International junk food giant Mondelez International announced an approximately $500m (£369.48m) deal to acquire Tates Bake Shop yesterday.
Tates, an American cookie company famed for its thin cookies, will join the ranks of Oreo, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Trident under Mondelezs umbrella. But the crispy cookie makers will continue as a standalone business and keep producing its range of confectionaries.
Tates will even maintain its senior leadership, physical bakeshop location and New York City headquarters to preserve the bake shops brand.
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Mondelez chief executive and chairperson Dirk Van de Put said that acquiring Tates provides the company an entry point into the fast-growing premium cookie sector.
“Tates is a great strategic fit that will complement our portfolio of beloved snacks brands,” said Van de Put. “Tates has demonstrated exceptional and very profitable growth, and we look forward to working with the Tates management team to expand distribution and build upon that success.”
Tates quadrupled its sales over the past five years and in 2018 alone, its retail sales grew by more than 40 per cent. It bakes about 1.3m cookies per day and expanded warehouse and distribution operations by about 50 per cent in January this year.
“We have been experiencing tremendous growth for frankly as long as the company has been in existence,” said Tates chief executive Maura Mottolese following the expansion announcement.
"On the East End [of Long Island in NYC], we're well-known as a local company and Bake Shop, but as our distribution has expanded across the United States we've quickly developed a strong national following.”
This is Mondelezs first large deal under the leadership of Van de Put who took the helm in November last year. Although the acquisition awaits approval, the deal is estimated to close this summer.
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