Last year was the year of mergers and acquisitions. And, not just any acquisitions—online retailers buying organic brick-and-mortar grocery stores, snack manufacturers and cereal makers scooping up frozen food processors and QSRs buying other QSRs.

These “unconventional” acquisitions created a shock-and-awe effect through the industry by placing processors in other parts of the retail space, expanding their logistics network and indefinitely changing the future of the cold food and beverage industry.

Here’s a snapshot of some of 2017’s jaw-dropping acquisitions:

• Amazon, Seattle, Wash., acquired Whole Foods Market, Austin, Texas, for $13.7 billion. 
• Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc., Atlanta, acquired Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc., Minneapolis, for approximately $2.9 billion.
• Utz Quality Foods, LLC, a Hanover, Pa.-based salty snack manufacturer, acquired Inventure Foods, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz.
• Albertsons Cos., Boise, Idaho, acquired Plated, a New York-based meal kit service. 
• Post Holdings, Inc., St. Louis, announced plans to acquire Bob Evans Farms, Inc., New Albany, Ohio.
• Dean Foods Co., Dallas, Texas, acquired Uncle Matt’s Organic, an organic juice company based in Clermont, Fla. 

Visit the Industry News section of our website, https://www.refrigeratedfrozenfood.com, to learn more about these and other industry M&As. 

And, look for our annual Top 150 Frozen Foods Processors report (March 2018 issue) to discover how these M&As impact the frozen food and beverage industry.