Second Nature Brands, a portfolio company of CapVest Partners, has acquired Brownie Brittle from Encore Consumer Capital.
Brownie Brittle manufactures and markets brownie-based snack products including chocolate chip brownies, salted caramel brownies, and peppermint brownies. The company’s products are sold to tens of thousands of club stores, grocery, mass market retailers, convenience stores, specialty retail and airlines in the US, Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Australia, and the Caribbean.
Brownie Brittle, led by CEO Jan Grywczynski, was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Second Nature Brands manufactures and distributes branded trail mixes, nut snacks and chocolate confections under the brands Kar’s Nuts, Sanders Chocolates and Second Nature Snacks. According to the company, Kar’s Nuts and Second Nature Snacks are two of the best-selling trail mix brands in the nation, including the #1 selling Kar’s Sweet ‘n Salty Mix.
Kar’s Nuts was founded in 1933 as a seller of roasted nuts outside Detroit’s Tiger Stadium and Sanders Chocolates, the inventor of “ice cream sodas” began operations in Detroit in 1875.
CapVest Partners acquired Second Nature Brands from Palladium in April 2022. Palladium had acquired Kar’s Nuts in 2017 and formed Second Nature Brands in 2021 as an umbrella entity for Kar’s Nuts, Second Nature Snacks, and Sanders Chocolates (acquired by Kar’s in 2018). Today, Second Nature Brands, led by CEO Victor Mehren, has 380 employees and two manufacturing facilities with a headquarters near Detroit in Madison Heights, Michigan.
“We have ambitious plans to become a US leader in snacks and treats and the acquisition of Brownie Brittle is an exciting step on this journey, which expands our presence into baking and unlocks a new growth stream for us,” said Mr. Mehren. “It also marks our first acquisition since being acquired by our majority investor CapVest, showing how with their support we intend to grow and develop Second Nature Brands through continued investment in the brand, channel and category expansion, as well as continued focus on product quality.”
“Brownie Brittle is a fantastic addition to the Second Nature Brands portfolio and a great first step in our plan to transform the business into a highly diversified US snacking platform,” said Othmane Khelladi, a partner at CapVest. “We are thrilled to support Second Nature Brands in their next phase of growth and to work with the team to expand their portfolio into adjacent and complimentary snacking categories.”
CapVest is a European mid-market private equity firm. The firm was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in London (www.capvest.co.uk).
Encore invests from $5 million to $40 million in consumer products companies that have revenues between $10 million and $100 million and where it can utilize its own consumer experience and the expertise of its operating partners at Encore Associates, a strategic advisory firm to the consumer products industry. San Francisco-based Encore was founded in 2005 by Managing Directors Robert Brown and Scott Sellers.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | December 13, 2022
