A well-known beverage industry executive has become the new owner of a Toronto-area processor of fruit juices and juice concentrates for retailers’ store brands.
Csaba Reider, the former CEO of U.S. energy drink and supplement maker Xyience, announced Monday he’s bought Sun Pac Foods of Brampton for an undisclosed sum through his private investment firm, Liquibrands.
Reider, who led Las Vegas-based Xyience in 2008 and 2009 and also sits on the board of Mississauga food processing firm Associated Brands, said Monday he aims to take Sun Pac "to the next level through innovation and opportunity with new customers, partners and products."
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Sun Pac’s fruit juices, frozen juices and juice concentrates are distributed in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean in single and multi-serve formats in glass, plastic, aluminum, steel and Tetra Pak containers.
Sun Pac’s 355,000-square foot facility at Brampton, billed as one of the largest independent hot-fill beverage facilities in North America, handles seven production lines and houses refrigerated, frozen and dry warehousing.
The company’s processing capabilities also include natural teas, sports drinks, energy drinks, organic products and other beverages destined for branded and private-label programs through various major retailers. It also promotes itself as "an ideal candidate for companies wishing to build strategic partnerships" through custom packing and co-packing arrangements.
Sun Pac also makes the McDowell Ovens brand of croutons and bread crumbs and supplies those products for major Canadian retailers’ private label brands.
Sun Pac was launched by the J.A. Riddell family in Toronto in 1962 as a frozen juice processor, and built its new plant at Brampton in 1985.
The company is "well-positioned to maximize opportunities in the ‘better-for-you’ beverage segments which have experienced double-digit growth over the past four years," Sun Pac said in a release Monday.
Reider was a vice-president (1999-2007) at U.S. private-label beverage maker Cott Corp. before joining Xyience, best known for its Xenergy drink line and its sponsorship deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts organization.
