Baking & Snack - April 2014 - 16

Hearthside Food gets new investors

Goldman Sachs, an investment banking and securities firm, and Vestar Capital Partners, a
private equity firm, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Hearthside Food Solutions from
Wind Point Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Based in Downers Grove, IL, Hearthside Food Solutions is the nation's largest independent bakery and a full-service contract manufacturer of grain-based food and snack
products for many of the world's leading brands. Hearthside offers a diverse product portfolio focused on four main platform categories: bars, cookies/crackers, granola/cereals and
snacks. The company manufactures more than 150 brands and 1,400 SKUs for its top customers. It operates 20 food-manufacturing facilities in eight states.
"When we launched Hearthside in 2009, we envisioned a company that could transform
the contract manufacturing industry," said Rich Scalise, Hearthside's chairman and chief executive officer. "We have achieved that goal, building an industry leader and a highly successful business in the last five years based on the principles of being fast, flexible and adding
more value. Going forward, by leveraging the experience and relationships of both Goldman
and Vestar, we are confident we can take the company to the next level of growth in the contract manufacturing industry. We look forward to working with our new partners."
- Eric Schroeder, Milling & Baking News

Flowers partners with Aunt Millie's

Aunt Millie's Bakeries, Fort Wayne, IN, signed an agreement with Flowers Foods under which
Aunt Millie's will have the exclusive license to bake and market Wonder and Home Pride
breads in northern Illinois, including Chicago, northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin.
Terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed.
With the agreement, Wonder and Home Pride will return to store shelves for the first
time since November 2012 in the area covered by the agreement. Aunt Millie's presence
in the Chicago bread market largely was made possible by the shelf space vacated when
Hostess Brands was forced into bankruptcy, John B. (Bohn) Popp, vice-president of marketing, recently told Milling & Baking News.
"We are now full blown 100% in Chicago," he said. "And that's expensive. We went from
20% to 90% in less than three months, adding 50 to 60 routes."
Thomasville, GA-based Flowers said its baking plants have reintroduced Wonder and
the other brands it acquired from Hostess Brands to its DSD market, which reaches about
79% of the US population in the East, South, Southwest and California.
In November, Aunt Millie's entered into a limited distribution agreement with Hostess
Brands LLC, giving Aunt Millie's the right to sell Hostess snack cakes, including Twinkies, Ho
Hos and CupCakes, in its markets, including Indiana, most of Illinois (including Chicago),
Milwaukee and the northern parts of Kentucky, where Aunt Millie's currently has distribution.
- L. Joshua Sosland, Milling & Baking News

Formost Fuji turns 50

Employees of Formost Fuji, Woodinville, WA, gathered with Norm Formo, the company's
president, to celebrate its 50th anniversary in March. Al Formo, Norm's father, opened
Formost Fuji on St. Patrick's Day 1963. At the time, the company developed one of the first
high-speed bread-bagging machines using polybags. Today, the Formost bagger is in use
around the world for bread and other bakery items. "A family-owned company reaching
its 50th birthday is quite an accomplishment that we all can take pride in," Mr. Formo said.
"We are a successful, thriving company thanks to the efforts of all our people."

16 Baking & Snack April 2014 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Awrey's Bakery, Livonia, MI,
opened the doors on a gluten-free
baking room, allowing it to operate without fear of contamination
from other products being made
in the same facility. The company,
acquired in February 2013 by an
investor group led by Jim McColgan
and Rob Beebe, launched nearly 40
gluten-free products, including flour
and brownie mix, pasta, bread, buns,
muffins and dinner rolls.
Russell T. Bundy, founder and
owner of Bundy Baking Solutions,
Urbana, OH, received the Robert
A. Fischer Distinguished Service
Award from the American Society
of Baking (ASB) during BakingTech
2014, the society's annual technical
conference. Established in 1999 and
named for ASB's former secretary
and president, the award recognizes
outstanding service and leadership
by an individual to the society.
Milner Milling Co., Chattanooga,
TN, and its partner milling company
Pendleton Flour Mills will acquire
Cereal Food Processors, Mission
Woods, KS. Terms of the transaction
were not disclosed. Milner said a
new name for the combined business
would be announced at a later time.
C-P Flexible Packaging expanded
one of its York, PA, facilities with the
addition of a 42,000-sq-ft distribution
warehouse. C-P has two manufacturing locations in York with a total of
177, 000 sq ft of operational space.

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Baking & Snack - April 2014

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