“This acquisition advances our Accelerate strategy and builds on our strong position in the fast-growing away-from-home frozen baked goods category,” said Shawn O’Grady, group president of North America Foodservice, General Mills.
“We have clear competitive advantages in foodservice with our strategic customer partnerships, best-in-class supply chain, and operator-first innovation capabilities.”
In the nine months to 27 February, the Minnesota-based company’s North American foodservice business saw sales rise by 24% from the year earlier to $1.32bn, helped by the sector re-opening after Covid. The unit’s operating profit increased 27% to $175m.
Added O’Grady, “By adding the high-growth TNT Crust business to our frozen baked goods platform, we are adding to our scale in a category that is on trend with consumers and poised for continued rapid growth.”
TNT Crust produces partially baked, self-rising, gluten-free and plant-based pizza crusts that are highly complementary to General Mills’ existing frozen baked goods portfolio. The business – a portfolio company of Peak Rock Capital – has leveraged its differentiated products and strong relationships with key operators to drive double-digit compound annual net sales growth over the past four years, with net sales totalling almost $100m in 2021.
General Mills is buying the Wisconsin-based pizza maker from private equity firm Peak Rock Capital, which had acquired TNT from Tyson Foods before in 2018.
Under the agreement, General Mills is also taking ownership of TNT’s two manufacturing facilities in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and St. Charles, Missouri.
