1908 Brands acquires Wholly Bites

BOULDER — Wholly Bites, a Longmont-based company that produces gluten-free, paleo-friendly snack clusters, has been acquired by 1908 Brands, which manufactures sustainable and natural brands.

Financial terms of the transaction, which was completed Dec. 22, were not available.

Wholly Bites was co-founded by Lisa Turner in 2013 as Miri Organics Inc. and launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in June 2014 in hopes of raising $15,000 to ramp up production and source a steady supply of organic ingredients. Its granola-like snacks contain no grain or other processed material.

“We are thrilled to bring Wholly Bites into the 1908 Brands family; especially since it is also our first food brand,” said Steve Savage, founder and chief executive of 1908 Brands, in a prepared statement. “Our mission is to produce brands with integrity that are rooted in nature, and the addition of Wholly Bites will help us fulfill that mission.”

Wholly Bites leases kitchen space at Renewable Energy Manufacturing, 1820 Industrial Circle in Longmont. It has five employees, all of whom will remain, Savage and Turner said. Its products are available at such natural-foods outlets as Sprouts, Lucky’s, Whole Foods and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage.

Turner will join the product-development team at Boulder-based 1908 Brands, which plans

to expand and fine-tune the Wholly Bites product line and rebrand it in coming months. “We’ll start on that tomorrow,” Savage said Wednesday.

The acquisition marks the third brand to be produced, manufactured and marketed by 1908 Brands, a company founded in 2010 by Savage, who also founded and ran Eco-Products. The others are Boulder Clean, which makes cleaning and laundry products, and CompoKeeper, which makes a compost-collection bin for kitchens.