Executive at Meridian Foods Buys Company

The general manager of Meridian Foods, a Ventura-based processor of soups and vegetables, has bought the company, saving its 50 employees from possible relocation or a mass layoff.

Several out-of-town firms had expressed interest in purchasing Meridian from its owner, the financially troubled California Bean Growers Assn., before general manager Henry Knaust made a successful bid.

“There’s no way of knowing what might have happened to the company or its workers if outside interests had taken over,” said Stephen D. Woodworth, whose investment banking firm helped arrange the purchase. He noted that hundreds of jobs were lost recently as a result of the transfer and sale of the Oxnard operations of another food processor, Nabisco Foods.

Knaust acquired Meridian’s operating assets late last month for $2.5 million in cash and notes.

A third-generation member of a Ventura County family in the food canning business, Knaust has taken the title of president and changed Meridian’s name to H.K. Canning Inc.

Meridian processes and packs soups, beans, mushrooms and other foods for institutional, retail and private-label customers throughout the western United States. The company had revenues last year of about $11.5 million.

Its customers include such well-known firms as El Pollo Loco restaurants and the Trader Joe’s chain of specialty food stores.

“This is a unique opportunity for me and my family,” said Knaust, whose wife, Carol, is also active in the company. “We’re excited about HKC’s business prospects and the ability to own a significant company in the industry and in the Central Coast region.”

He said no major personnel changes or layoffs are planned.

Woodworth, president of Channel Islands Equities in Oxnard, acted as Knaust’s financial advisor. Woodworth said the buyout was one of the largest and most gratifying deals he has engineered in Ventura County in recent years.

H.K.’s facilities on Garden Street in Ventura include a canning and processing plant and two warehouses.

Ventura County National Bank provided financing to help Knaust buy Meridian. The bank also made working capital available for the new ownership.

Before the purchase, Meridian was tied up in the bean cooperative’s bankruptcy proceedings in Modesto.

A ruling by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge allowed the cooperative to make the sale.