Tofurky Acquired by Tofu Company Morinaga Nutritional Foods

Morinaga Nutritional Foods, a subsidiary of Morinaga Milk Industry Co, has acquired Turtle Island Foods, the producer of Tofurky and alt-dairy line Moocho, putting the Japanese-owned company in control of one of the leading plant-based meat brands in the category.

“The company believes that Turtle Island Foods is a promising company that will be highly synergistic to its future growth” a press release by Morinaga Milk Industry Co states. “The United States [plant-based foods] PBF market in particular, including tofu, is anticipated to continue to enjoy sustained growth. The company perceives huge potential in this market, and aims to further expand its PBF business in the United States by the transaction, and knowledge cultivated to date.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Tofurky confirmed the gross sum paid was over $50 million. A press release further states that Tofurky had $42.3 million in sales last year, but ended fiscal year 2021 with a loss of $4.1 million.

The press release did not mention if Tofurky CEO and president Jaime Athos will continue on with the company, but stated that Moringa Milk Industry Co plans to “leverage synergies from Tofurky’s sales and marketing teams to fine-tune total portfolio approaches to the U.S. marketplace.”

Morinaga Milk Industry Co. offers cheese, milk, ice cream and baby foods in Japan, and has beverage partnerships with both Sunkist and Lipton Tea. Founded in 1917, the company expanded to the U.S. with its tofu business in 1978, officially forming subsidiary Morinaga Nutritional Foods in 1985. As part of a ten year plan (announced in 2019), Morinaga Milk Industry Co. seeks to build its North American presence, with a global business sales ratio of at least 15% by end of March 2029.

Moringa Nutritional Foods has been Tofurky’s supplier for the past 17 years.

“We’ve been working with the team at Morinaga for nearly two decades, and over that course of time realized the multiple synergies our organizations have across our businesses,” Athos said. “We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved thus far as an independent and family-operated company, but as we enter our next stage of growth, Morinaga will provide the platform needed to help us expand more aggressively in the U.S. and beyond.”

Turtle Island also owns and operates Tofurky’s manufacturing facility in Hood River, Oregon, an hour and a half away from Morinaga Nutritional Foods tofu production facility in Tualatin, Oregon.

One of the longest-standing plant-based brands in the industry, Tofurky has spent considerable effort over the past few years working to reintroduce and reinvent the brand for a new generation of consumers, including launching a more whimsical packaging design in 2017, spinning out the Moocho brand of cheese in 2020, and introducing products such as look-like-meat burgers and hot-pocket-eque options, the later of which was subsequently discontinued.

The company took on $7 million in debt in 2019, stating at the time that it represented the first outside capital put into the brand.

In the meantime, Athos has personally acted as an outspoken advocate for the plant-based meat industry, filing court cases in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas against new laws prohibiting alt-based meats from using animal-based meat terminology on their packaging. The company also launched burger packaging that encouraged consumers to call their elected representatives to advocate for action on climate change.