Partnership to expand distribution of Sambazon juice and smoothies

Generous Brands and Sambazon are joining forces to manufacture, distribute and sell Sambazon Juice and Smoothie Beverages as part of new platform Integrated Partnerships.

Generous Brands, formerly known as Bolthouse Farms, has been co-manufacturing several Sambazon portfolio products for the last 15 months, according to a news release. The partnership will increase consumer access to products  and scale up retail distribution across North America.

Beginning July 1, Generous Brands will produce and sell Original Acai, Dragon Fruit and Energy Acai out of its 500,000-square-foot production facility in Bakersfield, California. Manufacturing and distribution of other Sambazon frozen and shelf-stable product lines will remain with the parent company, according to the release

“The Sambazon brand is the first of several disruptive brands to become part of a new platform inside Generous Brands called Integrated Partnerships,” Phil Kooy, chief revenue officer of Generous Brands, said in the release. “Our Integrated Partnerships platform will leverage Generous Brands’ world-class manufacture-to-market refrigerated capability to accelerate the growth of fresh and functional consumer brands.”

Kooy said company is looking to add additional brands to the platform.

Sambazon has been supplying acai products for bowls and smoothies for 24 years in offerings including juices, smoothies and ready-to-eat bowls.

“We are delighted to join Bolthouse Farms and Evolution Fresh as part of the growing Generous Brands portfolio,” Ryan Black, Sambazon CEO and co-founder, said. “This partnership will bring açai and other organic, superfood juices and smoothies to customers via thousands of supermarkets throughout North America.”

Generous Brands, a portfolio company of Butterfly Equity, is distributed in 56,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada. Its brands include Bolthouse Farms and Evolution Fresh.

Founded in 2000, Sambazon is an acronym for Sustainable Management of the Brazilian Amazon and supplies Fair Trade certified products through a proprietary supply chain.