Cheribundi tart cherry juice moving processing to Peterson Farms in Michigan

Peterson Farms Inc. has announced that Cheribundi — one of nation’s largest producers of tart cherry juice — will now be processed at the Peterson Farms campus in Shelby, Michigan, beginning this spring.

“Peterson Farms has been processing Montmorency tart cherries for over 35 years and has established relationships with cherry growers throughout the state of Michigan,” said Sarah Schlukebir, chief sales and marketing officer. “We’re excited to expand our processing capabilities and produce a great product like Cheribundi’s tart cherry juices on our campus.”

The coastal shores of Lake Michigan produce the largest crop of Montmorency tart cherries in the U.S. The relocation of the processing of Cheribundi’s tart cherry juice to Peterson Farms is a strategic decision, as the Michigan-grown Montmorency tart cherries will now be processed in the same region as they are grown.

Founded in 1984 by Earl and Linda Peterson, Peterson Farms is dedicated to quality, food safety and value. Peterson Farms is one of North America’s premier fruit processing companies serving some of the world’s most recognizable brands and demanding industries as to their requirements for the company’s five core commodities; apples, tart and sweet cherries, blueberries and peaches. 

Peterson Farms operates six SQF-certified facilities encompassing over 1.5 million square feet of processing and storage space including individual quick frozen (IQF), fresh apple processing, juice, sauce, controlled atmosphere storage as well as the largest freezer storage facility in the Midwest.

Cheribundi was initially founded in 2004 by John Davey. After quitting his job as a Wall Street banker in 2006, Davey worked with Cornell food scientist Olga Padilla-Zakour, who directs the Food Venture Center (FVC) at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, to develop an all-natural tart cherry juice. The resulting product was named CherryPharm, as the drink retained what are believed to be pain-prevention and muscle-damage recovery properties of sour cherries. CherryPharm rebranded as Cheribundi in 2012.

Cheribundi is distributed at major retailers across the United States. In addition to online sales, the company sells to over 280 professional and collegiate sports teams.