Unilever Buys Yasso

As Part of ‘Premiumization Strategy’

stick bars, frozen greek yogurt sandwiches, mochi and Poppables – a chocolate coated frozen yogurt snack that was recently relaunched as a better-for-you, Dibs-like competitor.

Frozen novelty brand Yasso announced it will be acquired by global conglomerate Unilever in a deal that is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Piper Sandler & Co. served as financial advisor to Yasso in the transaction, and Ropes & Gray served as the Company’s legal advisor.

“I am delighted to welcome Yasso to the Unilever family,” said Matt Close, president of ice cream for Unilever, in a statement. “It has built a strong customer appeal in the fast-growing, premium ʻbetter for you’ segment.

At NOSH Live last winter, Yasso CEO Craig Shiesley said the company estimated its 2022 sales would hit $240 million and said the brand was on track to eclipse $300 million in 2023. Unilever’s ice cream portfolio also includes Magnum, Breyer’s, Talenti and Ben & Jerry’s.

Yasso was founded in Boston by Amanda Klane and Drew Harrington in 2009 and backed by Castanea Partners, also an investor in ice cream brand Jeni’s. In 2019 the company brought on Shiesley as CEO and relocated to Colorado in order to focus on growing beyond its homebase in the Northeast.

Yasso is now distributed in thousands of retailers including Whole Foods Market, Walmart, CVS, Target, Kroger, Costco and Safeway with a low-calorie product line that includes stick bars, dipped

Though the emphasis on bars has remained constant since its founding, the brand’s portfolio has taken various shapes over the years and once included pints and smaller kids’ bars. In 2021, as it evaluated possible line extensions, Yasso launched popsicle brand Jüve and tested sales online as well as in a limited number of retailers; however, Jüve’s website now says the line has “melted away.”

For Unilever, adding Yasso will support the multinational’s planned “premiumization strategy” for its ice cream division. The brand will likely roll up to Russel Lilly, President North America Ice Cream at Unilever, a 17-year veteran of the company who has worked within the division for the last five years.

In January 2022 Unilever executives announced the company would be reorganized into five distinct business units, one of which would be dedicated solely to ice cream. Moving forward, each division would be “fully responsible and accountable for their strategy, growth, and profit delivery globally.”

The move was beneficial, Close noted in a recent Unilever blog post, allowing the group to better focus its domain expertise and “get to market faster, make quicker decisions and take more experimental risks.” Digital solutions and delivery programs will be another core focal area for growth, he said, in order to offset a portion of the seasonality the category faces in retail and out-of-home. For example, last summer Unilever expanded the reach of its ghost storefront, The Ice Cream Shop, through a partnership with Instacart. That program now allows consumers across the country to have Unilever-owned treats delivered in as fast as 30 minutes.

There’s a lot of cash at stake given how much of Unilever’s overall sales come from ice cream. At last December’s annual investor presentation, Clouse said that at the end of 2021, Unilever’s ice cream business was valued at $7.7 billion and had grown 3% over the last three years.

In addition to looking for expansions in low-sugar and low-calorie spaces, the ice cream team saw the greatest opportunity for growth in its premium lines, where it could invest heavily in R&D and marketing. At the time of the presentation, Clouse said premium brands Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum alone were expected to represent 50% of Unilever’s share of ice cream sales by 2025.