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Indiana Wholesale Baker Lewis Brothers Bakeries Receives PE Firm Investment

Oct. 8, 2024

One Rock Capital will back growth, innovation for the maker of well-known Midwest brands Bunny Bread and Butternut.

Evansville, Ind.-based wholesale baker Lewis Brothers Bakeries Inc. has received a strategic investment from an affiliate of private-equity firm One Rock Capital Partners LLC, according to a release from the investment company. Lewis Bakeries sells the Lewis Bake Shop, Bunny Bread, Butternut and Healthy Life brands.

The wholesale baker will celebrate its 100^th anniversary next year, and it employs about 2,000 people in five bakeries in Indiana and Tennessee, with distribution across 17 states, mostly in the Midwest. H. Dean Short is the president of the third-generation business and grandson to R. Jack Lewis, who founded the company in 1925 with two of his brothers. Short will continue to serve as president following the One Rock investment.

One Rock believes the bakery’s focus on high quality and customer-focused innovation positions it for “further growth in new product categories and geographies,” said Jack Rosenberg, partner at One Rock. The firm expects to help Lewis Bakeries improve its operational capabilities and pursue acquisitions and partnerships as well.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.