AUA Private Equity Partners’ portfolio company, Gourmet Culinary Partners, has acquired Holiday Foods, and the recruitment of a senior executive management team to lead the integration and execution of the GCP platform. The GCP senior executive leadership will work closely with existing divisional leadership teams to execute on the company’s regional and national platform. Holiday Foods TM, a developer and marketer of appetisers and hors d’oeuvres with national distribution, was acquired from Schwan’s Company.
AUA Private Equity has completed five acquisitions in the specialty prepared foods segment with a focus on creating the leading manufacturer of appetisers, hors d’oeuvres, breakfast foods, side dishes, soups, sauces, and entrees for the hospitality, banquet, airline, retail, education, and corporate sectors. Gourmet Culinary Partners has created a national footprint that will allow the company to serve national accounts while still maintaining its high touch customer-centric approach at the local level through its operating divisions.
Ronan Minahan, CEO of Gourmet Culinary Partners, says: “Our aim at GCP is to partner with our customers, both at a national and a local level, to help fuel their culinary success through a shared passion to create on-trend, innovative, consistently high quality, real food that delivers authentic experiences. We are delighted to have Holiday FoodsTM join our partnership, allowing all of our customers to benefit from our integrated and growing platform.”
To augment the strength of GCP’s divisional leadership teams, AUA Private Equity has built a seasoned executive leadership team led by Ronan Minahan, formerly the Chief Executive Officer of BRIDOR North America, and prior thereto the former President and COO of ARYZTA Americas. Terra Jacobs, formerly the Chief Financial Officer of Passport Foods, joins as GCP’s CFO. Prior to Passport Foods, Terra was Chief Financial Officer of Sunkist Growers and held numerous senior financial positions at Nestle USA. Julie Cunningham, formerly the VP of Human Resources of Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, has joined as GCP’s SVP of Human Resources. Prior to Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Julie was VP of Human Resources at ARYZTA. Lastly, Robbie Scott, formerly the VP of Operations at Barnana, has joined as GCP’s VP of Supply Chain. Prior to Barnana, Robbie was a Director of Strategy & Corporate Development for ARYZTA.
The Holiday Foods acquisition was led by Managing Director Kyce Chihi, Vice President Ari David, and Winter Associate, Nicolas Pflaum.
