CHICAGO & AKRON, Ohio- Shore Capital Partners (“Shore” or “Shore Capital”) is pleased to announce that it has completed a recapitalization of Main Street Gourmet (“MSG” or “the Company”), a wholesale bakery based in Akron, OH.
Founded in 1987 by Steve Marks and Harvey Nelson, Main Street Gourmet is a custom wholesale bakery providing frozen baked goods, including muffins, cookies, granola, brownies and bars, and other sweet goods to retail in-store bakery (“ISB”) and specialty foodservice customers across the United States. MSG operates out of an SQF certified 68,000 sq. foot manufacturing facility with approximately 160 employees in Akron, OH, and has been an important part of the community for more than 30 years.
Shore Capital is partnering with Mr. Marks and Mr. Nelson, the full MSG management team, and the previous majority shareholders, Clover Capital Partners, who helped guide the Company through a period of tremendous growth since partnering with the business in 2011. “We are proud of the custom and solutions-oriented bakery model we have built and scaled as a team and are excited to continue to serve our customers with a diverse range of high quality and differentiated products through a new phase of transformational growth. Our partnership with Shore Capital will allow us to accelerate our organic growth through expanding on our product capabilities, serving additional retail ISB and specialty foodservice customers and broadening our footprint by pursuing acquisitions with other differentiated bakeries in adjacent categories and channels,” said Mr. Nelson, CEO of MSG.
Shore plans to invest in the business development, sales & marketing, and production infrastructure to further enhance operations and explore opportunities for inorganic growth through acquisitions and organic growth through adjacent product lines, customers and distribution channels. “I have high aspirations for what we can collectively accomplish alongside Shore Capital and are excited to partner with a group that understands our value proposition as a custom, value-added supply chain partner. We continue to strive to be highly responsive with product development, able to commercialize new ideas in collaboration with our customers, and maintain flexibility to work with unique ingredients and processes,” added Mr. Marks, who formerly served alongside Mr. Nelson as co-CEO and will be serving on the Board of Directors under the partnership with Shore Capital.
“We could not be more excited to partner with the entire MSG team and look forward to creating a leading multi-regional bakery platform in the U.S. with a diverse range of high quality products, manufacturing capabilities and commitment to superior customer service,” said Richard Boos, Partner at Shore Capital and Chairman of MSG. “Harvey, Steve and Clover Capital have built an excellent business model focused on custom and solutions-driven products for its ISB and foodservice customers and we will work hard to collaborate with them to build on their success.”
About Shore Capital
Shore Capital is a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on microcap investments within the Healthcare and Food and Beverage industries. Shore supports management partners with capital, business development expertise, and industry knowledge to accelerate growth, fund acquisitions, and generate value to shareholders. Shore targets investments in proven, successful private companies with superior management teams, stable cash flow, and significant growth potential, including organic and growth through industry consolidation. Shore has over $1 billion of equity capital under management through various investment vehicles. For more information, please visit: www.shorecp.com.
