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TruFood Manufacturing, Bar Bakers to Merge, Expanding Production, Geographic Footprint

May 6, 2024

Companies focused on nutritional bars and snacks expect to grow network and production capacity through deal.

TruFood Manufacturing, a U.S. nutrition bar, chocolate and baked granola contract manufacturer, has merged with Bar Bakers LLC, a nutritional snacks manufacturer, according to a release. The new combined company will have a significant footprint across product categories and geographies, according to the announcement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

TruFood CEO Michael Buick will manage the combined company, while Bar Bakers founder and CEO Harold Rothman will join the board of directors for the new company. Gary Jacobs, president of Bar Bakers, will become COO of the new company.

Los Alamitos, Calif.-based Bar Bakers was founded in 2013 and has been an integral West Coast manufacturing for major nutritional snack brands, the release noted, featuring cold form, baked bars, and cookie and wafer manufacturing capabilities. Bar Bakers employs more than 1,000 people in four manufacturing sites and two warehouses in California. Combined with TruFood, the new company will expand the network capacity and broaden production capacity.

“The coming together of TruFood and Bar Bakers marks a significant milestone as it strengthens our position in the nutritional snacks market. As a result, we have expanded our capabilities and portfolio of products and strategically extended our manufacturing footprint to the West Coast,” Buick noted in the announcement.

Investment firm Manna Tree has joined Mubadala Capital in supporting this venture.

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.