Looking to “redefine and grow the super-premium juice market,” Starbucks Coffee Company, Seattle, WA, has acquired Evolution Fresh, Inc., San Bernardino, CA, for $30 million.

“Our intent is to build a national Health and Wellness brand leveraging our scale, resources and premium product expertise,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and CEO. “Bringing Evolution Fresh into the Starbucks family marks an important step forward in this pursuit. Over the last year-and-a-half we have looked comprehensively at possible opportunities and chose Evolution Fresh because it stood above anything else in terms of premium quality, nutrition and potential for growth.”

Starbucks said it recognizes an opportunity to attract new customers as well as meet needs of existing customers looking for nutritious beverage and food options.

“The acquisition of Evolution Fresh supports our growth strategy to innovate with new products, enter new categories, and expand into new channels of distribution,” said Jeff Hansberry, president, Channel Development for Starbucks. “Not only are we able to tap into the $1.6 billion super-premium juice market, but the acquisition of Evolution Fresh marks an important milestone for us within the $50 billion Health and Wellness sector.”

Evolution Fresh was started by the original founder of Naked Juice, Jimmy Rosenberg. He decided to get back into the premium juice business to found Evolution Fresh, one of the only true juiceries left in the industry that still cracks, peels, presses and squeezes its own raw fruits and vegetables. This was an opportunity to raise the quality and nutritional benefits in the juice category. Using an innovative technology new to juice called High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP), Evolution Fresh is able to deliver one of the only “never heated” juice products for an increasingly larger number of its offerings, ensuring fresh tasting and nutritious juices.

Over time, Starbucks plans to expand beyond Evolution Fresh’s current distribution into additional channels, as well as begin to make Evolution Fresh products available in Starbucks company-owned retail stores providing nationwide presence and awareness. In order to achieve this, Starbucks will look to make investments over time for upgrades to existing facilities as well as expansion needed for the broadened distribution of the product and for future growth plans for the brand.

Additionally, to showcase Starbucks growing portfolio, and as consumers become increasingly aware of Evolution Fresh, the company plans to introduce a new health and wellness retail concept which will further “redefine the super-premium juice category and experience for consumers unlike any prior existing juice retail.”