SF Equity Partners Buys Majority Stake in Rustic Bakery

<p><strong>SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; San Francisco Equity Partners &lpar;SFEP&rpar;&comma; a private equity firm focused on expansion-stage companies in the consumer sector&comma; has acquired a majority stake in Petaluma-based Rustic Bakery&comma; a pioneer and market leader in organic and specialty foods&comma; and one of the highest-velocity specialty cracker brands in the market&period; Terms of the deal were not disclosed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Founded in 2005 by Carol LeValley and her husband Josh Harris&comma; Rustic Bakery is a leading specialty foods company that manufactures and markets a growing portfolio of artisanal products&comma; including crackers&comma; crisps&comma; cookies and biscuits&period; The company manufactures its organic&comma; non-GMO products with locally sourced ingredients at its Petaluma&comma; CA production facility&comma; where it controls a proprietary production process to maintain exceptional product quality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rustic Bakery’s products are sold in over 5&comma;000 stores in North America across multiple distribution channels&comma; including conventional and natural grocery&comma; club&comma; e-commerce&comma; specialty and foodservice&period; The company’s highly sought-after products have been featured in Super Bowl suites and were even requested by Pope Francis when he toured North America&period; Rustic Bakery also operates four award-winning cafés in Marin&comma; CA that offer elevated fast casual breakfast and lunch fare&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Rustic Bakery is a strong&comma; authentic brand built on exceptionally high quality&comma;” said SFEP Managing Partner Scott Potter&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We see a significant opportunity to expand the brand’s product portfolio&comma; distribution and customer base&comma; and look forward to bringing our strategic and operational resources to bear as we partner with the company on its next phase of growth&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;SFEP has great experience building authentic consumer brands and scaling manufacturing businesses in high-growth product categories&comma;” added Carol LeValley&comma; CEO and founder of Rustic Bakery&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re excited to partner with them to continue to build the brand&comma; accelerate the business and delight our customers with more great offerings&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Aspect Consumer Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Rustic Bakery in connection with the transaction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;