Coca-Cola joins kombucha market with Mojo brand acquisition

Photo from Organic & Raw Trading Co.

Coca-Cola is getting into the kombucha game. This week, the brand announced it has acquired Organic & Raw Trading Co., maker of the Mojo brand of naturally fermented, live-culture, organic kombucha drinks. Coca-Cola says this is the first time the company has acquired full ownership of a kombucha brand.

Organic & Raw Trading Co. has had much success in its home country, Australia, where the companies say the kombucha category is the fastest-growing beverage category. “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,” said Vamsi Mohan, president, Coca-Cola Australia, in a press release.

“With this acquisition, Coca-Cola Australia can take a leading role in helping The Coca-Cola Company in the still-emerging, premium-probiotic kombucha category, which is the fastest-growing beverage category in Australia,” Mohan added. “This is a strong opportunity for us.” He added that the Mojo brand “fits perfectly with the growing popularity of organic, probiotic drinks.”

Organic & Raw company leaders, cofounder and CEO Anthony Crabb and sales and market director Andrew Buttery, will remain in their current roles post-acquisition. The company’s bestselling kombucha product is its Mojo Crafted Kombucha beverage. The company’s low-sugar, naturally fermented, live-culture organic drinks are produced using a culture of bacteria and yeast, the firm says.