Blue Diamond CEO Discusses Dramatic Surge in Sales


Thu. March 27th, 2014 - by Jonathan Nivens

Experiencing tremendous growth over the past five years, Blue Diamond Grower's retail products have reached nearly $500 million in annual sales revenues, according to Food Navigator.



Blue Diamond is the world's largest almond marketer and processor. The company has achieved a 16% compound annual growth rate over the last three years.

Sales for the 2013 fiscal year increased almost 19% to $1.2 billion and President and CEO Mark Jansen said sales are expected to be $1.5 billion for the 2014 fiscal year.

"Branded retail now represents nearly $500 million of our annual sales," said Jansen. "The focus of our ingredient business has been to maintain segment leadership and grow the value-added manufactured (VAM) segment."

As interest in cow's milk is waning, Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze almond milk has a 40-50% sales growth year-on-year. While Blue Diamond has other products including Greek yogurt and roasted nuts, almond milk continues to make large gains in sales.

"It just hit the mainstream. We've got some people switching from soy and obviously people that are avoiding dairy because they are allergic to milk or lactose intolerant, but a lot of the growth is coming from people living a healthy lifestyle," said Senior Marketing Manager Suzanne Hagener.

Future demand is expected to be constrained by supplies, and while it is too early to speculate about specific volumes, the Almond Board of California warned that water is the biggest concern right now for growers, who are facing a severe drought throughout most of the state.

Time will tell how this year's almond crop fares, but certainly Blue Diamond's products are flying off the shelves.

Blue Diamond Growers



Companies in this Story


Blue Diamond

A company with over 100 years in the almond business. Blue Diamond has a variety of almond products, and