Tenneco Unit Buys Parent of Morrow’s Nuts

Bakersfield-based House of Almonds, a small chain of nut and candy stores, on Friday bought San Dimas-based Betty Zane Corp., which operates the much larger Morrow’s Nut House chain.

House of Almonds, a unit of Tenneco West, the nation’s largest independent handler and processor of dried fruits and nuts, didn’t disclose the terms of the transaction. The acquisition includes four distribution centers around the country and a confectionary production plant near San Dimas.

The purchase of Morrow’s--which has 250 stores nationwide, most of them franchised--greatly increases House of Almonds’ retail specialty foods business, said C. A. Greif, Tenneco West’s chief financial officer. House of Almonds owns 50 stores in shopping malls in the Western and Eastern United States as well as a mail-order operation, Greif said.

The company-owned Morrow’s stores will be converted to the House of Almonds name and format, which emphasizes nuts over candy and includes a wrapped gift line, Greif said. Some franchises also will convert while others will remain Morrow’s stores, he said.

Morrow’s had revenue of $41 million in 1984.

Greif said House of Almonds recorded sales of between $15 million and $20 million last year with only 38 stores. “It will be quite a bit higher than that this year,” he said.