LOVELAND The companies behind the Northern Colorado snacks Ka-Pop! and Bubba’s Fine Foods are merging and opening a new contract-manufacturing operation for other snack-makers at the same time.
The new company, called Awakened Foods LLC, will act as a holding company for the two snack brands and operate a separate private-label manufacturing line out of the Bubba’s plant in south Loveland at 225 42nd S. SW under the name Awakened Food Crafters, CEO Dustin Finkel said.
Ka-Pop!, the trade name for inGRAINed Inc., makes air-popped chips from sorghum. Finkel, who founded that brand, appeared on the venture-capital show “Shark Tank” last year but did not receive funding. Bubba’s Foods LLC produces flavored banana chips and grain-free granola made out of bananas, coconut flakes and nuts. The company specifically uses saba bananas, a cultivar that has the texture of a plantain and tastes like sweet potato when cooked.
Awakened Food Crafters
Awakened Food Crafters addresses the gaps in the health food manufacturing marketplace by providing high-end customer service and consistent, high-quality products. Awakened Food Crafters brings a leadership team with over 70 years of CPG and food manufacturing experience to the table with a wide variety of production and innovation capabilities. In a recent survey we conducted, we found that well over 50% of natural food brands were dissatisfied with their current co-manufacturer, said Dustin Finkel, CEO of Awakened Foods, parent company to Awakened Food Crafters. Often its because their co-man is unable to work with high growth brands with rigorous standards. That s not the case with Awakened Food Crafters. We are also branded business owners living that same experience. We have designed our entire team and manufacturing facility around the belief that we need to accelerate capabilities in health, taste, and quality for fast-growing partners.