Stir Foods Acquires Van Law Food Products
Orange, CA, April 2, 2019 – Wind Point Partners and portfolio company Stir Foods (“Stir” or the “Company”), a leading custom manufacturer of soups, sauces, dressings, and fresh salsas for retail, industrial and foodservice customers, are pleased to announce that Stir has acquired Van Law Food Products (“Van Law”), a leading contract manufacturer and private label manufacturer of custom sauces, dressings and beverage products for CPG, retail and foodservice customers. Van Law operates a 300,000 square foot, SQF facility in Fullerton, California.
The combination of Stir and Van Law creates a more diversified custom sauce and dressing company with broader packaging capabilities – large and small pouch and a full set of rigid options (plastic and glass) – and more capacity. In addition, both companies share a similar culture focused on delivering custom solutions for customers through innovative products.
Milt Liu, CEO of Stir, expressed, “I am delighted to welcome the Van Law team to Stir. In this new phase, we are confident that together we will be able to accelerate growth and create value for all of our stakeholders.” Liu added, “The combination of these two operations is highly complementary and will enable us to better serve our combined customer bases through enhanced R&D and new packaging formats. Additionally, the facility in Fullerton is well-invested with a good workforce and capacity to continue to grow. This is an excellent addition for Stir.”
Joe Lawler, Principal with Wind Point Partners, stated, “The acquisition of Van Law fits squarely with our value creation plan. This investment will accelerate our ability to grow with our customers through more diversified manufacturing capabilities and a commitment to continued investment in innovation. We look forward to continuing to build the platform into a national leader.”
“I’m proud of my team’s steadfast commitment to our customers at Van Law and we are excited to join forces with Stir,” said John Gilbert, Van Law President. “The combination with Stir and financial backing of Wind Point will enable all of us to continue to grow with our customers through enhanced culinary expertise, new products/packaging and new geographies.”
Wind Point Partners acquired Stir in December of 2017 in partnership with Milt Liu, a more than 20-year veteran of the food industry. This represents the second add-on acquisition for Stir, following the addition of Sabra’s salsa business unit in September 2018. In cooperation with Milt and the management of Stir and Van Law, Wind Point will continue growing the Stir platform through a combination of organic growth and innovation, as well as additional complementary acquisitions like Van Law.
Reed Smith served as legal counsel to Wind Point. Harris Williams served as financial advisor and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck served as legal counsel to Van Law.