Hot Sauce, Bases Processor Summit Hill Foods Acquired by Private Equity

Nov. 30, 2023

Owner of Better Than Bouillon and The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce sees growth opportunity in EagleTree Capital deal.

Rome, Ga.-based Summit Hill Foods, owner of Better Than Bouillon and The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce, has been acquired by private-equity firm EagleTree Capital, according to a release distributed today.

The operations and management teams of Summit Hill Foods, which was founded in 1941 as a family-owned bakery and has grown into a branded food company, will remain in place, the announcement stated. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Aside from Better Than Bouillon and The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce, Summit Hill Foods produces the Better Than Gravy, Southeastern Mills and Shore Lunch brands, as well as bases and sauces for a variety of restaurant, foodservice and industrial customers. Summit Hill Foods CEO Steve Goodyear called EagleTree’s investment an “exciting new chapter” that will allow the company to accelerate growth, innovation and expansion of market reach for the company’s product lines.

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.