Mikawaya, a US-based producer of Japanese pastries and frozen desserts, has been sold to private-equity firm Century Park Capital Partners.
The deal, struck for an undisclosed sum, will see former Nestle, ConAgra Foods and Dean Foods executive Jerry Bucan join Mikawaya as CEO.
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Joel Friedman, Mikawaya's president and CEO, will continue to be involved with the company as chairman emeritus.
"Our plan is to bring new resources and capabilities to the company to dramatically increase the market awareness and penetration of its on-trend mochi ice cream products," Century Park managing partner Marty Sarafa said.
Mochi ice cream is a handheld ball of ice cream enrobed in a soft, sweet rice cake. Century Park said
Mikawaya is "the market’s largest producer" of the frozen dessert, selling the products through grocery chains and independent stores. The company’s products are also distributed in Japanese and general foodservice locations.
Bucan said: "Mochi ice cream is an emerging and growing specialty food category, and Mikawaya is the mochi ice cream category leader. So, this is a truly rare and exciting opportunity to significantly grow both the category and the Mikawaya business by bringing this ethnic-influenced product more fully into the general market."
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