Hain Celestial Sends Westbrae Natural Brand to Bush Brothers

Dec. 20, 2022

Westbrae had many canned bean products; price was not disclosed.

Hain Celestial Group on Dec. 15 announced it completed the divestiture of its Westbrae Natural brand to Bush Brothers & Co. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Westbrae had a number of canned bean products, all natural or organic, including kidney beans, black beans, red beans, lentils and chili.

Mark Schiller, Hain’s pres/CEO, noted it’s part of “our continuing journey to simplify the company and focus on the brands and categories with growth potential in line with our strategic direction.” Since he took over in 2018, he’s presided over a string of divestitures to make Hain a smaller but more profitable food-only company. In his tenure, Hain sold or eliminated 23 brands and 1,000 SKUs with almost $1 billion in sales.

But this may be his last act as CEO, as Wendy Davidson, currently president of the Americas for Glanbia Performance Nutrition, will become Hain's pres/CEO on Jan. 1.

“The divestiture of this non-strategic brand represents another important step in simplifying our North America portfolio, while improving our future growth profile, margins and cash flow,” Schiller continued. “The transaction allows us to focus more resources on driving distribution and expanding innovation on priority brands.”

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.