1-800-Flowers.com to acquire Shari’s Berries brand

US-based gourmet food and floral gift provider 1-800-Flowers.com has won a bid to acquire certain assets of the gourmet food business of FTD Companies.

The deal includes Shari’s Berries brand, which was previously operated by Provide Commerce, a division of FTD. The auction took place 31 July.

1-800-Flowers.com CEO Chris McCann said: “We are very excited to have been the winning bidder for the Shari’s Berries brand and we are looking forward to getting final court approval and closing the transaction later this month.

“Shari’s Berries is a leading provider of dipped berries and other speciality treats with strong brand awareness and 15-year heritage in the gourmet gift industry.

“We see Shari’s Berries as an excellent fit in our ‘all-star’ family of brands and the acquisition will help further expand our authority position as a leader in the growing gourmet food and gift baskets space.”

1-800-Flowers.com offered a bidding price of $20.5m to acquire certain assets of FTD’s gourmet food business, including more than 450 domain names, copyrights, trademarks, customer data, phone numbers and other intellectual property.

Completion of the deal is subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court, which will be reviewing the case on 9 August.

Soon after the court hearing, the company plans to close the transaction. It plans to acquire the assets through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries.

McCann explained that the company is planning to gradually integrate the Shari’s Berries brand into its operating platform and reposition the brand as a premium provider of dipped berries and other gourmet treats.

McCann further added: “As with all of our brands, we will focus on driving strong top and bottom-line performance for the Shari’s Berries brand by enhancing the overall customer experience and leveraging the unique capabilities of our business platform to improve its operating efficiency.”