Blue Point Capital Acquires Asian Appetizer Maker Water Lilies Food
Blue Point Capital has acquired Water Lilies Food, LLC, a portfolio company of AUA Private Equity Partners, with global investment bank Harris Williams advising Water Lilies on the sale.
Water Lilies is a manufacturer of frozen Asian appetizers that are primarily sold through supermarkets, restaurants and ethnic markets.
“Water Lilies is the go-to Asian appetizer supplier for retailers, brands, and foodservice operators and has achieved impressive growth through its consistent innovation and focus on quality,” said Brant Cash, a managing director at Harris Williams. “The company experienced a tremendous amount of success during its partnership with AUA Private Equity, and we look forward to its next chapter of growth with Blue Point.”
“We continue to see a high degree of interest in value-added manufacturing platforms from both strategic buyers and financial sponsors,” said Brant Wilczek, a director at Harris Williams. “Water Lilies’ unique ability to develop premium, innovative products combined with its scale and manufacturing flexibility provides the company with tremendous runway for future growth in a category experiencing significant momentum driven by consumer demand.”
Based in Bay Shore, N.Y., Water Lilies is a manufacturer and provider of premium, inspired Asian cuisine for major retailers, private label, consumer brands and foodservice operators. Founded in 1995 with a commitment to food safety, quality and innovation, the company has established itself as a preferred partner to its customers across a variety of authentic, inspired products, with a particular focus on frozen appetizers such as egg rolls, spring rolls, potstickers, and dumplings.
AUA Private Equity is a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based, operationally focused, lower-middle market investment firm providing strategic capital to companies in the consumer products and services sectors with a particular focus on family-owned businesses. AUA Private Equity typically makes equity investments of $20 million to $75 million in companies that generate in excess of $5 million in EBITDA.
Blue Point is a private equity firm managing over $1.5 billion in committed capital. With offices in Cleveland; Charlotte, N.C.; Seattle; and Shanghai, Blue Point’s geographical footprint allows it to establish relationships with local and regional entrepreneurs and advisors while providing the perspectives and resources of a global organization. Blue Point has over a two-decade history of partnering with lower-middle market businesses to build processes and capabilities to achieve dramatic growth. The firm focuses on opportunities where it can leverage its collective experience, extensive network of operating resources, and focused add-on acquisition efforts as well as its unique toolkit, which includes supply chain/Asian capabilities, improved digital marketing or data strategies, and talent acquisition and diversification efforts. Blue Point typically invests in businesses that generate between $30 million and $300 million in revenue.
Harris Williams, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advocates for sellers and buyers of companies worldwide through critical milestones and provides thoughtful advice during the lives of their businesses. By collaborating as one firm across Industry Groups and geographies, the firm helps its clients achieve outcomes that support their objectives and strategically create value. Harris Williams is committed to execution excellence and to building enduring, valued relationships that are based on mutual trust. Harris Williams is a subsidiary of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
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Japan to Promote Food Products in New York
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan will promote Japanese food products – primarily food from Fukushima Prefecture – in New York City during February and March, taking advantage of the deactivation of Japanese food import measures by the United States in September.
A reception, supported by the Consulate-General of Japan in New York and the JETRO New York office, will showcase Japanese food and food culture to local media representatives, influencers and food industry affiliates, including restaurant personnel.
The Feb. 17 reception will be held from 3-4:15 p.m. and 6-7:15 p.m. in the Murase Room of the Japan Society art gallery, 333 E. 47th St.
The reception includes a video message by Yutaka Arai, vice-minister for International Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, and Masao Uchibori, governor of Fukushima Prefecture.
Food that will be promoted includes nigiri sushi from the Fukushima Prefecture, sukiyaki using wagyu beef from Fukushima Prefecture. The Japanese Cuisine Goodwill Ambassador will demonstrate soba-uchi.
The Consulate-General of Japan and JETRO New York office will launch a promotion to raise awareness for Japanese rice, onigiri (rice ball snacks) and its characteristics that make it popular with younger generations and corporate and school personnel.
From Feb. 17-26, onigiri bentos will be distributed to companies and schools in the New York area. From Feb. 18-25, onigiri bentos with rice from Fukushima Prefecture will be distributed and sold.
On Feb. 25 and March 5, a general consumer event to experience onigiri making will be held in the Japan Village food complex and Mt. Fuji Restaurant in New Jersey.
In addition, JETRO New York office will host a small online business conference to match local food wholesalers and importers who are interested in Japanese food products with companies in Japan looking to export to the United States.
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BuzzBallz Markets Single-Serve Cocktails to Taiwanese Women
As Taiwan celebrates its Lunar New Year, a holiday celebrated with alcoholic drinks, BuzzBallz, a woman-owned, Texas-based, ready-to-drink single-serve cocktails company, is reaching out to that nation’s teetotaling majority: women.
BuzzBallz partnered with Uni-President Corporation, a 7-Eleven franchise with a large footprint across Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, to get BuzzBallz’s single-serve cocktails on shelves.
According to The Drink Business, Taiwanese women make up most of the country’s teetotalers due to an aversion to the heavy flavor and bite of spirits and beer, the most commonly consumed alcoholic beverages to this day.
However, a 2018 study from the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation showed that more than half of the female drinkers polled prefer wine, a much smoother alcoholic beverage.
Keeping with his intuition and growing trends in alcohol consumption in Taiwan, Rodolphe Guillonneau, manager of Uni-President Corporation’s Global Procurement Office for Lifestyle Brands, felt it was time to market BuzzBallz Cocktails, a smooth, flavor-forward cocktail, to older Gen Z and millennial women.
As Guillonneau finalizes plans for marketing the small, brightly colored cocktails, he’s chosen to make the innovation, woman-owned status, fun branding and convenience the focus as he seeks out influencer content.
All of the following flavors were stocked in stores by December: Strawberry ‘Rita, Lotta Colada, Tequila ‘Rita and Choc Tease.
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“We’ve been working on this initiative since spring,” said Derek Dodge, vice president of international affairs. “We signed the contract in early September. Our first shipment was in October and the product [arrived] in Taiwan in December. So, all in all, it [took] eight months for the entire program to come together.”
It was important to BuzzBallz to get its single-serve cocktails on shelves before Feb. 1, the Lunar New Year.
“[Lunar] New Year in Taiwan is about family gatherings with different dinners planned during the week,” Guillonneau said. “Drinking is, of course, a huge part of the [festivities], as the dinners are followed with lots of talking, playing cards, mah jongg and more.”
Guillonneau said convenience for entertaining wasn’t the only reason for Uni-President being interested in the cocktails. He predicted that the colorful packaging would be appealing, particularly prior to Lunar New Year celebrations as many people enjoy incorporating the color red or the colors associated with their zodiac sign in their daily lives during these celebrations.
Though Lunar New Year celebrations are steeped in tradition, Uni-President has seen a shift in drinking culture within the country over the years as more women are increasingly becoming alcohol consumers.
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