The IAWS group has expanded its North American operations with the acquisition of 80 per cent of the shareholding in the La Brea Bakery Group in California for $55 million (€64 million). IAWS will also assume $13.5 million in debt in the US company.
This acquisition follows a joint venture earlier this year with Tim Hortons, the largest coffee and fresh-baked goods restaurant chain in Canada.
The La Brea Bakery Group is a leading producer of branded artisan - old-fashioned - breads in the US, which has grown from a small local bakery 10 years ago to a nationally recognised manufacturer of speciality breads, supplying restaurants, supermarkets and gourmet food stores.
The Los Angeles bakery had adjusted operating profits of $4.5 million in the year ending December 31st last, when net assets stood at $3.2 million. The purchase is based on sustainable earnings before interest and tax of $9.36 million forecast to December this year.
This acquisition is a continuation of IAWS's strategic development of its food business into the speciality breads and convenience foods sectors.
Since 1998, when the group acquired Cuisine de France, which now has also expanded into the US, it has acquired Delice de France and Pierre's, making it a major player in the convenience consumer foods sector in Ireland and Britain. The La Brea bakery, like Cuisine de France in Ireland, started small but two years ago, with the introduction of part-baked breads, became the first artisan bakery to make quality branded breads available across the US.
In 1989 its founders restaurateurs Nancy Silverton, Mark Peel and Manfred Kranki of the upmarket Campanile restaurant in Los Angeles, started the bakery because they were unable to find the breads they wanted for their guests. The first bakery was next door to the restaurant and now there are two other factories, employing 500 artisan bakers.
The Sourdough baguette is its flagship product while the Store Baked line is sold 80 per cent part-baked and flash frozen from Hawaii to New York. The company has bought its flour from the same miller since it started.
It is about to go into business with Disney in a new shopping and resort attraction in Los Angeles where a La Brea bakery cafe will be a key retailer.
