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LIBERTY -- Tattooed Chef Inc., a Paramount, Calif.-based producer of plant-based foods, has acquired Belmont Confections Inc. in a deal worth $18 million in cash and stock.
The purchase announced this week and already approved by Tattooed Chef's board of directors is expected to close sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
Belmont Confections Inc., which has facilities on Belmont Avenue and on Motor Inn Drive in Liberty, develops and makes private-label snack and nutrition bars.
"Belmont is exactly the type of company that we have talked about acquiring with regards to a company that adds both manufacturing capacity and capabilities. This acquisition will further allow us to control the supply chain for the brand and ensure that Tattooed Chef products are always available by controlling our own destiny," said Sam Galletti, Tattooed Chef president / CEO.
The acquisition also accelerates Tattooed Chef's expansion into ambient and refrigerated products in a new category, he said.
"We believe this transaction will open up more sales channels, including convenience stores, vending, drug and dollar and more. At full capacity, we believe the Belmont facility can contribute over $100 million annually in revenue in the next two to three years," Galletti said.
Belmont Confections has 47,000 square feet of production space with equipment to produce several kinds of bars. The transaction allows Tattooed Chef to diversify further its product offerings and enter into the $10 billion global plant-based bar category, according to a company release.
Belmont Confections was created in 2007, a spinoff of a Pittsburgh-based family business. Its president is George Tsudis, whose father, Spiro, in 1985 established Penhurst Candy Co., which made candy under private labels for national distributors, after working for D.L. Clark Candy Co. in Pittsburgh, the former manufacturer of the Clark bar.
A message seeking comment was left with George Tsudis on Thursday.
Stocks of Tattooed Chef were trading up 2 percent Thursday to close at $18.04 per share.
The company's signature products include ready-to-cook bowls, zucchini spirals, riced cauliflower, acai and smoothie bowls and cauliflower pizza crusts, which are available in the frozen food sections at national retail food and club stores across the United States as well as on Tattooed Chef's e-commerce site.