MamaMancini’s Holdings, a marketer of specialty pre-prepared, frozen and refrigerated Italian food products, has announced the signing of definitive agreements for two acquisitions – T&L Creative Salads Inc. and Olive Branch LLC, which are related premier gourmet food manufacturers based in New York.
Closing is expected to occur on or about Dec. 29, subject to closing conditions.
Over several decades, brothers Anthony, Michael and Joseph Morello have owned and operated T&L Creative Salads, offering a full line of foods for retail food chains and club stores, delis, bagel stores, caterers and distributors.
T&L sales are spearheaded by a line of chicken products, including grilled and breaded chicken breasts, chicken strips as well as a kosher salad line. T&L’s SQF level 2 state-of-the-art USDA facility in Farmingdale, New York has positioned it to expand its operations nationally into MamaMancini’s network of retailers and club stores.
T&L actively sells its salads and prepared products to more than 250 delis, bagel shops, smaller retail accounts and food distributors in the New York metropolitan area, representing over 35 percent of T&L’s current sales volume.
Olive Branch started operations six years ago as a separate company to concentrate on selling olives, olive mixes and savory products to a limited number of large retail customers, primarily in pre-packaged containers. Olive Branch products are manufactured at the same facility as T&L in Farmingdale.
MamaMancini’s management believes that taken together, T&L and Olive Branch are positioned to generate more than $30 million in sales in calendar 2021, have the potential to drive sales of $35 million in 2022 and significantly increase MamaMancini’s net income.
Management further believes that significant growth opportunities exist in leveraging the MamaMancini’s network of tier-1 distribution partners paired with the newly-acquired product portfolio, which have relatively limited national distribution at this time.
MamaMancini’s will acquire T&L and Olive Branch for a combined purchase price of $14 million, including $11 million in cash at closing and $3 million in a four-year note to the principals of T&L. The cash payment was chiefly funded through the MamaMancini’s cash on hand and a $7.5 million long-term acquisition note from M&T Bank. Management’s analysis is that this acquisition will be substantially accretive to EBITDA and earnings in the future. Anthony Morello will remain as CEO of T&L and Olive Branch with a five-year contract.
“We are excited to become part of the MamaMancini’s team and believe we can rapidly expand sales as well as incorporate their best practices across both T&L and Olive Branch, helping to create value for MamaMancini’s shareholders,” Morello said.
Carl Wolf, CEO of MamaMancini’s, added: “With T&L’s decidedly unique products, we believe that we can achieve a substantial increase in sales and EBITDA in the rapidly growing fresh prepared food section. We plan to quickly integrate T&L and Olive Branch into MamaMancini’s distribution network which would continue to build on our growth trajectory, leveraging established national distribution partnerships. In addition, T&L’s manufacturing facilities are available to augment MamaMancini’s production capabilities, particularly in the new ready to eat meals product line.
“This announcement marks the first step in our growth through acquisition strategy, as we advance promising candidates through our due diligence pipeline. We continue to see attractive multiples in the food space with complementary food product companies generating positive EBITDA with a product that is symbiotic to their existing distribution network. I look forward to continued shareholder value creation in the months ahead as we continue our rapid pace of operational execution,” Wolf said.
MamaMancini’s product portfolio consists of more than 40 products including meatballs, meat loaf, chicken parmesan, sausages and pasta bowl kits, with beef, turkey, chicken and pork varieties. The company’s products are sold in more than 45,000 locations nationwide, including at well-known retailers such as Sam’s Club, Whole Foods, Publix, Costco and Albertsons, as well as through national distributors such as Sysco and United Natural Foods.
For more information, visit mamamancinis.com.
