Harvest Hill Beverage Co. in Stamford, Connecticut, has promoted David Champlin to president of sales.
Champlin, who has been with the company for about three years, will oversee the company’s selling organization of more than 40 people, and will be responsible for global sales efforts across all channels. Harvest Hill’s beverage brands include Juicy Juice, SunnyD, Little Hug, Daily’s Cocktails, Veryfine, Fruit2O and Nutrament.
Champlin reports to John LeBoutillier, president and CEO of Harvest Hill.
Harvest Hill says Champlin’s promotion recognizes his role in the sales growth success the company has achieved during his tenure. Before Harvest Hill, Champlin spent 12 years at Nestlé Waters USA. Before that, he held positions at Mott’s LLP and Veryfine Products.
LeBoutillier said, “I am delighted to have Dave assume the position of president of sales. Since I joined Harvest Hill, I have been impressed with his seasoned, mature leadership and his knowledge of the business. He leads sales as a businessman and drives profitable growth, which is difficult in this environment.”
Bean named EVP
In addition to Champlin’s promotion, Bean Kingsbury has been promoted to EVP responsible for Harvest Hill’s national accounts.
“In the time Bean has been with the company, she has established herself as the consummate sales executive. She has tremendous relationships built over years of trust and competence and we are thrilled with her performance,” said LeBoutillier.
Hendrik J. “Henk” Hartong III, chairman and CEO of Brynwood Partners, which is Harvest Hill’s majority owner, commented, “I have tremendous confidence in John LeBoutillier and the first-class sales leadership team he has assembled. David Champlin was one of the company’s first employees, has been incredibly effective and is ready to assume leadership. Bean Kingsbury is a dynamic and polished executive and is the perfect leader to direct our strategic national customer relationships, which are critical to the organization.”
About Brynwood and Harvest Hill
Founded in 1984 and based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Brynwood Partners is an operationally focused private equity firm that makes control investments in North American-based lower middle market companies in the consumer sector. The firm currently manages more than $725 million of private equity capital for limited partners, which include U.S. and international pension funds, fund-of-funds, endowments, high net worth family investment offices and financial institutions. Harvest Hill Beverage Co. was formed by Brynwood Partners VII L.P. in July 2014 to acquire the iconic Juicy Juice brand from Nestlé USA. Juicy Juice is the largest 100 percent juice brand in the U.S. focused on the kids segment.
In March 2015, Harvest Hill acquired American Beverage Corp. from Wessanen, a publicly-traded food and beverage company based in Holland. With the ABC acquisition, the company added the Little Hug juice brand and Daily’s Cocktails brand. ABC’s brands are distributed to grocery retailers, wholesalers, supercenters and foodservice distributors.
In October 2016, Harvest Hill acquired Faribault Foods’ juice pouch manufacturing facility in Elk River, Minnesota, and other selected assets.
Most recently, in December 2016, the company acquired the Nutrament energy drink brand from Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition.
Brynwood VII acquired Sunny Delight Beverages Co. from a private equity fund in February 2016 and, in May 2017, merged the company into its portfolio company, Harvest Hill. The 54-year-old SunnyD brand is a leading chilled juice drink in the U.S. In addition to the SunnyD brand, Sunny Delight markets the Fruit2O, Veryfine, Big Burst and Guzzler beverage brands. The company’s products are widely distributed through retailers in the U.S. and Canada.
Harvest Hill, which operates seven manufacturing facilities across the U.S., says it intends to continue to grow its branded, private label and co-manufacturing businesses both organically and through strategic add-on acquisitions.
