Sentinel Takes the Cake

Sentinel Capital Partners has acquired DecoPac, a supplier of cake decorating products and technology, from Kohlberg, marking the company’s second sale by a private equity owner over the past five years.

DecoPac supplies cake decorating products to bakeries, foodservice operators, and do-it-yourself decorators across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, serving more than 25,000 customer locations. Its product portfolio leans heavily on licensed properties from entertainment studios and professional sports leagues, developed in-house by the company’s design team and backed by a large intellectual-property portfolio.

DecoPac operates two technology platforms that complement its cake decorating products. CelebrationIQ handles online cake ordering and bakery management for commercial customers, while PhotoCake prints customized edible images directly onto baked goods. The company has also expanded its e-commerce operations to reach cake-decorating enthusiasts directly, a channel that has grown quickly in recent years.

DecoPac was formed in 1982 as an internal supplier to McGlynn’s Bakery, a family-owned chain founded in Minneapolis in 1919. McGlynn family members owned and operated the business until 2017, when Snow Phipps acquired DecoPac in partnership with the McGlynn family and existing management. Snow Phipps sold the company to Kohlberg in May 2021. Sentinel’s purchase from Kohlberg now marks DecoPac’s third institutional ownership change since the McGlynn family first brought in outside capital.

Today, the company is led by CEO Cindy Hampton and has approximately 650 employees and a headquarters near Minneapolis in Anoka, Minnesota.

“DecoPac is an exceptional business with a market-leading position, deep relationships with major retailers, and a proven track record of growth,” said Owen Basham, a partner at Sentinel. “We’re excited to partner with Cindy and the DecoPac team as they continue to innovate across the channels they serve.”

“Sentinel brings both the resources and strategic expertise to help us accelerate what we’ve already built,” said Ms. Hampton. “With their partnership, we’re well positioned to expand the range of desserts and formats we serve, bring more decoration options to our existing customers, and reach consumers through new and emerging channels, all while delivering on DecoPac’s mission to make every celebration more joyful.”

“DecoPac occupies an attractive position in a highly specialized category, with a strong management team and proprietary technology. We are pleased to have supported the company’s development and wish the DecoPac team continued success,” said Seth Hollander, a senior partner at Kohlberg.

The transaction lands against a steadily expanding backdrop for cake products generally. According to Grand View Research, the global cake market is projected to grow from $65.7 billion in 2023 to $80.4 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 3.0%, with customization and personalization cited as key drivers of that expansion—the same trend underlying DecoPac’s licensing strategy and its print-on-demand technology.

New York City-based Sentinel invests in midmarket companies across business services, consumer, healthcare services, and industrial sectors in the United States and Canada. The firm targets equity investments of $10 million to $75 million in businesses with enterprise values between $25 million and $250 million and EBITDA of $7 million to $65 million. Since its founding in 1995, Sentinel has raised more than $11 billion of capital.

Founded in 1987, Kohlberg is a middle-market private equity firm headquartered in Mount Kisco, New York. In 2018, Blackstone acquired a passive minority equity interest in the firm through its Strategic Capital Holdings Fund. Kohlberg’s most recent flagship fund, Kohlberg Investors X LP, closed in September 2024 with $4.3 billion of capital commitments. In addition, Kohlberg raised approximately $1.0 billion in commitments for a dedicated co-investment vehicle alongside Fund X.

Harris Williams and William Blair were the financial advisors to Kohlberg.