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Harte Foods Buys Bako Products, Builds Chalet

Food Creation, FoodProcessing.com

Harte Foods, Inc., a dessert manufacturing company specializing in ingredients, foodservice bakery and confectionary products, announced June 17 that it has completed its acquisition of Bako Products, a Sacramento, Calif. provider of specialty bakery desserts. The operating company for both Bako Products and Harte Foods, Inc. going forward will be Bako Products DBA Chalet Specialty Foods. The new consolidation marks a milestone for Chalet Specialty Foods and the market as a whole, especially customers seeking a single provider for their organic, bakery, confectionary and sweet ingredients.

Production will be consolidated into the current Bako Products North Sacramento facility with significant production improvement in both capability and capacity with automation of existing production. Products produced by the combined companies will offer customers a broad product capability in bakery including IQF cookie dough, cheesecakes, truffle cake, mousse cake, tiramisu, sheet cakes and many other gourmet desserts. The addition of chocolate coating and candy manufacturing will be part of the plant expansion. The company will also be expanding into Organic sweet desserts products with its certification in process.
 
According to Dave Laukat, CEO of Chalet Specialty Foods, "The combination of the companies changes the industry playing field, especially in the Northern California and Sacramento markets -- helping our customers through a broad range of products and capabilities." He added, "Chalet Specialty Foods will now have deep bakery and confectionary expertise for the ingredient, in store bakery and foodservice customers."
 
Chalet Specialty Foods will soon be one of the first certified organic bakeries dealing in sweet desserts such as cakes and brownies in the market, as the plant will be certified within the next quarter. The buyout of Bako Products builds on the recent acquisition of Chalet Desserts earlier this year. 
 
For more information, visit www.chaletsf.com or call (916) 929-6868.