US bakery major Flowers Foods has acquired local business Koffee Kup Bakery from a court-appointed receiver.
Financial terms were not disclosed in an announcement made at 4.30pm ET yesterday (7 June).
Go deeper with GlobalData
Last month, Canada-based baker Mrs. Dunster reportedly announced it was the “preferred purchaser” of the assets.
Flowers said its acquisition of Koffee Kup Bakery, based in the north-eastern US state of Vermont, includes three closed bakeries and two brands.
“This acquisition brings brands and production capacity in the north east, a key growth market for our company,” Ryals McMullian, Flowers’ president and CEO, said. “The Koffee Kup and Vermont Bread Company brands have a strong consumer following in the region and we’ll be evaluating their role within our brand portfolio.”
McMullian said Flowers would not instantly open the factories but insisted the company is weighing up what to do with the sites. “We have no immediate plans to reopen the bakeries but will be assessing how they may fit our strategic network optimisation efforts in the future.”
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataKoffee Kup Bakery, set up in 1940, closed in April. The company marketed bread, English muffins, buns and donuts in the north east of the US.
On 28 May, Mrs Dunster’s announced its plans to buy the assets. It said it planned to re-open two of the company’s bakeries in Vermont and sell the third, located in Connecticut.
Koffee Kup Bakery’s closure had been announced a month earlier, with state-government filings showing 247 staff at the two Vermont bakeries had lost their jobs. A Connecticut state filing did not disclose the number of employees who had lost jobs at the third factory.
At the start of April, US investment firm American Industrial Acquisition Corp. acquired Koffee Kup Bakery.
According to a statement from G2 Capital Advisors, which worked with Koffee Kup Bakery on the deal, the baker was “in the process of repositioning its business to capitalise on a compelling platform of established brands, private label partnerships, long-term relationships with blue-chip retailers and a vast distribution network”. By the end of the month, Koffee Kup Bakery was closed.
Just Food has asked American Industrial Acquisition Corp., Flowers and Mrs Dunster’s for further comment.
