Rich Products Corp. today (Feb. 10) announced it has quietly engineered three acquisitions: Rizzuto Foods, a Pacific northwest-based maker of pizza dough; Morey’s Seafood International, based in Plymouth, Minn.; and two manufacturing plants from TreeHouse Foods.
“As we enter our 75th year … expanding our product portfolio, adding greater capacity and fueling innovation are key pieces of our strategic acquisition efforts," said Ray Burke, president and chief operating officer of Rich's U.S. Canada Region. "These moves strengthen our position as a total solutions provider in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.”
By the way, Rich Products just got a new CEO on Jan. 1. Richard Ferranti, who was president, replaced Bill Gisel, who headed the company for 13 years. Gisel remains executive vice chair of Rich Holdings Inc., the parent company of Rich Products.
The manufacturing plants the company will acquire from TreeHouse Foods are in Lodi, Calif., and Fridley, Minn. They specialize in baked artisan breads and rolls and fully finished cakes for in-store bakeries and foodservice. Included is the Cottage Bakery brand.
More than 400 employees across the two plants will join Rich’s. The transaction is expected to close in April.
Rizzuto Foods, based in Spokane, Wash., makes not only traditional pizza and flatbread products but gluten-free and cauliflower crusts.
Rich Products claims its SeaPak brand already is America’s top selling retail brand in the frozen specialty seafood category; that will only be augmented by the company’s investment in Morey’s, which has a processing center in Motley, Minn., and a distribution facility in Plymouth.
Financial terms of each transaction were not disclosed.
