and invested over $2.5 billion in equity.

Purchased for an undisclosed sum from its founder Nathan Sheets, Nature Nate’s will now merge with Sweet Harvest, which Blue Road acquired from an affiliate of Peak Rock Capital in April 2021.

“Sweet Harvest and Nature Nate’s teams align well, from our mission to grow the honey category, to our standards in quality honey, to our company cultures,” said Ken Stickevers, CEO, Sweet Harvest. “I look forward to working with Nate and his team to merge the best insights and practices from each organization to rapidly accelerate the honey and natural sweetener market with our customers.”

“We’re excited to join the Blue Road portfolio of companies,” said  Stickevers at the time. “Blue Road has deep expertise in natural foods and agricultural markets, and we are looking forward to collaborating with their team to drive growth and innovation in the natural sweeteners category.”

One For The Honey

As consumers continue to focus on their physical and mental wellbeing, sales of natural and organic products are expected to surpass $300 billion by 2023. And with an increased awareness of the intersections of food and overall health, sugar has come under intense scrutiny, with 33 percent of Americans identifying it as likely being the main cause of weight gain, and behind a range of health issues such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, according to IFIC data. 

These factors, together with issues connected with some non-nutritive artificial sweeteners, drove the global natural sweeteners market to a value of $2.8 billion in 2020, according to Markets and Markets. 

However, it’s honey – an ancient clean and natural ingredient including vitamins, minerals, and calcium, with a reputation for benefiting cholesterol levels, blood pressure, metabolic activity, and being used as an antimicrobial and antifungal agent – that has possibly benefited most from health-conscious consumers turning on sugar.

In 2020, the global honey market was valued at $9.21 billion with an expected CAGR of 8.2 percent, according to Grand View Research, while Statista concluded that the global honey market will be worth more than $11 billion by 2027. 

Over the past 24 years, Nature Nate’s founder, Nathan Sheets, created a business that drove raw and unfiltered honey into a subcategory that today accounts for 37 percent of the overall U.S. honey category.

“Nature Nate’s success demonstrates the value of putting people and the highest-quality products first,” said Sheets. “It’s our vision to continue as the most trusted honey company. Sweet Harvest and Blue Road believe in that vision, bring expertise in natural foods and agricultural markets and enable us to grow the honey category at an accelerated pace.”

Sheets continued, “We’re excited to join Sweet Harvest and create a collaboration that will benefit our consumers and retailers by making premium honey accessible to every home in the country.”

– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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