Freedom Pizza acquires Coco Yogo

KRSH Investments – the investment arm that owns Freedom Pizza, Big Dwarf Food Tech and a joint venture partner in Wild Peeta – recently completed the acquisition of Coco Yogo Vegan Kitchen.

Coco Yogo founder, Turner Francis created Coco Yogo in 2013 in aid of her quest to find tasty foods that wouldn’t aggravate her debilitating allergies. Coco Yogo products are all free from dairy, soy, corn, gluten, eggs, preservatives and refined sugar. Coco Yogo offers a range that includes cheesecakes, ice-cream sandwiches, yoghurts, coconut butter and cream cheese. Francis has worked tirelessly to create products that only include a small number of ingredients, experimenting with flavours to ensure the experience and enjoyment of eating a dessert is not lost. Coco Yogo will continue to operate from its 100% raw vegan kitchen in the Green Community in Dubai.

Commenting on the acquisition, Ian Ohan, KRSH Investment founder & CEO, states “We view veganism as an immutable and rapidly expanding, global food paradigm. Our acquisition of Coco Yogo is strategically important in the context of our broader vision of making healthy food easy, convenient and available to everyone on demand.

“When Turner decided to relocate to Mexico, she came to us to see if we would continue her legacy. We are honoured to do just that and Turner will stay on board with us as founder, chef, spokesperson and creative visionary for the company. We will ramp up investment and also apply our technology, delivery and operating infrastructure to grow Coco Yogo into the global company it is destined to be,” he adds.

The growth and success of Coco Yogo to date is largely down to the raw vegan recipes that Francis has created and developed. Francis has garnered a huge amount of credibility and her products are trusted by the vegan community. With the growing trend towards veganism as a lifestyle choice and not exclusive to allergy suffers, the demand for Coco Yogo products have surpassed all of Turner’s initial expectations.

Speaking about the acquisition, Francis says, “I founded Coco Yogo six years ago and I wanted to make sure that it ended up in capable hands. Once I put the word out, I had many interested parties coming to the table, but my objective was about finding the right team that would be able to take Coco Yogo to the next level. My relationship with Freedom Pizza was faultless and the conscious effort that they make to provide vegan offerings, coupled with their excellent online delivery platform provided me with the comfort that they were the best fit. Coco Yogo is the first raw vegan gluten free grab and go concept in region. With the amazing team that we now have in place, I am confident that Coco Yogo will not only expand across the UAE but also regionally and internationally.”