Rich's Transforms Its US-Canada Business Portfolio With The Announcement Of Two Acquisitions And New Joint Venture

BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Rich Products Corporation has announced three important additions to its portfolio, acquiring two food companies – Goglanian Bakeries Inc. and f'real® foods LLC; and entering into a joint venture – Twin Star Bakery, with business partner The Stolbun Group.

"The acquisitions of Goglanian Bakeries and f'real foods, and establishment of our Twin Star joint venture, are consistent with our ongoing commitment to shape and reshape our diverse portfolio to keep Rich's focused on a path of long term growth," said Bill Gisel, Rich's President and Chief Executive Officer. 

Acquisition of Goglanian Bakeries
The acquisition of family-owned Goglanian Bakeries will significantly expand Rich's current pizza business and provide the company with an exceptional line of par-baked pizza crusts, flatbreads and pitas, to complement its existing strength in frozen pizza dough within the foodservice channel.  Goglanian also possesses a significant manufacturing network with operations in Santa Ana, Calif., Fountain Inn, S.C. and Rochester, N.Y., along with a new state-of-the-art facility located outside of Chicago, Ill., which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2013.

"This acquisition strengthens our competitive position within the pizza category, one of our highest growth priorities for our US-Canada Region. We are confident that the Goglanian business has the capacity to grow exponentially as it transitions into our organization to leverage our scale, management depth and customer access in the US, Canada and other regions across the world," said Richard Ferranti, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Acquisition of f'real foods
The addition of f'real foods, based in Orinda, Calif, provides Rich's with a new product line and greater penetration into the high-growth convenience store segment.  Founded in 1995, f'real is a fast-growing company which sells authentic, high-quality milkshakes, smoothies and frozen coffee beverages, along with patented blending equipment, to more than 9,000 convenience store and foodservice locations across the United States and Canada.  Based on f'real's unique business model and current growth trajectory, the company will be managed as a separate subsidiary business.

"The acquisition of f'real provides us with the opportunity to enter into a completely new product category, and also establish additional inroads into the high growth convenience-store segment within Rich's Foodservice Division. We will be working closely with the f'real leadership team to help them leverage our scale, best practices and certain capabilities.  We also will look to create opportunities for f'real to take advantage of our sales channels and customer contacts on a global basis," said Ferranti.   

Twin Star Bakery Joint Venture
Twin Star Bakery is a new joint venture partnership between Rich's and The Stolbun Group, led by Sam Stolbun, who previously owned Camelot Desserts.  Twin Star recently opened a state-of-the-art desserts manufacturing operation near Houston, Texas, which produces high quality fully-finished cakes, and baked and iced cookies.  The Stolbun Group will manage Twin Star's research & development and production, while Rich's will oversee product marketing and sales, primarily through its In-Store Bakery Division.

"This joint venture is a wonderful example of collaboration between Rich's expansive customer and distribution access and The Stolbun Group's unique manufacturing and product development expertise. The entrepreneurial nature of this business will enable greater manufacturing and product development flexibility," said Ferranti.

"I have always admired the people and culture at Rich's and we're very happy that they have chosen to partner with us to expand their portfolio of great products.  We look forward to working with Rich's to develop cake and cookie solutions in support of our customers," said Sam Stolbun, President of Twin Star.

"As we enter our 68^th year in business, these acquisitions provide terrific growth and add to the momentum we have as a family-owned business that stretches across the world. We're thrilled to welcome an exceptional range of new products to our portfolio and a wide array of talented new associates to our organization," said Gisel.

Additional company information can be found online (www.richs.com), on Facebook (Rich Products) and via Twitter (@richsnews).

SOURCE Rich Products Corporation

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