Premium Brands acquiring Fletcher’s Fine Foods’ U.S. operations

Canada’s Premium Brands Holdings Corp., based in Richmond, B.C., has announced that its American subsidiary Hempler Foods Group LLC will acquire Auburn, Wash.-based Fletcher’s Fine Foods for US$5 million. The transaction is expected to close in September.

Fletcher’s US sells a variety of premium bacon and fresh sausage products in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Its annual sales are approximately US$17 million, according to a press release from Premium Brands. Fletcher’s was actually founded by a predecessor of Premium Brands in 1985, then later sold as part of a larger transaction in 2004.

Hempler’s will purchase the Fletcher’s US business and production equipment, but not the company’s plant in Algona, Wash.; and Hempler’s will transfer production of Fletcher’s US products to other manufacturing facilities in the U.S., including its plants in Ferndale, Wash., and Kent, Wash.

“This transaction fits perfectly with our strategy of investing in companies with strong regional brands then providing their talented management teams with the resources needed to further strengthen their business and help accelerate their growth,” says George Paleologou, Premium Brands’s president and CEO. “Furthermore, this transaction brings together three of the U.S. Pacific Northwest’s most iconic specialty packaged meat brands, namely Hempler’s, Fletcher’s, and Isernio’s, which we acquired just last year. All of these brands are known for their authentic, top quality, specialty products and their long histories of community engagement and charitable giving.”

“I am very pleased to have Fletcher’s US join our family of lead brands,” adds Stephen Bates, President of Hempler’s. “Earlier in my career I was a proud member of the Fletcher’s US organization and I am very excited about once again playing a part in the growth and development of the Fletcher’s US brand.”