Fruit bars and health products producers partner up under new investor

Fruit and nutrition bar company Living Ecology, a producer of private brand products and manufacturer of functional foods and supplements, has been acquired by a new investor and become an affiliate company with Innovations in Nutrition + Wellness, or INW, a large research, development and wellness products manufacturer.

As part of the affiliation, Living Ecology’s state-of-the-art-facilities will offer INW new capabilities to develop functional fruit and nutrition bars and products to go along with its line of powders, tablets and capsules. 

The affiliation will add two new manufacturing facilities to INW’s national footprint increasing its platform from 900,000 sq. ft. to more than 1.1 million sq. ft. across Texas, California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Rosewood Private Investments, Dallas, has acquired Living Ecology, Henderson, Nev., bringing the companies together. Living Ecology (LE) produces branded bars in Costco, Whole Foods and Starbucks and produces private label items.

The company said the health and wellness products industry is a growing $9.6 billion category.

"After 26 years of innovation and development, LE is pleased to work with RPI to foster the next iteration of the company alongside leaders in the field such as INW,” said Jack Singh, LE CEO. “RPI has a rich and successful history in the nutrition and wellness space, and we are confident LE will continue to innovate and thrive under RPI's guidance."

INW CEO Gary Giles added: "We could not think of a better company to help us with this than LE. Our customers will have expanded value within RPI's updated portfolio through state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and the addition of fruit and nutritional bar options."