ST. PAUL, Minn. & NEWBURYPORT, Mass.–Dessert Holdings®, North America’s leading premium dessert company, today closed the acquisition of Dianne’s Fine Desserts (“Dianne’s” or “the Company”), a leading provider of premium frozen thaw-and-serve desserts, from Geneva Glen Capital. The acquisition expands Dessert Holdings’ assortment of products supplied to the foodservice industry. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
Founded over 40 years ago, Dianne’s innovative product line includes cheesecakes, layer cakes, pies and tarts, brownies and bars, individual minis and specialty desserts using high quality ingredients and chef inspired craftsmanship. Dianne’s operates two Global Food Safety Initiative-certified manufacturing facilities.
“Dianne’s possesses a distinctive set of product capabilities and customer relationships that are highly complementary with Dessert Holdings,” said Paul Lapadat, CEO of Dessert Holdings. “Dianne’s has an exceptional, innovative team that we are thrilled to welcome to the Dessert Holdings family.”
In conjunction with the transaction, Dianne’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Knowles and President Dan Scales will be retiring.
“We are proud to have grown Dianne’s into a differentiated national supplier and value-added partner to the foodservice channel,” said Knowles. “We are excited for Dianne’s to become part of Dessert Holdings and believe its scale platform and capabilities will enable us to continue to grow,” added Scales.
Adam Schecter and Jeff Gonyo, Managing Directors at Geneva Glen Capital, said, “We are truly thankful to Mike and Dan and the entire Dianne’s management team for the incredible effort and dedication that resulted in a strong outcome for all of us. The team was able to navigate exceptionally well through the challenges of the pandemic while maintaining focus on continuous operating improvements and delivering first in class menu products to its customers. We are excited to see the Dianne’s team take the next step in their growth as part of Dessert Holdings.”
Dessert Holdings was represented in the transaction by Ropes & Gray as legal advisor, PwC as accounting advisor, and William Blair as exclusive financial advisor. Dianne’s was represented by Katten Muchin Rosenman as legal advisor, RSM as accounting advisor, and Lazard as exclusive financial advisor.
About Dessert Holdings
Dessert Holdings® is North America’s premium dessert company, recognized for providing our retail and foodservice customers with chef-inspired innovative desserts made with real ingredients, a flexible supply chain, and best-in-class service. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dessert Holdings is an umbrella organization of four premium dessert companies and brands: The Original Cakerie, Lawler’s Desserts, Atlanta Cheesecake Company, and Steven Charles. Together, the companies serve more than 250 customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America and Asia.
About Dianne’s Fine Desserts
A leading provider of premium frozen thaw-and-serve desserts to the foodservice industry, Dianne’s Fine Desserts® has been serving up inspiring, mouth-watering and memorable desserts for over 40 years. The Company’s product line includes cheesecakes, layer cakes, specialty pies and tarts, brownies/bars, individual minis and specialty desserts; all created at two state-of-the art GFSI-certified manufacturing facilities. Dianne’s Fine Desserts has strong core markets, an established customer base and product lines that anticipate consumer demand and support customer initiatives and goals.
