Starco Brands Acquires Custom Bakehouse to Expand Manufacturing Capabilities

Starco Brands, Inc. has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Custom Bakehouse. The acquisition expands Starco’s capabilities across powdered foods, nutritional blends, drink and hydration mixes, baking mixes, dry seasonings and private-label manufacturing, while creating meaningful manufacturing synergies for existing and future brands.

In addition to its manufacturing expertise, Custom Bakehouse brings established customer relationships, private-label capabilities and recognized consumer brands, including the Sticky Fingers brand and licensed Marie Callender’s baking mixes. Custom Bakehouse operates a 75,000-square-foot production facility located in Santa Fe Springs. This complementary acquisition adds a new manufacturing capability that vertically integrates products from Starco’s current divisions, provides scaled production and innovation and growing brands to its portfolio.

The acquisition of Custom Bakehouse marks another milestone in Starco’s strategy of controlling the consumer value chain. From IP creation and formulation through manufacturing and distribution to brand building and marketing, to sales through brick-and-mortar retail and online, the acquisition also supports future growth initiatives across the company’s nutrition and wellness portfolio, including expanded powder-based products and supplements.

Custom Bakehouse establishes an important foundation for Starco Manufacturing, the company’s new subsidiary expected to become one of its two primary operating pillars alongside Starco Brands, Inc. Over time, Starco Manufacturing is expected to encompass the company’s manufacturing assets, including The Starco Group.

“Custom Bakehouse has spent more than three decades earning a reputation for deep formulation and manufacturing excellence, and that is exactly the kind of scale and capability we look for,” said Ross Sklar, chairman and CEO of Starco. “We have always believed that manufacturing is far more than production; it is a strategic asset, an innovation hub and fuel for growth. Bringing Custom Bakehouse into Starco gives us direct control of more of the value chain, IP creation, manufacturing and distribution, and allows the company to move fast across our portfolio. This is exactly the kind of acquisition we believe will compound value for our shareholders.”

The company believes this transaction enhances operational flexibility and scale, supports future acquisition opportunities, and further positions Starco as a unique vertically-integrated consumer products platform capable of creating, manufacturing, marketing and scaling innovative brands across multiple categories.

Pasadena Private Lending (PPL), a $400-million non-bank lender focused on lower middle market companies nationwide, provided the acquisition financing.

“We were pleased to finance this acquisition for Starco. We admire their vertical integration model and are supportive of this transformative acquisition,” said Iain Whyte, chairman and CEO of PPL.

Investment banker Craig Hallum represented the seller.

Information for this article was sourced from Starco Brands, Inc.