The Coca-Cola Company has bought South Australian success story Organic & Raw Trading Co, owner of the MOJO kombucha brand – a sign of the growth opportunity in this burgeoning beverage category.
Coca-Cola bought the company, which is a pioneer and fast mover in the kombucha category, for an undisclosed sum.
The Adelaide company, which was founded in 2010, now sells its MOJO beverage range at Woolworths and IGA. Earlier this year. the company invested in a $1 million bottling line that increased its capacity by 130% to meet growing demand for the fermented drink both locally and in export markets.
Kombucha is the fastest-growing beverage category in Australia, according to Coca-Cola, and this is the first time Coca-Cola has acquired full ownership of a brand in the category. Rival beverage giant Lion invested in another leading kombucha brand Remedy earlier this year.
“In just over eight years, Organic & Raw has gone from selling MOJO at a local farmers’ market to producing one of Australia’s leading organic kombucha brands,” Coca-Cola Australia president Vamsi Mohan said.
“Our goal is to bring MOJO to more Australians by making it available in more places across the country. Consumers will be able to see the same great MOJO products on more store shelves."
Anthony Crabb, co-founder and CEO of Organic & Raw, and sales and marketing director Andrew Buttery, will remain in their current roles.
“When we started out, we couldn’t have imagined the incredible growth and consumer demand we see today,” Crabb said.
“As we continued to innovate, we soon realised that for us to take the business to the next level and provide probiotic beverages to even more people, we needed to find the right strategic partner. We found this partner in Coca-Cola.”
