Olde Thompson, a California-based provider of private label and branded spices and seasonings, has acquired Gel Spice, a family-owned New Jersey-based importer and manufacturer of spices, seasoning, and bakery ingredients to both the retail and foodservice channels. The transaction further establishes Olde Thompson as a leader in the spice category with a differentiated bi-coastal manufacturing footprint, unlocking additional channels and expanding the company’s product offering into pouches, extracts and single serve seasonings for meal kits and other applications.
Olde Thompson is a portfolio company of Kainos Capital, a private equity firm focused exclusively on the food and consumer industry. The Kainos Capital team has invested over USD2 billion of equity in 73 investments with a total value over USD10 billion. Kainos Capital specializes in investing in family and founder owned businesses where it can be a value-added partner and instill a culture of operational excellence through its sales development, manufacturing, supply chain and administrative expertise.
“Olde Thompson is thrilled to partner with Gel to expand our platform,” says Jeff Shumway, CEO of Olde Thompson. “Through the addition of Gel and the combination of our sales forces, we broaden our reach by adding customers within the retail, foodservice, bakery, industrial and export channels while also increasing our product offerings to include dry mixes, extracts and single serve seasonings for meal kits. We are now the largest private label focused spice company dedicated to providing complete category solutions.”
David Sugarman, CEO of Gel, who has become Co-CEO of Olde Thompson, says: “The Engel family, which will continue to be a shareholder, and I are thrilled to be part of Olde Thompson. The combination will enable us to better serve our customers by leveraging the capabilities at Olde Thompson, including their extensive organic spice portfolio and glass bottling capabilities. With two SQF Level 2 facilities located on each coast, we are now able to provide more efficient distribution and redundant supply to our customers.”
Andrew Rosen, Managing Partner of Kainos Capital, adds: “When Kainos acquired Olde Thompson in 2018, we embarked on a strategy to expand the company from a single facility spice business focused on private label to a category leader capable of offering a broader portfolio of product formats to an increasingly global customer base.” Rosen continued, “By adding Gel, Olde Thompson will have not only a bi-coastal operation, but also significantly scaled production and distribution capabilities with material capacity to bring on new business. The transaction also adds a strong sales force, allowing Olde Thompson to serve additional customers in new channels. Kainos will continue to support additional acquisition opportunities to invest behind Olde Thompson’s growth strategy in the future.”
