Poppilu, maker of organic ready-to-drink lemonade for kids, has been acquired by American Beverage Corporation for an undisclosed fee, the company announced today.
Found in Chicago in 2017, Poppilu initially targeted adult consumers with a low-sugar, low calorie lemonade featuring antioxidant-rich aronia berries as its hero ingredient. Since 2020, the company has been focused exclusively on its line of 6 oz. pouches aimed at kids, available in Original Lemon, Blueberry and Peach flavors.
American Beverage Corporation is a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Harvest Hill Beverage Company, which markets a broad portfolio of juice products including Juicy Juice, SUNNYD, Nutrament and Fruit 2o. The company is owned by private equity firm Brynwood Partners.
“Poppilu makes a great addition to our existing portfolio and helps expand our strong foundation of kids’ beverages,” said Ilene Bergenfeld, chief marketing officer of Harvest Hill Beverage Company, in a press release. “We are especially excited that the product was crafted by a mom with kids in mind, which comes through in the bold taste and better-for-you benefits that will resonate with consumers.”
Poppilu founder Melanie Kahn explained that her decision to sell the company to its co-packing partner was influenced by the success of the kids pouch line, which has been distributed mainly in regional chains across the East Coast and Midwest, including H-E-B, Giant Eagle and Schnucks, as well as in national accounts like Target and Walmart.
“We’ve picked up a nice array of customers and have established an attractive, differentiated brand with a unique positioning,” she said. “Now that we’ve laid a good foundation, we’re ready to kick it into high gear and make a real dent in the kids beverage space, and doing so under Harvest Hill’s leadership will allow Poppilu to do that quicker and more effectively than on our own.”
In terms of her own future, Kahn said she will be “helping out as needed to make sure Poppilu is set for success.” After extensive experience working within large CPG conglomerates like Kraft Foods and Sara Lee, she called her six years building Poppilu independently from concept to exit a “tremendous experience.”
“Getting to found and operate a startup, raising capital, being scrappy with budgets and keeping the team as lean as possible… it’s a totally different and invaluable level of business expertise and I’ve absolutely loved it (although I am happy to put the physical labor of tradeshows and sampling behind me!),” Kahn wrote. “It’s also been fun integrating my kids into the business (not just throughout our Instagram feed) and giving them a front-row seat to entrepreneurship. Hopefully there are some lessons they’ll remember as they grow up – who knows, maybe there will be another start-up in the family one day!”