Kettle Cuisine acquires Harry’s Fresh Foods

Refrigerated and frozen all-natural soups manufacturer Kettle Cuisine has acquired US-based company Harry’s Fresh Foods. Financial details of the deal have not been divulged.

Kettle Cuisine is claimed to be the first coast-to-coast fresh soup supplier in the US, providing both refrigerated and frozen products in single-serve and bulk packaging.

The company said that the deal further strengthens its presence in the fresh soup category.

Kettle Cuisine CEO Liam McClennon said: “Harry’s is a great business and a welcome addition to Kettle Cuisine.

“Its strong reputation in the marketplace reflects its high calibre team members, customer relationships and premium product portfolio, all of which fit seamlessly into Kettle’s growth strategy.

“Kettle remains committed to its culinary roots of artisan, clean label food while providing our customers and consumers with the highest levels of food safety, customer service and the efficiencies of scale production.”

Private equity firm Kainos Capital acquired Kettle Cuisine in 2015 and since then the investment firm is reported to have spent more than $300m to expand Kettle Cuisine’s cooking capacity through acquisitions and integrating complementary businesses.

Kainos Capital partner Dan Hopkin said: “When Kainos acquired Kettle, we embarked on a strategy to expand Kettle from a regional fresh soup provider to a category leader capable of serving an increasingly national customer base.

“The addition of Harry’s, together with prior acquisitions and investments in the areas of production capacity, product extensions and automation, are all in line with this strategy.

“Kainos will continue to support additional opportunities to invest behind Kettle Cuisine’s growth strategy going forward.”

In August 2016, Kettle Cuisine acquired Del Monaco Foods, a California-based custom food manufacturing company.