Kraft Heinz coffee business sold to One Rock for $650m
Maxwell House, Gevalia and five other brands move to private equity as Kraft Heinz retreats from coffee, nearly a decade after it last expanded into the category.
Kraft Heinz coffee is moving to private equity. The company has agreed to sell its North American coffee division, built around Maxwell House, to One Rock Capital Partners for $650 million.
Kraft Heinz will keep a 30% non-controlling stake in the business and expects roughly $500 million in net cash proceeds after tax, which it plans to use to pay down debt. The company has not disclosed how the price was reached, but the structure lets it book cash now while still sharing in any recovery the brands make under new ownership.
Kraft Heinz coffee brands head to One Rock
We intend to accelerate investment across the brand portfolio to drive growth and innovation.
The deal carries Maxwell House, Gevalia, Nabob, Yuban, Tassimo, Ethical Bean and Sanka, along with coffee plants in Jacksonville, Florida, and Vancouver, British Columbia. About 250 staff across manufacturing, sales, marketing, finance, HR and R&D are expected to transfer with the business.
The sale is expected to close in mid-2027, subject to regulatory approval. One Rock managing partner Tony W. Lee said the firm intends "to accelerate investment across the brand portfolio to drive growth and innovation." One Rock has run this playbook before: it bought Nestlé's North American bottled water business in 2021.
The deal lands in an unsettled US coffee market, days after Wilfa relaunched in the US with a new coffee lineup and weeks after Nestlé's Q3 results beat forecasts on coffee strength.
A retreat years in the making
Kraft Heinz's 2025 results cited higher coffee costs and falling volumes, though the company has not disclosed the division's revenue or profitability. The sale follows a reversal: Kraft Heinz announced plans to split into two public companies in September 2025, then paused that plan in February 2026.
Maxwell House predates Kraft Heinz by decades. It arrived through General Foods, which merged with Kraft under Philip Morris in 1989, stayed with Kraft Foods Group after the 2012 split that produced Mondelez International, and landed at Kraft Heinz with the 2015 merger with H.J. Heinz. The company doubled down on coffee as recently as 2018, buying Vancouver roaster Ethical Bean. Within a decade, it has gone the other way entirely.
