Co-founder Vanessa Dew has been named interim CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha, following the departure of chief executive Jack Belsito.
Co-founder and Chief Mission Officer Daina Trout told BevNET this week that Dew is stepping into the position after Belsito chose to move on from the brand after spending about a year as its CEO. Although the company is initiating a search for an official long term CEO, Trout said Dew’s hat is in the ring to take over the role permanently.
“It is with great honor and joy that I step into the role of Health-Ade’s Interim CEO,” Dew told BevNET in a statement. “I am so proud of what we have built over the past ten years since Daina, Justin, and I started selling kombucha in the Brentwood Farmers Market and am eternally grateful to all of the people who have helped us along the way. I have big plans for what comes next and am thrilled to continue to partner with [company investors] First Bev, Manna Tree, and the incredible team at Health-Ade as we embark on this next decade of growth and continue to be the leaders in the gut health movement by creating delicious gut-healthy products to be enjoyed by all.”
Dew, previously the brand’s chief sales officer, co-founded Health-Ade in 2012 with Daina Trout – who served as its first CEO – and COO Justin Trout, who left the company last year. She takes the reins of Health-Ade as the brand continues to report strong growth, with its refrigerated kombuchas up 26.8% to $103.6 million in MULO and convenience retail for the 52-weeks ending August 7, according to IRI.
“I think the team is excited to have a founder at the seat and I’m excited to serve as her chief mission officer and teach her all I learned,” Trout said. “Of course, we wish Jack the best. He joined us for a really important year following the acquisition, so we’re really grateful for the time, for his expertise, and I think he made a real mark on the company over the last year.”
Last year, private equity investment fund First Bev acquired a controlling stake in Health-Ade, buying out fellow stakeholders The Coca-Cola Company and CAVU Venture Partners. Investment group Manna Tree, a nutrition focused firm, also joined the deal.
As part of the transition, Trout moved into the newly created position of Chief Mission Officer, where she is responsible for the company’s innovation, branding and sustainability efforts.
Belsito, a beverage industry veteran and managing partner at First Bev, took on the CEO role with the intent of scaling operations and growing international sales. He also joined Health-Ade’s board of directors. Trout said that his seat was reserved for the CEO and Dew has now replaced him on the board.
“Everyone sort of shook hands and said ‘yes,’ so it’s a very cool evolution for Health-Ade that we’re literally right in the middle of,” she added.
In a statement, First Bev founder Bill Anderson said the firm sees the long entrenched relationship between Dew and Trout as a strength for the brand.
“As the original investor in Health-Ade, First Bev has always seen the magic of Vanessa and Daina’s entrepreneurial spirit as a way to attract a loyal customer base,” Anderson said. “We have seen Health-Ade grow substantially over the past 12 months since our increased investment and have worked to set a course for Health Ade becoming the #1 brand in the category. We and our partners at Manna Tree are thrilled to elevate Vanessa to lead the business, and we are all excited about the next phase of Health-Ade’s growth and development.”
Trout said the company still sees plenty of white space to grow in the market and bring in consumers who still have not tried kombucha. She said the brand has runway to expand in U.S. retail, but international growth remains an opportunity that “we need to unlock.”
Innovation has also been a key pillar driving growth for the company. This week, Health-Ade announced the expansion of its Glow Up line of functional kombuchas, which first debuted last year as a Target exclusive with the launch of a Strawberry Glow flavor made with biotin and bamboo extract to support skin health. The new flavors include Citrus Immune Boost, made with Vitamin C and zinc, and Ginger Pineapple Belly Reset, which contains cold-pressed ginger juice and extra probiotics to provide an extra boost to gut health.
The Glow Up line is a retooled version of the brand’s Health-Ade Plus functional line, which launched with seven SKUs as a Whole Foods exclusive in 2020 and was put on hiatus last year. According to Trout, Glow Up’s flavors are based on the best performing Plus SKUs and are now rolling out nationwide.
“We’re trying to connect the dots to gut health, as gut health has impacts beyond digestion,” Trout said. “In general, we want to be a functional product that supports people’s health and so I think in this case, it’s pretty obvious, it’s just continuing to step in that direction. We want to service this healthy consumer with scientifically-backed, whole food ingredients. And, of course, kombucha being the base, we’re not stepping too far from our roots.”
Trout has also been enjoying her new position at the company, noting that stepping aside as CEO has given her time to the time to focus on the aspects of the business she is most passionate about, including promoting gut health and supporting ESG programs – for example, she noted that she has become more strategic around determining Health-Ade’s charity partners, working more closely with programs that support food security.
She has also implemented internal health programs for employees via workshops and “health challenges” to support and educate staff, in addition to consumer marketing efforts.
While the relationship with longtime investor First Bev has remained largely the same after last year’s acquisition, Trout said the addition of Manna Tree to the cap table has helped to open new doors in the health and wellness space, which has been significant as the company continues to boost its gut health focused messaging.
“They’ve almost been like a super power that has come in and been able to connect us with people making major moves in the probiotic and fermentation world,” Trout said.
Even as Health-Ade’s investor dynamic has evolved over the past year, Trout said the focus for the future is on growing the brand as big as it can get and that “selling the company is not the priority,” although an exit would not be out of the question if the right opportunity presented itself.
“The priority is to move the business forward and continue to kill it out there,” she said. “We’re not working backwards on some kind of ultimate goal here. We want to build a healthy business that continues to grow, maintain relevance, and be a meaningful brand. From the beginning Vanessa, Justin and I always wanted to build a company that was as inspiring as Nike, so you can see us as somewhere along that marathon.”