Peterson Brands

What Peterson Brands does

Peterson Brands, LLC is a U.S. private food and beverage manufacturer specializing in shelf-stable 100% juice products sold under the HC Plus brand and its own label. The company was previously known as King Brands and rebranded to Peterson Brands in 2025; it is headquartered in Shelby, Michigan, with a physical address in Fort Myers, Florida, and operates with 101–250 employees.

Its core offering consists of three packaging formats — juice cups, juice boxes (liter aseptic boxes), and juice pouches — all built on aseptic shelf-stable packaging technology that eliminates the need for refrigeration while preserving fresh taste and delivering 100% of the RDI of Vitamin C per serving. The underlying technical differentiator is the aseptic packaging process and format flexibility, enabling use cases that refrigerated juice cannot serve at scale.

Peterson Brands generates revenue by selling shelf-stable juice products to institutional foodservice operators, including healthcare facilities, cruise lines, airline caterers, schools, military, and restaurants, with go-to-market executed exclusively through major distributors who stock the products nationwide. The company completed two acquisitions in 2025 — Cool Tropics in April and Country Pure Foods (acquired from Blue Point Capital Partners) in December — materially expanding its manufacturing footprint, national reach, and entry into retail channels alongside its core foodservice business.

Name

Peterson Brands

Legal name

Peterson Brands, LLC

Website

https://www.kingsbrand.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Peterson Brands is a U.S. private food and beverage manufacturer producing aseptic shelf-stable 100% juices under the HC Plus brand in cups, liter boxes, and pouches, sold through major distributors to healthcare, cruise, airline, school, military, and restaurant foodservice operators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Shelf-Stable Juice Manufacturing

NAICS

Beverage Manufacturing (3121), Food Manufacturing (311)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Food And Kindred Products (2000), Canned, Frozen & Preservd Fruit, Veg & Food Specialties (2030)

akta.pro primary industry

Refrigerated Juices & Smoothies (CRADACAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Beverage Concentrates, Syrups & Mixers Wholesale (AFAIAGAF)

Keywords

• Shelf-stable juice
• Aseptic packaging
• Foodservice beverages
• Juice manufacturing
• Private label juice

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Myers

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Beverage Product Sales: Peterson Brands generates revenue through the sale of shelf stable juice products to the food service industry, including healthcare, cruise ships, airlines, schools, military, and restaurants. Products are marketed under the HC Plus brand and distributed through major distributors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Peterson Brands manufactures and supplies shelf-stable 100% juice products for the foodservice industry, packaged in aseptic liter boxes, juice cups, and juice pouches that require no refrigeration. Products are marketed under the HC Plus brand and distributed through major distributors to healthcare facilities, cruise lines, airline caterers, schools, military, and restaurants.

Product overview

Peterson Brands is a shelf stable juice supplier for the food service industry, offering three core packaging formats under its own brand and the HC Plus sub-brand: Juice Cups (ready-to-serve individual portions), Juice Boxes (aseptic liter boxes with extended shelf life), and Juice Pouches (on-the-go format). All products use aseptic technology requiring no refrigeration. The company's recent acquisition of Country Pure Foods expands its national beverage reach in both retail and foodservice channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HC Plus: Brand under which Peterson Brands markets its shelf-stable juice products, including 100% juice with 100% RDI of Vitamin C per serving.

Products and services

• Juice Cups Ready-to-serve shelf-stable juice cups that require no refrigeration, designed for the foodservice industry including healthcare facilities, schools, and restaurants.
• Juice Boxes Aseptic shelf-stable liter juice boxes providing longer-lasting freshness without refrigeration, targeted at foodservice providers such as cruise ships, airlines, and healthcare facilities.
• Juice Pouches Convenient shelf-stable juice pouches for on-the-go consumption, designed for foodservice operations requiring no-refrigeration storage and portability.
• HC Plus Brand Juices Private label sub-brand under which Peterson Brands markets its 100% juice products to healthcare facilities, schools, military, airlines, cruise lines, and other foodservice-related industries, delivering 100% of the RDI of Vitamin C per serving.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% of the RDI of Vitamin C per serving in HC Plus Juices

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• PepsiCo: Owns Tropicana, Naked Juice, and other juice brands with significant foodservice and retail presence. Competes for institutional juice placements and adjacent categories but operates at massive branded-CPG scale beyond Peterson Brands' niche.
• Hain Celestial Group: Natural and organic CPG company with shelf-stable beverages including juices and plant-based drinks across institutional and retail channels. Comparable in shelf-stable production and institution-friendly packaging, though with a broader health-and-wellness portfolio.
• Keurig Dr Pepper: Owns Mott's, Hawaiian Punch, and Snapple, giving it a sizable juice and fruit-beverage portfolio across retail and foodservice. Overlaps in juice category but with a much broader beverage portfolio and stronger consumer-brand positions.
• The Coca-Cola Company: Owns and operates major juice brands including Minute Maid, Simply, and fairlife with extensive foodservice distribution globally. Overlaps with Peterson Brands through juice category and institutional/foodservice channels but at vastly broader portfolio scale.

Direct peers

• SunOpta: SunOpta is a North American plant-based foods and beverages manufacturer with a dedicated focus on aseptic shelf-stable packaging across juices and dairy alternatives. Direct business-model overlap with Peterson Brands in aseptic shelf-stable beverage production and institutional channels.
• Old Orchard Brands: Family-owned juice and juice-concentrate manufacturer producing shelf-stable bottled juice for retail and foodservice channels. Directly comparable in product format, category (juice), and aseptic/bottling production model.
• Florida's Natural Growers: Citrus cooperative producing shelf-stable Florida orange juice and other citrus juices for retail and foodservice. Directly comparable in shelf-stable juice manufacturing and foodservice channel exposure, with similar geographic ties to Florida.
• Tree Top: Grower-owned apple and juice processor producing shelf-stable apple juice and concentrates for foodservice and ingredient customers. Comparable in production technology (aseptic/shelf-stable) and B2B-focused juice manufacturing.
• Country Pure Foods: Recently acquired wholly-owned subsidiary of Peterson Brands; prior to acquisition it operated the same aseptic single-serve juice business serving retail and foodservice. Historically the most direct operational peer with near-identical product portfolio and customer mix.
• Lassonde Industries (Apple & Eve / R.W. Knudsen Family): Canadian beverage company with a meaningful juice shelf-stable portfolio (Apple & Eve, R.W. Knudsen), serving retail and institutional buyers. Comparable in shelf-stable juice manufacturing, brand portfolio structure, and channel mix.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/KingBrandsLLC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kings-brand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Peterson Brands