• January 3, 2011

Stamford, Conn.-based DeMet's Candy Company has completed the acquisition of the TrueNorth nut snack brand from PepsiCo division Frito-Lay North America. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

DeMet's -- whose existing confections products include Turtles, Flipz, Treasures and Stixx, all branded under the DeMet's name -- is owned by Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity fund Brynwood Partners.

The addition of the all-natural TrueNorth brand will provide DeMet's with opportunities to grow and innovate within new market segments, as well as ones already served by the company, according to President/CEO David D. Clarke.

Frito Lay launched TrueNorth -- a premium brand of nuts and products made with nuts -- in late 2007, looking to attract health-conscious consumers.

PepsiCo increasingly continues to focus on offering healthier or more "natural" formulations of Frito Lay snacks and other products.  However, TrueNorth and another brand, Flat Earth, proved to be "failures" in comparison with the scope and success of other "adjacency" brands such as Stacy's pita chips and Sabra hummus dips, PepsiCo Americas Foods CEO John Compton confirmed during November's Morgan Stanley Consumer & Retail Conference.