ROME, Ga. – Southeastern Mills, Inc. has acquired The Original Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce and related assets from Bruce Foods Corp., Iberia, La. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Southeastern Mills supplies ingredients for industrial and food service customers and manufactures branded products for retail, including Better than Bouillon food bases, Shore Lunch soups and breadings, Southeastern Mills gravy and baking and seasoning mixes, Crockery Gourmet seasoning mixes and Better than Gravy gravy mixes.
Along with the hot sauce, the company adds to its portfolio Louisiana wing sauce, Red Rooster hot sauce, Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce, Louisiana brand Tabasco Peppers in Vinegar, and Bruce’s Tabasco Peppers in Vinegar. The newly acquired brands will operate under The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce Company name.
“This strategic acquisition adds yet another strong brand to the growing Southeastern Mills family,” said Linda Owens, president of Southeastern Mills. “Hot sauces and bold flavors are rapidly growing in popularity and the Original Louisiana hot sauce products have helped drive that growth. We’re excited about this addition, as it strengthens our retail portfolio and gives us more products to sell to our food service and industrial customers.”
Cases of hot sauce shipped from food service distributors to restaurants and other food service outlets increased by double-digits over the past two years, according to a recent report from The NPD Group, Chicago, and Louisiana-style hot sauce is the leader in terms of case volume shipped from distributors to US food service outlets. Hot sauce is heating up in homes, too, with 56 percent of households reported to carry the condiment in kitchens, NPD said.
With an 80-year history, The Original Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce embodies traditional Cajun cooking with three simple ingredients, including handpicked cayenne chile peppers. The sauce is distributed in more than 60 countries and may be found as an ingredient in food products on grocery shelves and in restaurant dishes.
“We are happy with how this acquisition unfolded,” said J.S. “Si” Brown III, president and CEO of Bruce Foods Corp. “Southeastern Mills is a family business that shares our values and vision. They will be good stewards of the hot sauce business we’ve built over the past seven decades.”
