Crown Bakeries (“Crown”), a manufacturer of fresh and frozen breads, baked goods, and dough products, has announced its acquisition of Michel’s Bakery (“Michel’s”). Founded in 1898 and owned by the Liss family for generations, Michel’s bakes and distributes a range of high-quality sweet baked goods for leading consumer brands and grocery retailers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Michel’s will continue to operate out of its existing manufacturing facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Jon Liss will remain at the helm of the organization as its General Manager.

Commenting on the transaction, Yianny Caparos, president of Crown Bakeries said, “We’re delighted to welcome the Michel’s associates into our Crown Bakeries family. I’ve personally known Jon for decades and have great respect for Michel’s as a leading baker of specialty products for more than a century. It’s exciting to partner with businesses who share Crown’s mission and commitment to treat customers like royalty, with innovation and high-quality products as a core part of their DNA. The addition of Michel’s associates, and its portfolio of sweet baked products further reinforces our goal to be crowned the best custom baked goods supplier and employer in the industry.

Liss echoed Caparos’ enthusiasm stating, “Our family is proud of the company we’ve built and as we evaluated ways to better serve our customers and accelerate growth, are thrilled to partner with Crown Bakeries. From the outset, it was apparent that we share the same customer-first philosophy and commitment to bake products to the highest quality standards. We’re truly excited to join forces and be a part of the Crown family providing a robust, full service, one-stop-shop baker to our customers.

Crown Bakeries is owned by Arbor Investments, a specialized private equity firm that focuses exclusively on acquiring premier companies in food, beverage and related industries. Arbor announced the recapitalization of Crown Bakeries (formerly The Bakery Companies) with founder and CEO Cordia Harrington in October 2019. Under Arbor’s ownership, Crown has made significant investments to grow the business both organically and through acquisitions. In 2020, Crown completed strategic acquisitions of Steck Wholesale Foods in North Sioux City, South Dakota and purchased a laminated and sweet goods plant in Smyrna, Georgia. Most recently, Crown completed a 45,000 square foot expansion in Nashville, Tennessee with a new ultra-high speed line producing thaw-and-serve croissants for the retail, in-store bakery and foodservice channels.<

“Michel’s products and manufacturing capabilities are highly complementary to the Crown portfolio, and the Philadelphia facility expands Crown’s geographic manufacturing footprint in the northeast,” commented Arbor Partner, Chris Tuffin. “We’re honored to welcome Jon and his team of passionate and talented bakers, and excited to rapidly grow the Crown platform through organic investment in new equipment and facilities and highly accretive acquisitions like Michel’s.

Winston & Strawn served as Arbor’s legal counsel in connection with the transaction.