NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
Planning for Tomorrow: Blue Diamond CEO Highlights Ongoing Retooling Efforts While Blue Diamond Growers provided members with industry-leading returns for the past 11 years, such was not the case with the 2024 crop when the cooperative trailed some competitors. West Coast Nut recently sat down with CEO Kai Bockmann to discuss the challenges the co-op faces, the steps it is taking to address them and the exciting opportunities Bockman sees moving forward.
To stir consumer excitement, Blue Diamond has launched Almonds and More mixed nuts, a product line it hasn’t been in historically.
Q. Let’s discuss a few of the challenges and the programs Blue Diamond has developed to address them. Consumer preferences change very quickly. We’ve been on quite a ride over the last decade when non-dairy beverages saw phenomenal growth. As an example, our Almond Breeze ® business was a big driver of our returns. We were in an enviable position when that trend took off, and the Almond Breeze ® business grew at an exponential rate up to 2021. Post-COVID, there’s been a decline in consumption of not just almondmilk but all non-dairy beverages.
There are a couple of contributors, with one being people’s paychecks only going so far. They’re having to make tough choices about what to put in their grocery basket, and they’re coming back to dairy milk, which is at a lower price point. The good news is we continue to increase our share in that space. We’re still the market-leading brand even though we have formidable competitors, whether it’s on the almondmilk side or other non-dairy options. We remain relevant with consumers, but we have to continue to innovate and develop new products to stay that way. As an example, we are launching a new line of
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ALMOND FACTS
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