MUMBAI: A global snack brand started by an Indian, Bare Foods has been acquired by American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation, PepsiCo. 

PesiCo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the US snack company that is primarily into baked fruits and vegetable snacks. The transaction will expand the company's snacking portfolio and further deliver on its vision to offer consumers more positive nutrition options.

PepsiCo chairman and chief executive officer Indra Nooyi says, “For nearly a dozen years, PepsiCo has been committed to our vision of making more nutritious products, while also reducing added sugars, salt, and saturated fat. Bare Snacks fits perfectly within that vision.”

Although both the companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but it is learnt that Pepsi will pay less than $200 million for the snack company.

She adds, ”The Bare Snacks leadership team has done an outstanding job building a top-tier organisation and a strong brand with authentic roots, and I couldn't be more excited to welcome Bare Snacks to the PepsiCo family.”

Bare Snacks was founded in 2001 by a family owned organic apple farm in Washington, that began selling packaged baked apple chips in local farmers' markets. Under its current leadership team, it has expanded steadily to become the leader in apple, banana and coconut snacks.

It has recently expanded into vegetable chips and offers the industry's broadest assortment of baked crunchy fruit and vegetable chips (apple chips, banana chips, coconut chips, and new beet chips, carrot chips, and sweet potato chips). Bare products are made from simple ingredients that are baked, not fried.  They are non GMO project verified, feature clean labels and are sold online and in natural and conventional retail channels across the US.

Bare Foods CEO Santosh Padki is thrilled to work with the PepsiCo team to further its mission of bringing simplicity to snacking. "With a shared passion for crunchy, better-for-you snacks, PepsiCo is the right partner to help bring our simply baked fruit and vegetable  snacks to even more consumers across the world and continue to grow our brand," he adds. 

Upon closing, Bare Snacks will continue to operate independently from its headquarters in San Francisco with its leadership reporting into Frito-Lay North America, a division of PepsiCo.

Frito-Lay North America president and chief operating officer Vivek Sankaran thinks that Bare premium baked fruit and vegetable chips are an exciting expansion of Frito-Lay's better-for-you snack offerings. 

PepsiCo will continue to offer the current Bare Snacks product line  while also working with the Bare Snacks team to deliver new, innovative options, and ultimately expanded distribution.

PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2017, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.