Hershey will buy Pirate Brands from B&G Foods for $420 million, bringing products such as Pirate's Booty and Smart Puffs into Hershey's snack category. "We expect the full Pirate Brands portfolio to be a great fit for Hershey's growing Amplify business, which is targeted toward consumers who are looking for great-tasting snacks without compromise," said Hershey Chief Growth Officer Mary Beth West.
After owning Pirate Brands for five years, B&G Foods sold the firm to Hershey this year to focus on the rest of its portfolio while recognizing that Pirate's Booty is a strong brand. Selling the unit "honestly alleviates a lot of pain and just cumbersome distribution network, etc., because it was really the only real salty snack brand we have in our portfolio," said CEO Robert Cantwell.
B&G Foods is looking to e-commerce sites such as Amazon and mybrands.com to grow its brands in regions where the products are not available on store shelves, according to B&G President and CEO Dave Wenner. B&M baked beans and Pirate's Booty puffed snacks are two of the company's most popular products online.
B&G Foods is acquiring Specialty Brands of America for $155 million, adding to the food group's recent acquisitions of Rickland Orchards, Pirate Brands and TrueNorth. Specialty Brands makes Bear Creek Country Kitchens soups, Canoleo margarine and Spring Tree maple syrup. "These brands complement very well our existing portfolio of brands and we believe that B&G Foods will be able to enhance the growth prospects of these brands," B&G President and CEO David Wenner said.
B&G Foods, which has purchased snack brands True North, Pirate Brands and New York Style since October, says it is looking for nonsnack acquisitions. "It would have to be an extremely compelling proposition for us to be interested in the snack business right now," CEO David Wenner said.
Robert's American Gourmet Food, also known as Pirate Brands and maker of Pirate's Booty, Smart Puffs and Original Tings, is being acquired by B&G Foods for $195 million. "The acquisition of this business and its collection of growing natural snack foods marks the second addition to our snack-foods portfolio since we entered the category last October" by purchasing the Old London and New York Style brands, B&G CEO David Wenne said.