The popular Michigan-based salsa company, Garden Fresh, was recently acquired by Campbell in a multi-million dollar business deal. According to the current vice president of Garden Fresh, this sale of business will allow the company to put product on store shelves across the country, rather than just focusing on the Mid-West region. Making a decision like this is not always easy, but in this case, the desire to compete with bigger companies and to expand product reach made this sale a necessity.
Garden Fresh was founded in Michigan in the late 1980s, and the company has grown significantly since its inception. In the early 2000s, the company sold an average of $4 million in product a year. For the year 2014, that number increased to $110 million. Garden Fresh is also home to 500 employees.
The deal with Campbell will reportedly be completed by this fall. The acquisition of Garden Fresh cost Campbell $231 million, but it is expected that this change in ownership will increase product sales to approximately $1 billion a year. The founder of Garden Fresh will remain in an advisory role. While the vice president is only planning to stay on board until the acquisition is complete, just about all other employees are to be offered jobs at Campbell.
A sale of business, like this, is never done without serious thought regarding a company’s future. For Garden Fresh, the desire to compete with larger companies and the wish to move product to a larger market prompted the decision. However, this is a deal that likely took time to settle on terms protecting the integrity of the product and also offering long-term security for the company owner and his employees. In order to ensure the terms of an acquisition are in line with a business owner’s vision for the future, legal assistance is available to not only review and negotiate contracts, but to see the deal through from beginning to end.
Source: freep.com, “End of an era: Ferndale-based Garden Fresh to sell to Campbell Soup“, Brent Snavely and Susan Tompor, June 9, 2015
