Mondelez International has acquired Enjoy Life Foods, a private U.S. snacks company and a market-leading brand in the fast-growing “free-from” segment.
Enjoy Life offers more than 40 products, including cookies, chocolate, snack bars and savory snacks that are allergy friendly and gluten free. Enjoy Life’s products are free from the eight most common allergens—wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish.
“As we focus on continuing to drive growth in snacking, the acquisition of Enjoy Life Foods is a great strategic fit for us,” said Mark Clouse, chief growth officer at Mondelez International. “The Enjoy Life brand expands our portfolio into faster growing, on-trend, ‘better-for-you’ areas and provides an excellent platform to make these delicious offerings available to consumers with ‘free-from’ needs or simply looking for healthy lifestyle options, both in the U.S. and beyond.”
The $12 billion “free-from” market in the U.S. is large and growing at strong double-digit rates, driven by an increasing incidence of food allergies and food intolerances as well as consumers adopting “free from” as a healthy lifestyle option, according to Mondelez.
“Enjoy Life offers an excellent brand promise that’s trusted by their loyal and engaged consumers,” Clouse said. “We’re excited about the extraordinary potential of this business and the entrepreneurial team leading it. We have a great opportunity to share our expertise, learn from their experience and work to accelerate Enjoy Life’s growth in this exciting consumer space.”
Added Scott Mandell, CEO and founder of Enjoy Life Foods, “We’re thrilled. As we combine our great brand, market leadership and passion for our consumers with the global resources, scale and marketing expertise of Mondelez International, I’m confident this relationship will enable us to reach even greater heights.”
Mandell and other members of the Enjoy Life leadership team will continue to lead the company. Mondelez International will operate Enjoy Life Foods as a separate, wholly owned subsidiary.
The transaction was a simultaneous sign-and-close deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.
