Rich Products announced the acquisition of Great Kitchens Food Company from Brynwood Partners VIII on January 26. Terms of the transaction, which closed recently, were not disclosed.
As North America’s largest manufacturer of private label take and bake pizzas, and home to the Uno Foods brand, Great Kitchens’ expertise and capabilities in fully topped pizzas brings deep dish and handheld products to Rich’s portfolio. This strategic move significantly expands Rich’s topped pizza offerings and strengthens the Buffalo, New York-headquartered company’s position in the frozen pizza sector.
“As a major player in the food industry for more than 80 years, pizza has been an integral part of our business for over four decades,” said Kevin Spratt, Rich Products president in the US- Canada region. “We’re always looking for new ways to enhance our pizza capabilities and this move is a game-changer for the industry. When you combine Great Kitchens’ leadership in fully topped pizzas with our strength in crust and dough, you get a one-stop pizza partner with an unmatched breadth of expertise that will allow us to accelerate growth, drive greater innovation and deliver unique and distinct value to our customers.”
The addition of Great Kitchens will allow Rich to create a vertically integrated topped pizza and flatbread platform, expanded capacity, and greater crust innovation in both deli and frozen – all powered by an expanded joint manufacturing network.
Headquartered in Romeoville, Illinois, Great Kitchens has three manufacturing facilities in Romeoville and Chicago Heights, Illinois, and Brockton, Massachusetts. The company’s approximately 1,000 employees will join Rich’s team of more than 13,000 people working in over 100 countries around the world.
”Not only is Rich’s a well-known leader in the pizza segment, but they bring the size and scale required for us to unlock new opportunities,” said Admir Basic, president and chief executive officer of Great Kitchens Food Company. “Rich’s shares our commitment to innovation and delivering value for customers, making this partnership a natural fit. By merging our unique strengths, we have a huge opportunity to accelerate innovation and raise the bar across the industry.”
Great Kitchen’s private label and branded food products are sold nationally through major grocery retailers, wholesale club stores, foodservice and e-commerce channels. In March of 2023 it acquired the Uno Foods Division from Uno Restaurant Holdings Corporation and now manufactures the Pizzeria Uno Chicago deep-dish pizza, strombolis and calzones. This strategic move strengthens and broadens Rich Products’ ability to help customers grow their pizza business by providing more product capabilities and innovation that leverages both companies’ combined pizza expertise, industry-leading research and development, manufacturing network and capacity.
Family-owned Rich Products Corporation’s wide variety of products run the gamut from pizza, cakes and icings to appetizers and specialty toppings used in homes, restaurants and bakeries around the globe. Annual sales exceeded $5.8 billion last year.
