specialty food

Gourmet Culinary Partners, a portfolio company of AUA Private Equity Partners, has acquired Holiday Foods from Schwan’s Company.

Hollywood, Florida-based Holiday Foods is a developer and marketer of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres sold to distributors, luxury hotels, private clubs, banquet houses, and caterers.

AUA formed Gourmet Culinary Partners (GCP) in May 2019 as a platform to acquire US-based premium specialty food manufacturers serving the foodservice and retail sectors. With the acquisition of Holiday Foods, GCP has now completed five add-on acquisitions. The four earlier buys were:

• Van-Lang Enterprises, an Illinois-based manufacturer and distributor of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres (acquired in January 2020);

• Gourmet Kitchen, a New Jersey-based manufacturer of specialty prepared foods for hotels, restaurants, universities, corporate campuses, and distributors. The company’s products include appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, breakfast items, ethnic products, and desserts (acquired in March 2019);

• Kabobs, a Georgia-based manufacturer of hors d’oeuvres, side items and ethnic and breakfast products that are sold to foodservice operators, hotels, convention centers, corporate campuses, professional caterers and universities (acquired in April 2019); and

• Gourmet Foods, a California-headquartered manufacturer and distributor of specialty prepared foods including soups, sauces, hors d’oeuvres, appetizers, side items, and breakfast dishes serving the airline, hospitality, restaurant, catering, retail and corporate campuses industries (acquired in July 2019).

The combination of these five acquisitions provides GCP with a national footprint that allows the company to serve national accounts in the hospitality, banquet, airline, retail, education, and corporate sectors with a portfolio of appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, breakfast foods, side dishes, soups, sauces, and entrees.

GCP is led by CEO Ronan Minahan; CFO Terra Jacobs; SVP – Human Resources Julie Cunningham; and VP of Supply Chain Robbie Scott. AUA assembled this team of experienced food executives beginning in August 2019. Mr. Minahan is the former president of ARYZTA America, a Chicago-based maker of breads, cookies, donuts, pastries, buns, and flatbreads sold to major retailers, food service providers and restaurants.

“Our aim at GCP is to partner with our customers, both at a national and a local level, to help fuel their culinary success through a shared passion to create on-trend, innovative, consistently high quality, real food that delivers authentic experiences,” said Mr. Minahan. “We are delighted to have Holiday Foods join our partnership, allowing all of our customers to benefit from our integrated and growing platform.”

The buy of Holiday Foods was led by Managing Director Kyce Chihi, Vice President Ari David, and Winter Associate, Nicolas Pflaum.

New York City-based AUA Private Equity makes equity investments from $20 million to $75 million in companies with at least $5 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include consumer products and services with a focus on family-owned businesses and companies benefiting from the growth of the US Hispanic population.

Schwan’s Company, the seller of Holiday Foods, is a manufacturer of frozen food products sold to grocery stores and foodservice companies. The company is headquartered 125 miles west of Minneapolis in Marshall, Minnesota. In February 2019, the founding Schwan family sold a majority of the company to CJ Cheil Jedang, a publicly traded South Korean food company based in Seoul.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | March 6, 2020

Gourmet Culinary Partners (GCP), a portfolio company of AUA Private Equity Partners, has acquired Van-Lang Enterprises. This is the fourth add-on for GCP since its formation by AUA in May 2019.

Van-Lang is a family-owned manufacturer and distributor of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres with national distribution and a strong presence in the Midwest as well as self-distribution capabilities in the Chicago marketplace.

Van-Lang’s products include spring rolls; egg rolls; potstickers and wontons; skewers and satays; kabobs; mini pizzas and calzones; mini quiches; flatbreads; and vegan, seafood, poultry and beef specialties. Customers of the company include luxury hotels, private clubs, banquet houses, and caterers. Van Lang was founded in 1986 and has a 20,000 sq. ft. production facility and headquarters near Chicago in Countryside, Illinois.

AUA formed Gourmet Culinary Partners (GCP) in May 2019 as a platform to acquire US-based premium specialty food manufacturers serving the foodservice and retail sectors. With the acquisition of Van-Lang, GCP has now acquired four companies and achieves a national footprint that allows the company to serve national accounts.

