Wild Oats Brand Still in Play

MARK HAMSTRA

AUSTIN, Texas — Just as it appeared that the Wild Oats brand would fade into natural and organic history, two companies have emerged as bidders to potentially resurrect the storied name, which is now owned by Whole Foods Market here.

Skokie, Ill.-based Topco Associates, the retailer-owned private-label cooperative, and Fullerton, Calif.-based Luberski Inc., a supplier of egg and dairy products under various brands, have been named the finalists in what was described as a long and arduous bidding process. Sources told SN that both companies would seek to resurrect the defunct Wild Oats private label, a once-hot brand that Wild Oats Market had begun supplying to supermarkets nationally shortly before being acquired by Whole Foods in 2007.

“We think this could be a viable niche, if we are given the opportunity to run with it,” said Mike Sencer, executive vice president at Luberski Inc.

The private-label line, which included “thousands” of items, was being offered through several other venues, including Ahold's Peapod and Stop & Shop divisions; Schenectady, N.Y.-based Price Chopper; Carteret, N.J.-based Pathmark Stores; and Seattle-based Amazon.com before Whole Foods phased it out over the last two years. The Federal Trade Commission last year mandated that Whole Foods seek to divest the Wild Oats trademark and intellectual property, which includes the private label, as part of its antitrust agreement.

Sencer said Luberski, which markets products under the Hidden Villa Ranch, Horizon Organic Eggs, Gold Circle Farms and other names, would likely seek to reintroduce the Wild Oats line by going back to the suppliers that previously made the products.

“We would be thrilled if we could end up with it,” he told SN. “Our plan is to open an office and put a whole team behind it, and revitalize what Wild Oats had done. We were hoping to have won this prior to all the labels leaving the marketplace, but unfortunately, that did not happen.”

As a supplier of private-label products to retailers around the country, Sencer said Luberski could easily add the line to its offerings.

“We have the marketing ability to go forward, if we are chosen to do it,” he said.

Sources told SN that Topco, which already distributes the Full Circle natural and organic line, would also seek to revive the Wild Oats brand, but possibly as a second, premium tier offered to members of the Topco cooperative in addition to Full Circle.

A Topco spokesman declined to comment on its bid to acquire the Wild Oats brand. The two bids were revealed in a filing by the FTC that seeks public comment on Whole Foods' divestiture plans. Terms of the bids were not disclosed.

As previously reported, Whole Foods also has agreements to sell three of the 32 stores the FTC has mandated it divest. Those sales are also awaiting final approval by the FTC. Washington-based Food Partners is acting as Whole Foods' divestiture agent in marketing the properties.

Andrew Wolf, a Richmond, Va.-based analyst with BB&T Capital Markets, told SN last week that he believes the Wild Oats brand might still have some cachet if the winning company were to bring it back to the market.

“It's a good name, and it had some good private label,” he said.

Topco could either decide to replace Full Circle with Wild Oats, he speculated, or use it as a “more organic” alternative for purists, and keep Full Circle as a more mainstream option.

“It seems like it already has a value image,” he said of the Full Circle line.

Edward Aaron, a Denver-based analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said he doesn't believe Wild Oats “has much brand equity left.”

When Whole Foods first announced its agreement to acquire Wild Oats, John Mackey, Whole Foods' chief executive officer, said he believed the Wild Oats private-label brand was among the company's “best assets.”

Following a two-year antitrust battle with the FTC, however, Whole Foods was forced to divest the line along with other Wild Oats intellectual property.
Additional reporting by Robert Vosburgh