December 28/Beloit, Wis./Prepared FoodsMagazine -- Kerry acquired Portland, Maine-based X Café, a developer of shelf-stable coffee extracts. The acquisition is expected to reinforce Kerry’s overall beverage strategy in North America, expand its breadth of beverage process and packaging capability, and enable the company to develop and deliver more integrated beverage solutions for its customers in the industrial and foodservice channels. Kerry anticipates the addition of the coffee extract technologies combined with Kerry’s technology portfolio and application expertise will advance Kerry’s ability to help customers deliver innovative consumer products for the energy drink, soft drink, ready-to-drink coffee beverage markets and foodservice channel. “We are excited about the increased capabilities gained from our combined organization and look forward to are leveraging our capabilities to help customers deliver consumer-preferred products faster and with greater value,” stated Jason Hawkins, president of Kerry’s beverage ingredients & flavor technologies in North America.“We are very pleased to be a part of Kerry. Our combined organization further solidifies our position as the market leader in the Americas, while strengthening our ability to service the global markets in both foodservice and ingredient sectors,” said X Café president Paul Kalenian.

From the January 5, 2009, Prepared Foods e-Flash