USA: Harvest States Foods completes purchase of Rodriguez Festive Foods

Harvest States Foods announced today it has completed the acquisition of Rodriguez Festive Foods, Inc., a Ft. Worth, Texas manufacturer of wheat and corn tortillas, tortilla chips and a full line of authentic prepared Mexican foods. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "Rodriguez Festive Foods is a great strategic fit as we continue to grow and expand our tortilla, chip and Mexican food businesses," said Joel Bachul, vice president and general manager of Harvest States Foods' Mexican foods business. "The addition of manufacturing and distribution facilities in Ft. Worth, Texas will help us better serve our national and regional customers."

February 7, 2001

“Rodriguez Festive Foods is a great strategic fit as we continue to grow and expand our tortilla, chip and Mexican food businesses,” said Joel Bachul, vice president and general manager of Harvest States Foods’ Mexican foods business. “The addition of manufacturing and distribution facilities in Ft. Worth, Texas will help us better serve our national and regional customers.”

“We continue to grow our Mexican food business through strategically positioned acquisitions to better serve our customers,” said Jim Tibbetts, senior vice president of Harvest States Foods. “Our ability to satisfy customer needs on a national basis is a high priority, and Harvest States Foods is making good progress toward the achievement of that objective.”

Harvest States Foods is a leading manufacturer of flour and corn tortillas, tortilla chips and prepared Mexican foods for the retail, foodservice, national restaurant chain and institutional markets with annual sales over $65 million. Harvest States Foods’ family of brands include Arizona Brand®, Cruz®, El Gran Deli®, La Canasta®, La La’s® and Paradiso® tortillas; Arizona Brand® and La Canasta® tortilla chips; and Rodriguez® prepared Mexican foods. Harvest States Foods has Mexican food plants in Minneapolis, Minn.; Ft. Worth, Texas; and Phoenix, Ariz.

Harvest States Foods is a division of Harvest States®, the integrated grains and foods group of CHS Cooperatives ( http://www.CHSCo-ops.com ). With headquarters in suburban St. Paul, Minn., CHS is a producer to consumer cooperative system owned by farmers, ranchers and their local cooperatives from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest, and from the Canadian border to Texas.