Wicked Kitchen, a diversified plant-based retail and foodservice brand, has been acquired by the Ahimsa group of companies.
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, includes alternative seafood lines Good Catch and Current Foods, which Wicked Kitchen will acquire in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The statement said chef brothers Derek and Chad Sarno, who founded Wicked Kitchen with colleague Chris Carr in 2016 and later expanded the brand to the UK and US, were “interested parties in the new branded business”.
The buyer is Ahimsa Companies, and a Wicked Foods spokesperson confirmed that the company is a holding company under the Ahimsa Foundation and also has ties to Ahimsa VC.
Ahimsa VC was founded in 2020 in Bangalore, India, and focuses on startups in the plant-based, fermented and cell-cultured foods sectors. The investor participated in Austin, Texas-based Wicked Kitchen's $20 million bridge financing round in 2022, bringing the company's outside funding to $34 million at the time.
The Niwot, Colorado-based Ahimsa Foundation's motto is “investing in a vegan future and encouraging the transition away from animal protein,” according to its website.
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Ahimsa Companies' goal is to drive consolidation in the plant-based foods sector, where startups have been vying to grab share in a sector that was once booming but has seen demand wane in recent years due to factors including taste and price, as well as criticism that some products on the market are overly processed.
As a result, money began to dry up and many businesses were forced into bankruptcy, including The Tattooed Chef in the US, The Very Good Food Company in Canada, Plant & Bean and The Meatless Farm in the UK.
Matt Thalman, group CEO of Ahimsa Companies, said the company aims to “vertically integrate and leverage its resources to build momentum” and will seek to acquire other brands beyond Wicked Kitchen.
He added: “We have always said that consolidation leads to success in the plant-based industry. As Ahimsa Companies integrates more brands, it will be able to leverage this strength to stabilize and shape the new plant-based landscape.”
Wicked Kitchen's portfolio covers every meal occasion, including frozen and refrigerated ready meals, plant-based burgers, sausages, seafood, ice cream, desserts, snacks and condiments.
The products are sold in various combinations in Wicked Kitchen's key retail markets, the US and the UK, and will be available in smaller quantities in Thailand following its 2022 launch.
Wicked Kitchen says it stocks more than 150 products at Tesco in the UK, while the brand is sold at Target, Walmart and Kroger in the US.
Outdoor channels are also available in the US and UK.
Wicked Kitchen CEO Pete Speranza said, “Wicked Kitchen is proud to join Ahimsa Companies. We are aligned in our mission and believe Wicked Kitchen is stronger today and better positioned to serve health- and environmentally-conscious consumers who aren't willing to sacrifice taste or convenience.”
