SMYRNA, Georgia – Crown Bakeries (“Crown”), a leading manufacturer of fresh and frozen croissants, buns, bagels, biscuits, sweet goods, and other dough products, cut the ribbon this week on completed renovations at its Smyrna manufacturing facility, 1200 Wilson Way, Smyrna, Georgia. The nearly 200,000 square foot facility underwent an extensive renovation including: expansion of manufacturing floorspace, tripling the size of the company’s research and development center with the addition of a state-of-the-art innovation lab, and renovation of employee welfare, offices, and café facilities. Stellar was the general contractor, with support by Box Studios for architectural and interior design and RLE Partners in managing the project.
Cordia Harrington, Founder and CEO of Crown Bakeries said, “Congratulations to the Crown team on an impressive, best-in-class expansion at our Smyrna facility. The new spaces beautifully express our company’s values. The investment made into innovation capabilities and manufacturing space at this key geographic location furthers our vision for growth and our commitment to proudly serve national brands!”
Commenting on the project, President of Crown Yianny Caparos added, “Our goal with the renovation was two-fold: to refresh and create a modern facility our employees are proud to work in every day, while also building a dedicated R&D center to host customers and brands for hands-on collaboration. We encourage our partners to visit and take advantage of the new tools and talent we have here to accelerate innovation.”
The investment and expansion of the Smyrna facility reflects the ongoing success and transformational growth of the Crown Bakeries organization over the last three years. The existing facility was acquired by Crown in May 2020 and is one of nine manufacturing facilities in the broader Crown network.
Crown Bakeries is owned by Arbor Investments, a specialized private equity firm that focuses exclusively on acquiring premier companies in food, beverage, and related industries. Chris Tuffin, Partner at Arbor Investments stated, “Today we cut the ribbon on another significant capital investment made to support the growing infrastructure at Crown. We have already made unprecedented investments of over $50 million in organic growth projects over the last three years and will continue to aggressively deploy capital to support growth and further our vision in building a formidable national baker across highly differentiated product sectors.”
About Crown Bakeries
Founded in 1996 by Cordia Harrington and based in Nashville, Tennessee, Crown Bakeries manufactures a diverse line of fresh and frozen croissants, buns, bagels, biscuits, English muffins, sweet goods, and other baked products for leading foodservice, food manufacturing and retail customers in the United States. Crown operates state-of the-art baking lines throughout nine facilities, baking over seven million items daily and employing over 1,700 people. Crown Bakeries has been recognized by Burger King with their Vendor Appreciation Award (2022), Conagra Brands as Supplier of the Year (2020), American Society of Baking’s Baking Hall of Fame (CEO Cordia Harrington in 2018, President Yianny Caparos and Chief Development Officer George Caparos in 2022), Nashville Business Journal’s Best in Business (2017), McDonald’s Supplier Leadership Award (2012) and Wholesale Bakery of the Year (2010). www.crownbakeries.com
About Arbor Investments
Founded in 1999 with offices in Chicago, New York and Palm Beach, Arbor Investments is a specialized private equity firm focused exclusively on acquiring premier companies in food, beverage and related industries. To date, the firm has acquired or invested in over 80 food & beverage companies in North America. www.arborpic.com
