Snak King Receives Private Equity Investment
Private equity firm Falfurrias Management Partners has invested in Snak King, a manufacturer of private label and co-manufactured products including tortilla chips, rolled tortilla chips, potato chips, popcorn, extruded and co-extruded snacks, nut clusters, and more.
According to Falfurrias, the investment will bring additional food expertise and industry-leading perspectives to Snak King’s operation. Joining Snak King CEO Barry Levin on the company’s board of directors will be Ken Walker and Chip Johnson from Falfurrias Management Partners; Dave Katz, president and COO of Coca-Cola Consolidated; Bill Lovette, CEO of Sauer Brands; and Bill Ladd, former senior executive and vice president of Supply Chain Transformation at PepsiCo.
“Snak King’s dedicated team and our steadfast customer-first mentality have enabled us to transform over the past 46 years from a small-scale pork rind business to an operation that delivers a broad range of innovative snacking options to food brands, retailers, and customers around the country,” said Levin. “Falfurrias’ experience will be enormously beneficial as we partner to achieve Snak King’s next phase of growth.”
“Falfurrias identified private-label salty snacks as a major category of interest based on our ongoing Industry First research,” said Chip Johnson, partner at Falfurrias. “Snak King’s differentiated products and capabilities, industry leadership, and team-oriented culture stood out to us, and we’re excited to partner with Barry and the rest of the Snak King team to continue growing their business.”
Founded in 1978, Snak King has become one of the largest producers of co-manufactured and private-label salty snacks in the United States. Levin joined the company in 1979 as its third employee when the company was a small co-manufacturer of pork rinds, operating out of a 1,200-square-foot factory in Los Angeles. Today, the company has more than 780 employees and operates facilities in the greater Los Angeles and Chicago areas.
The investment in Snak King builds on the firm’s experience investing in food-focused manufacturing and technology companies, including Sauer Brands, Local Hive, Carolina Foods, EDGE Industrial, and E Technologies Group. With these investments, Falfurrias officials said the company has developed growing industry expertise that will enable the team to help Snak King drive growth, expand capacity, and continue delivering high-quality, innovative products to its valued customers.
