Centre Partners Portfolio Company Stonewall Kitchen Completes Acquisition of Tillen Farms

NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Centre Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles, today announced that its portfolio company Stonewall Kitchen, a leading specialty food manufacturer, marketer and retailer, has completed its acquisition of the Tillen Farms brand of premium cocktail garnishes, including uniquely-crisp pickled vegetables and delicious Pacific Northwest cherries.  Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We are very excited to combine our two premium specialty food brands," said John Stiker, Chief Executive Officer of Stonewall Kitchen. "Tillen Farms is a strong and well-recognized brand and a leader in the pickled vegetable and cocktail cherry categories, with delicious offerings like pickled asparagus, spicy dilly beans, and their signature Bada Bing® cherries.  We look forward to welcoming the Tillen Farms team into our organization, which will allow us to leverage the strengths of both brands to help grow each other."

Tim Metzger, the Founder of Tillen Farms added, "Joining the Stonewall Kitchen family is the perfect fit for us. They have long been known for their strengths in product development and brand building, and we've already started working together on several new products set to launch later this year which will be wonderful additions to our already successful product line-up.  I look forward to working with the Stonewall Kitchen team to bring Tillen Farms to the next level and to realize our full growth potential."

Mr. Stiker continued, "With the acquisition of Tillen Farms, Stonewall Kitchen has taken the first step towards achieving our vision of becoming the premier specialty foods platform in North America.  With our expertise in brand building, product development, and omni-channel distribution, we are excited to continue to grow our business both organically and through additional selective acquisitions."

About Centre Partners

Founded in 1986, Centre Partners is a leading middle-market private equity firm focusing on the consumer and healthcare sectors, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Centre has invested over $2 billion of equity capital in more than 75 transactions since its inception. Centre seeks to partner with founders and management teams to build exceptional businesses. Centre Partners provides management teams access to its unique resources, which includes an extended network of experienced and proven operating executives. Additional information is available at www.centrepartners.com.

About Stonewall Kitchen

Stonewall Kitchen is a leading specialty food producer headquartered in York, Maine. Founded in 1991 by partners Jonathan King and Jim Stott, the two established themselves selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets, fairs and festivals with their flavorful line of distinctive and high quality food items. Over time, they expanded their product line to include sauces, condiments, dressings and baking mixes. Today, Stonewall Kitchen is known for its innovative product development, beautiful packaging, stunning retail spaces and exceptional customer service. It now boasts more than 6,000 wholesale accounts nationwide and internationally, thriving catalog and web divisions and 10 retail Company Stores along the East Coast. As the winner of 29 prestigious awards from the Specialty Food Association and the only recipient of the coveted Outstanding Product Line Honors three times, Stonewall Kitchen is proud to be one of the most awarded specialty food companies in the country. For more information about Stonewall Kitchen, please visit: www.stonewallkitchen.com.

About Tillen Farms®

Introduced in 2004, the Tillen Farms brand features a line of 12 "best in class" cocktail garnishes, sold to the grocery, specialty, health food, liquor and foodservice classes of trade. Tillen Farms pickled vegetables are primarily grown in Washington's famed Yakima Valley and are available in several different varieties of asparagus, dilly beans, carrots, and snap peas. Tillen Farms popular pitted and stemmed cherries are locally grown in Oregon's Willamette Valley, and include popular varieties like Bada Bing, Merry Maraschino, and Rainier Reserve. Made with no artificial ingredients, Tillen Farms' unique processing technology ensures an exceptional degree of crispness year round. A SOFI award Finalist in the appetizer category, Tillen Farms' vegetables and cherries are gluten free, vegan and nut & peanut-free and most varieties are kosher certified and non-GMO certified. For more information, please visit www.tillenfarms.com.

Contact:        
Mark Semer or Peter Hill 
Kekst 
(212) 521-4800 
[email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Centre Partners