Florida Food Products acquires new flavor solution company
Private label food and beverage ingredient supplier Florida Food Products (FFP) has announced its latest acquisition. The company has agreed to purchase Comax Manufacturing Corp, a provider of clean label flavor solutions.
“We are thrilled to welcome Comax to the FFP family, and to partner with the Calabretta family,” said FFP’s CEO Jim Holdrieth. “Comax has built an impressive portfolio of natural flavors, which we intend to augment with FFP’s industry leading extraction, drying, and fermentation capabilities. Our acquisition of Comax represents our first major investment of the Ardian and MidOcean partnership and accelerates our objective of becoming the industry’s largest independent provider of natural ingredients.”
FFP’s latest innovations include VegStablePlus, a natural phosphate alternative for the meat industry, and a line of fermented vegetable juices that provides flavor and taste enhancement delivery to a wide variety of products, most notably plant-based foods. Earlier this year, Ardian and MidOcean announced a partnership to accelerate FFP’s strategic roadmap through increased investment in R&D and the completion of strategic acquisitions.
Comax has grown to become one of the largest providers of natural flavors in the U.S. since its founding in 1977. Comax formulates natural ingredients that replace synthetic flavors and maintains a portfolio of nearly 1,000 natural flavor SKUs. As part of FFP, Comax will continue to operate its Melville, NY manufacturing facility, and develop industry leading formulations in its Marlton, NJ R&D facility. The Calabretta family will maintain an equity position in the combined business.
“Comax is the result of 40+ years of dedication to our craft and the hard work of hundreds of our colleagues,” said Comax CEO Peter Calabretta Jr. “We are incredibly proud of the business that we have built and are confident that the Comax legacy will live on as part of the FFP family. We are excited to partner with the FFP, Ardian, and MidOcean teams, who share our belief that natural ingredients provide consumers with healthier options while offering our customers high-quality alternatives to traditional, synthetic ingredients. This partnership gives Comax access to new technologies, ingredients, and distribution that will accelerate the existing Comax business and provide more solutions and capabilities for our valued customers.”