General Discussion

Freshly
Type of business: Meal delivery service
Acquisition price: Up to $1.5 billion26
Acquisition date: Oct. 30, 2020
Freshly launched in 2012 as a meal delivery service, providing fresh, fully cooked meals to customers across the United States. The company offers a weekly subscription service, capitalizing on a growing trend of subscription delivery services across a variety of product areas.28 In 2020, the company delivered more than 1 million meals per week to about 20,000 U.S. ZIP codes.29

Nestlé acquired Freshly in 2020, maintaining it as a stand-alone company with complete control of its products and subscription pricing.30 Nestlé’s acquisition helped it to gain additional exposure to the growing market for healthy foods while also capitalizing on the recent rise of meal delivery services such as Blue Apron.

The Bountiful Company (core brands)
Type of business: Supplements and nutrition
Acquisition price: $5.75 billion31
Acquisition date: April 30, 2021 (announced)31
Launched in 1971, The Bountiful Company is a nutrition company providing vitamins, supplements, and related products.32 Nestlé acquired The Bountiful Company’s core brands for $5.75 billion in spring 2021, including Nature’s Bounty, Solgar, Osteo Bi-Flex, and Puritan’s Pride. Nestle’s goal is to fold these brands into Nestlé Health Science, to make it a global leader in nutritional supplements, vitamins, and minerals. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021.31