verde valle foods acquiring a dozen cousins graphic

Verde Valle Foods Acquires A Dozen Cousins

May 14, 2025

Both companies specialize in rice, beans and seasonings with cultural flavor inspirations and ready-to-eat applications.

Andy Hanacek

Verde Valle Foods, which manufactures, sells and distributes rice and beans, has acquired A Dozen Cousins, a brand that specializes in ready-to-eat Creole-, Caribbean- and Latin American-inspired beans, rice and seasoning sauces.

Verde Valle Foods is the Dallas, Texas-based U.S. subsidiary of Verde Valle, a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer of rice, beans, grains, ingredients and RTE meals in a pouch. Verde Valle owns its namesake brand as well as the Isadora brand, which offers RTE beans and authentic Mexican meals, and is said to be the first brand to introduce beans in a pouch.

A Dozen Cousins was founded by current founder and CEO Ibraheem Basir in 2019 to fill a gap in the market for authentic, cultural foods that were also nutritious, the release noted. The company’s line of rice cooked in bone broth recorded double-digit sales growth over the last year, compared to flat sales in the prepared rice category overall. Basir will remain on board and will assume the role of general manager of A Dozen Cousins.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.