Country Pure Foods is an American manufacturer of fruit drinks, juices, and plant-based beverages for retail food purveyors and foodservice operators. It also provides food manufacturers with fruit ingredients. The company's brand names include Ardmore Farms, SideKicks, VBlends, Fun!, VitaMost, and Glacier Valley. Country Pure Foods is owned by Blue Point Capital Partners, LLC, a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

investor based in Cleveland, Ohio. Country Pure is headquartered in

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and operates juice plants in Ellington,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, Deland,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and

History

Country Pure Foods was created in 1995 through a merger of Natural Country Farms and Ohio Pure Foods. Country Pure Foods remains to this day a privately held corporation. In 2003, the Ellington plant was the cause of an ammonia leak which led to the company being fined by the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

for improper reporting of the incident. The company was owned by

investors from 1995 to 2014. In 2014, it was acquired by a joint venture between

Sapporo Holdings is a Japanese beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo, the oldest brand of beer in Japan, was first brewed in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 1876 by Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo. The co ...

, a major Japanese beverage maker, and

Toyota Tsusho is a sōgō shōsha (trading company), a member of the Toyota Group. Toyota Tsusho has a worldwide presence through its many subsidiaries and operating divisions, including over 150 offices, and 900 subsidiaries and affiliates around the world. ...

, a Japanese trading company better known for operating the automaker of the same name.

Key management

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

: Tony Muscato *

Chief Financial Officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

: Dave Kantor

Predecessors

Natural Country Farms

Natural Country Farms was founded in 1985. Prior to merging in the formation of Country Pure Foods, the company was run by Ben Moser and James J. Greco from 1990 to 1995.

Ohio Pure Foods

Ohio Pure Foods was founded in 1993. Prior to merging in the formation of Country Pure Foods in 1995, the company was run by Dave Mikolajczyk.

References

{{reflist Food manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Ohio Ellington, Connecticut Sapporo Breweries