Blue Diamond Growers

Blue Diamond Growers is one nutty business. Some 3,000 California almond growers belong to the cooperative, which is a top global player in the tree nut market. The co-op sells almonds and almond products, hazelnuts, macadamia, pistachio, and other nuts to food and candy makers, the foodservice industry, and food retailers. Blue Diamond Growers has developed products such as Almond Breeze, an almond-based, lactose-free milk substitute; Nut Thins crackers; and special cuts and flavored varieties of the nuts. Blue Diamond, formed in 1910, sells its products throughout the US and in more than 90 other countries. It operates processing plants, receiving stations, and retail nut stores in California and Oregon.

Blue Diamond is the world's largest almond company. The co-op follows a strategy of offering new high-margin almond products. To that end, Blue Diamond has introduced more than two dozen new consumer and industrial products in recent years. They've included new flavors in its line of oil-roasted almonds for use in the manufacture of snacks and nut and trail mixes. Blue Diamond also launched a line of oven-roasted almonds packaged in "pop-and-pour" plastic bottles. The product is aimed at the consumer concerned with weight management, as well as a convenience snack for busy Americans.

During the recession and as ubiquitous cow's milk has lost market share to alternative milks, Blue Diamond has seized the opportunity to heavily market its almond milk. Indeed, today its Almond Breeze milk appears in more than 90% of US grocery stores and in many cases Americans are paying premium prices for almond milk as more consumers make the changeover for dietary or taste reasons. To this end, Almond Breeze continues to jockey for position with Silk Pure Almond milk, produced by Dean Foods.