- Clasen Bio is an established brand for nuts, snacks and dried fruits
- Revenue performance of the new Food Chain GmbH: EUR 70m in 2020 / EUR 100m in 2021 / EUR 140m in 2022
- Social Chain AG lifts revenue forecast for 2020 by 15 percent to EUR 230 million
- Wanja S. Oberhof: „Food communities and food brands will be a key growth segment for Social Chain AG.“
Berlin, 17 November 2020. Expanding into the future market of organic food: Social Chain AG (WKN: A1YC99) acquires Carl Wilhelm Clasen GmbH with its Clasen Bio brand and LGR Nuss & Trockenfrucht Veredlungs GmbH & Co KG. Clasen Bio, together with the other food brands of Social Chain, will be integrated into the new Food Chain GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Social Chain AG. Other subsidiaries of Food Chain GmbH are KoRo (57% share), 3Bears (15%) and VYTAL (12.5%). Revenue performance of Food Chain is focused on strong growth: In 2020 revenue is EUR 70 million (pro forma consolidated). An increase to EUR 100 million is expected in 2021. In the 2022 financial year, revenues are expected to increase to around EUR 140 million.
Following the acquisition of Clasen Bio, Social Chain AG is raising its revenue forecast for 2020 by 15 percent to EUR 230 million.
Wanja S. Oberhof, CEO of Social Chain AG: „Food communities and food brands will be a key growth segment for Social Chain AG. With its organic and Demeter products Clasen Bio meets a sustainable consumer trend towards healthy food. With our social media expertise we can provide Clasen Bio with new and efficient marketing and sales opportunities.“
Thomas Bönsch, Managing Director at Clasen Bio: "Social Chain is the ideal partner for our company. Social Chain AG‘s outstanding social media knowledge is the strategic lever to develop Clasen Bio into a modern direct-to-consumer brand. For Clasen Bio this means a quantum leap in terms of marketing and sales".
Clasen Bio currently sells its products primarily through food retailers. The company also uses ecommerce platforms and its own online shop for direct sales to end customers. Focus lies on the Clasen Bio brand with currently around 85 products in eight categories: nuts, dried fruits, snacks, seeds, cereals, pulses, powders and specialty flours. Since December 2019 Clasen Bio has also been
Demeter-certified and now offers a range of 15 products under this prestigious eco-label.
Food Chain: Own brands and food communities with focus on direct sales to end customers
Besides Clasen Bio the new Food Chain GmbH is home to three more brands:
KoRo, 3Bears and VYTAL.
KoRo operates its own food online shops in seven European countries (koro-drogerie.de). The
company focuses on high-quality products in bulk packaging with resulting cost savings for end
customers. KoRo uses social media almost exclusively for marketing and is therefore one of the
pioneers of social commerce in the food sector. Only recently, the Social Chain increased its
shareholding in KoRo to 57 percent (media release from 13 November 2020).
3Bears produces and distributes innovative porridge products from oats, made from only natural
ingredients and superfoods (3bears.de). 3Bears has established itself over the past two years as a
well-known and popular brand that can be found both online and on many supermarket shelves.
VYTAL is an innovative digital reusable system for the collection and delivery of meals and
convenience food (vytal.org). As a platform provider, the start-up VYTAL already has more than 400
partners across Germany – mainly restaurants, canteens and delivery services – and recently
started an app that allows users to order food conveniently and contact-free without waste. VYTAL
became known in the latest season of "Die Höhle der Löwen" (the equivalent to the UK‘s "Dragons'
Den") and has been growing rapidly ever since.
Social Chain AG will support its subsidiary Food Chain with its extensive social media expertise. The
focus is on direct marketing of products to end customers. In doing so, it can also rely on existing
reach. The Social Chain community "Love Food" has 6.7 million followers on Instagram and 3.1
million fans on Facebook. This makes "Love Food" one of the most successful food communities of
a social publisher worldwide.
Wanja S. Oberhof: "The new Food Chain ensures impact and transparency in an important product
segment of Social Chain. We see a multitude of cooperation opportunities and synergy effects
between the brands within Food Chain, from production and logistics to marketing, sales and
internationalisation processes. Through further acquisitions, we will also strengthen our position as
a modern social media brand owner in the food market of the future. Food Chain is a prime
example of our strategy of combining e-commerce and social media. Our integrated knowledge of
social media and social commerce is the most important factor for driving the organic growth of our
own brands efficiently and dynamically.“
