Sabra (company)

Sabra Dipping Company, LLC is a U.S.-based company which produces Middle Eastern-style and other food products, including hummus and guacamole. It is co-owned by PepsiCo and the Strauss Group. All Sabra products are certified kosher and vegetarian, and are available throughout the U.S. and Canada. As of 2016, the company held a 60% market share for hummus sales in the United States, and was forecast to exceed $1 billion in sales in 2017.

Growth
The company was founded in 1986 by Zohar Norman and Yehuda Pearl as Sabra-Blue & White Foods. The company was bought in 2005 by Israeli food manufacturer Strauss. Prior to the acquisition by Strauss, Sabra had entered into negotiations to purchase Basha hummus, which was then the leading hummus brand in Detroit. However, the deal never closed successfully, languishing for months until it became clear that Strauss was not interested in acquiring Basha.

In March 2008, Strauss entered a joint-venture partnership with Frito-Lay, a division of the multinational PepsiCo corporation. Strauss owns 50% and PepsiCo 50% of the company. In November 2008, the company announced the construction of a new $61 million plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia, expected to employ 260 people and come on line in mid-2010. The company grew over 50% between August 2008 and August 2009.

By 2016, Sabra had gained a 60% market share of hummus in the United States, and, through its co-ownership and sales channels with PepsiCo, was close to $1 billion in annual sales. To parallel the rising consumer demand for hummus, American farmers have increased their production of chickpeas four-fold since 2009, harvesting more than 100 e6lb in 2015, up from about 25 e6lb in 2009.

Marketing
During the run-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sabra commissioned sculptor Kirk Rademaker to create busts of candidates John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton out of 100 pounds of hummus.

Sabra launched its first U.S. national advertising campaign in March 2009, with the StrawberryFrog ad agency. In May 2009, the company began a series of promotional events in which it recreated "Mediterranean villages" in 11 major U.S. cities. By 2015, Sabra had established greater presence among American and Canadian consumers by marketing a "cultural movement" based on a desire for people to experience hummus as an old world food with new tastes close to what they already knew.

Boycott campaigns
Until 2010, the Strauss Group stated on their English-language website that the company donated food packages to the Golani Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces. Activists in the BDS movement called for boycotts of Sabra products over the donations. Student groups at DePaul University, Princeton University, and the University of Ottawa campaigned unsuccessfully to have their schools switch to alternate brands. In 2019, the Dickinson College Student Senate passed a resolution endorsing a ban on Sabra Hummus.

Hummus recalls
On April 8, 2015, Sabra recalled 30,000 cases of its classic hummus after a tub in Michigan tested positive for Listeria. Inspectors with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) learned of the possible contamination by L. monocytogenes after routine inspections on March 30 at a Kroger in Port Huron, according to MDARD spokeswoman Jennifer Holton.

On November 19, 2016, Sabra voluntarily recalled multiple hummus varieties across the U.S. after Listeria was discovered at one of its manufacturing plants, though the company stated the bacteria had not been found in any of its actual products.

In March 2021, Sabra recalled about 2,100 cases of 10 oz. Classic Hummus, following a routine inspection by the FDA in the US, due to a possible salmonella contamination. The recall affected sixteen different states in the US.