The three earlier buys were Gourmet Kitchen, a Neptune, New Jersey-based manufacturer of specialty prepared foods for hotels, restaurants, universities, corporate campuses, and distributors. The company’s products include appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, breakfast items, ethnic products, and desserts (acquired in March 2019); Kabobs, a Lake City, Georgia-based manufacturer of hors d’oeuvres, side items and ethnic and breakfast products that are sold to foodservice operators, hotels, convention centers, corporate campuses, professional caterers and universities (acquired in April 2019); and Gourmet Foods, a Rancho Dominguez, California-headquartered manufacturer and distributor of specialty prepared foods including soups, sauces, hors d’oeuvres, appetizers, side items, and breakfast dishes serving the airline, hospitality, restaurant, catering, retail and corporate campuses industries (acquired in July 2019).

With the acquisition of Van-Lang, GCP now has a national footprint that allows the company to serve national accounts. “We are excited to bring together four highly complementary industry leaders to create a national, end-to-end foodservice platform focused on the hospitality, restaurant, airline, catering, educational, and retail sectors,” said Andy Unanue, the managing partner of AUA Private Equity. “The acquisition of Van-Lang provides national scale for GCP.”

“We are thrilled to continue to expand the GCP platform through the acquisition of Van-Lang and the ability to offer a true national presence,” said Steven Flyer, a partner of AUA Private Equity. “Through the GCP platform, AUA Private Equity has created a leading one-stop-shop for a customer’s complete culinary needs. Our goal is to be the partner of choice to chefs, culinary professionals, and operators nationwide.”

The buy of Van-Lang was led by Mr. Flyer, Vice President Ari David, Associate Greg Conway, and Winter Associate Nicolas Pflaum.

AUA Private Equity makes equity investments from $20 million to $75 million in companies with at least $5 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include consumer products and services with a focus on family-owned businesses and companies benefiting from the growth of the US Hispanic population. AUA is headquartered in New York City.

© 2020 Private Equity Professional | January 17, 2020

Stonewall Kitchen, a portfolio company of Centre Partners, has acquired the Tillen Farms brand of cocktail garnishes.

The Tillen Farms brand features a line of 12 cocktail garnishes that are sold to the grocery, specialty retail, health food, liquor and foodservice markets. The company’s pickled vegetables are primarily grown in Washington’s Yakima Valley and are available in several different varieties of asparagus, dilly beans, carrots, and snap peas. Tillen Farms’ pitted and stemmed cherries are locally grown in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and include popular varieties like Bada Bing, Merry Maraschino, and Rainier Reserve.

The company’s vegetables and cherries are gluten-free, vegan, as wells as nut and peanut-free, and most varieties are kosher certified and non-GMO certified (www.tillenfarms.com).

Stonewall Kitchen, acquired by Centre Partners in October 2014, is a maker, retailer and wholesaler of specialty jams, sauces, crackers, pancake mixes and other food products. The company has more than 6,000 wholesale accounts nationwide and internationally, and also sells its products online and through a catalog and operates 10 retail stores along the East Coast. The company was founded in 1991 is headquartered in York, ME (www.stonewallkitchen.com)

“We are very excited to combine our two premium specialty food brands,” said John Stiker, Chief Executive Officer of Stonewall Kitchen. “Tillen Farms is a strong and well-recognized brand and a leader in the pickled vegetable and cocktail cherry categories, with delicious offerings like pickled asparagus, spicy dilly beans, and their signature Bada Bing cherries.”

Centre Partners invests from $10 million to $50 million in North American based middle market companies that have $30 million to $300 million in revenue and $5 million to $40 million in EBITDA.  Sectors of interest include branded and private label consumer, and healthcare. Centre Partners was founded in 1986 and has offices in New York and Los Angeles (www.centrepartners.com).

“Joining the Stonewall Kitchen family is the perfect fit for us. They have long been known for their strengths in product development and brand building, and we’ve already started working together on several new products set to launch later this year which will be wonderful additions to our already successful product line-up,” said Tim Metzger, the Founder of Tillen Farms.

“With the acquisition of Tillen Farms, Stonewall Kitchen has taken the first step towards achieving our vision of becoming the premier specialty foods platform in North America.  With our expertise in brand building, product development, and omni-channel distribution, we are excited to continue to grow our business both organically and through additional selective acquisitions,” added Mr. Stiker.

© 2018 Private Equity Professional | January 16, 2018