Muir Glen, one of the first organic brands General Mills bought decades ago, has been sold to Violet Foods LLC, a manufacturer of pizza sauce, pasta sauce and other tomato-based products. Price was not disclosed.
Muir Glen makes tomato sauce, puree and canned tomatoes, all of them organic. General Mills acquired the brand when it bought Small Planet Foods in 1999, the first of a wave of organic companies and brands Big G acquired early in this millenium.
“This acquisition marks a significant expansion for Violet Foods, which owns a portfolio of brands including Sclafani, Fattoria Fresca and Don Pepino -- the No. 1 pizza sauce brand in the Northeast,” said the acquirer.
“By integrating Muir Glen’s nationally distributed organic tomato products with Violet Foods’ established position in fresh-pack tomato offerings, Violet Foods is building a complementary product portfolio to better serve its retail partners.”
Apparently Amphora Equity Partners is an equity partner in Violet Foods, which claims operations dating back more than 100 years.
About the Author
Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.