Rich Products, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based family-owned food company with a presence in multiple countries, has acquired Christie Cookie Co., the iconic Nashville cookie bakery.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in a release announcing the sale.
A privately held, multinational corporation, Rich Products was home to more than 10,500 employees and recorded revenues of $3.8 billion in 2017, the most recent year for which such statistics are available, according to Forbes.com. It has plants in 12 countries.
Christie Cookie president Fleming Wilt says the company, which has manufacturing and retail operations in Nashville's Germantown neighborhood, will continue operating “business as usual.” Wilt will maintain a leadership role as the two companies integrate their teams, the release notes.
Christie Cookie employs nearly 100 workers in Nashville and produces approximately 100 million cookies per year. In addition to the Germantown facility at 1205 Third Ave. N., Christie offers popular e-commerce and corporate gifting programs. Christie Cookie also operates a retail bakery shop in the 12South neighborhod and at Bridgestone Arena.
Rich Products, which has been in business since 1945, has a roster of customers spanning the retail, in-store bakery, deli and prepared foods sectors. The company has a Tennessee presence, with manufacturing facilities in Arlington, Morristown, Gallatin and Murfreesboro, employing a collective nearly 1,000 people.
“As a private, customer-centric company … Rich’s was a natural fit to help take our business to the next level,” Wilt says in the release. “In Rich’s, we have a partner … that’s dedicated to ongoing innovation and growth. [The] company not only values quality, but culture, too.”
Silvermark Partners and Cody Peak Advisors served as financial advisers to Christie Cookie, with Bass Berry & Sims handling legal counsel.
Christie Hauck founded Christie Cooking Co. in 1983. The bakery is famous for its white-chocolate-macadamia cookies, among many other flavors. The DoubleTree hotel company touts its use of Christie chocolate-chip cookies as a hospitality offering to its guests.
