M&A
Nuts.com acquires Kopper’s Chocolate in multimillion-dollar deal
The multimillion-dollar deal officially closed in 2016, and Kopper’s has since completed the move from its Greenwich Village, New York, warehouse to Nuts.com’s headquarters in Cranford, New Jersey.
Nuts.com is an online business that mainly supplies nuts, dried fruit, snacks, chocolate, and pantry staples.
Separate strategy
“We felt it was time to reinvigorate the creativity and innovation that made Kopper’s what it is today and part of that was updating the brand look and feel,” Nuts.com CEO, Jeffrey Braverman, told ConfectioneryNews.
“While we are working on integrating some pieces of Kopper's business with Nuts.com's business, they remain more process-oriented such as customer orders and customer service… Nuts.com shines in the areas of sourcing, and high-quality products,” he said.
“Although part of the Nuts.com family, Kopper's still remains its own brand with a separate strategy based on their current customers and unique areas of growth,” Braverman added.
No job loss
Nuts.com said it has retained all Kopper’s employees and production team members throughout the transition.
“We work very closely with each Kopper’s employee to understand their specific travel needs and support each of them to minimize their commutes given their new headquarters in New Jersey,” Braverman said.
“We provide multiple shuttles and reimburse employees for public transit,” he said. “We made it a priority to retain the team with some employees having been with the company for more than 25 years.”
Kopper’s was one of the founding brands for the first Summer Fancy Food Show in 1954 and will debut a brand new booth this year, the first in over 20 years, at this year’s tradeshow in New York.
Kopper’s will also unveil three new chocolate varieties, including cherry chocolate cashews, strawberry shortcake almonds, and dark chocolate-covered gummy bears.