Stir Foods stirs up growing private brand sauce business on east coast

Stir Foods is strengthening its position as a North American leader in custom sauces and dressings, particularly on the east coast, after acquiring private label and contract manufacturer Lancaster Fine Foods.

The soups, sauces and salsa maker based in Orange, Calif., has acquired Lancaster and its 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Lancaster, Pa., with the ability to expand that space to 200,000 square feet. Lancaster produces custom sauces, dressings and condiments for retail, foodservice and industrial private label clients. The location adds to Stir Foods location in Toronto, building out its coast-to-coast capabilities. 

“I am excited to welcome the Lancaster team to Stir. The cultures and culinary focus of our two companies are very similar, making this a natural partnership,” said Milt Liu, CEO, Stir. “Lancaster brings a great customer base, team and operation to our platform. In addition, Lancaster, combined with our Toronto facility, allows us to efficiently service the entire east coast market. Furthermore, the facility is well-situated for expansion and future growth. Our plan is to invest in Lancaster and leverage our combined capabilities and customer bases to grow the Lancaster facility into one of our ‘flagship’ locations.”

Stir Foods is a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, being acquired in December 2017. The Lancaster addition is the fourth acquisition for the company, following acquisitions of Celtrade Canada last year, Van Law Food Products the year before and the Sabra salsa business in September 2018. Wind Point, in cooperation with Liu and Stir Foods, will continue to grow with additional acquisitions.

“The acquisition of Lancaster is an important step in our value creation plan to enhance Stir’s ability to serve customers across the U.S. and in Canada. Expanding our capabilities to the East Coast has been a key priority, and the combination adds capacity that will enable us to continue executing against our growth plan,” said Joe Lawler, Managing Director with Wind Point Partners.