Midwest Growth Partners Invests in French Gourmet
Midwest Growth Partners, a West Des Moines- and Omaha-based private equity fund that specializes in succession planning and growth capital investments across the food and agriculture value chain, has invested in French Gourmet, LLC.
Based in Sparks, Nev., French Gourmet was founded by Patrick Novak in 1984 as a manufacturer of artisanal, all-natural, European-style pastries and Danishes. The company manufactures a variety of croissants, Danish pastries, dough shells and puff pastries with laminated dough in frozen and pre-proofed formats. The company services hotels, cafes, independent bakeries, diners, grocery bakeries and other foodservice businesses.
“French Gourmet is well positioned for its next phase of growth, and I’m excited for Midwest Growth Partners to help execute on the vision I’ve had for the company since founding the business,” said Patrick Novak.
Zane Hendricks, vice president of Midwest Growth Partners, said, “French Gourmet has a great product, culture, and impressive manufacturing capabilities. I’ve enjoyed working with the entire management team, and we are excited to be part of the company’s growth for years to come.”
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US Foods Completes Renzi Foodservice Acquisition
US Foods Holding Corp. has successfully completed the previously announced acquisition of Renzi Foodservice, a broadline distributor located in Watertown, N.Y. The transaction closed July 7. The acquisition enables US Foods to further expand its reach into central upstate New York where the company does not have a distribution center.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. To learn more about the Renzi Foodservice acquisition, please view the company’s May 19, 2023 press release announcement here.
US Foods is one of America’s largest food companies and a leading foodservice distributor, partnering with approximately 250,000 restaurants and foodservice operators to help their businesses succeed. With 70 broadline locations and more than 85 cash and carry stores, US Foods and its 29,000 associates provides its customers with a broad and innovative food offering and a comprehensive suite of e-commerce, technology and business solutions. US Foods is headquartered in Rosemont, Ill.
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Pepsi Bottling Ventures Suffers Security Breach
Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC has revealed that a security breach occurred in December that may have involved some personal information provided by current and former employees and contractors of PBV.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures is an independent, privately-held bottler. No information owned by PepsiCo was affected.
On Jan. 10, Pepsi Bottling Ventures learned that unauthorized activity was reported on certain internal IT systems. PBV took prompt action to contain the incident and further strengthen the security of its networks. Based on its investigation, an unknown party accessed those systems on or around Dec. 23 and downloaded certain information contained in the accessed IT systems.
As of Jan. 19, PBV has detected no unauthorized activity.
The impacted information varies by individual, and may have included: first and last names (including individual and/or parents’ legal surname prior to marriage); home address; email address; financial account information (including a limited number of passwords, PIN codes or other access numbers); state and federal government issued identification numbers such as driver license numbers, ID cards, Social Security numbers and passport information; digital signatures; and information related to benefits and employment, including certain limited medical history, health and health insurance claims, and health insurance information such as policy numbers.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures promptly reported the incident to law enforcement, suspended all affected systems and investigated to understand the scope and impact of the incident. At this time, the company said it not aware of any identity theft or fraud involving an individual’s personal information.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures has secured the services of Kroll to provide identity monitoring at no cost for at least one year for those impacted. Identity monitoring services include credit monitoring, a current credit report, web watcher, public persona, Quick Cash Scan, $1 million identity fraud loss reimbursement, fraud consultation and identity theft restoration.
For those who may have been affected, the company advises promptly change username(s), password(s) and security question answer(s) for any accounts or account information maintained with Pepsi Bottling Ventures and take any other appropriate steps to protect all other online accounts that use the same username, password or security question answer.
Those seeking additional information may contact a toll-free call center at (866) 674-3149, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding major U.S. holidays.
“PBV values the security and privacy of the information entrusted to us and deeply regrets this incident,” the company said in a statement.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC is a privately held manufacturer, seller and distributor of some of the most recognized beverage brands in the world. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., PBV has 19 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware.
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