Arkady Craigmillar, the UK subsidiary of bakery ingredients giant CSM moves forward on the road to 'sweet treat' growth through the integration of its latest acquisition, the cookie supplier Readi-Bake, reflecting CSM's strategy to build a leading position in the bakery-supplies market.
Arkady Craigmillar snapped up the cookie company for €28 million earlier this year when Country Home Bakers, the US owner of Readi-Bake, filed for bankruptcy and put the Readi-Bake shares on the market.
At the time Steve Moon managing director of Arkady Craigmillar said the 150 million per year cookie supplier "perfectly complements" the company's existing portfolio, strengthening its position in the British market for sweet treats and 'enabling us to offer an increased selection of high quality cookies to the in-store bakery and foodservice sectors'.
Arkady Craigmillar said this week that all of its cookie production will be undertaken at Readi-Bake's Milton Keynes facility by the end of the year. Sales administration and other back office functions will be transferred to the Arkady Craigmillar head office site in the Wirral.
The combined Readi-Bake and Arkady Craigmillar sales force should ensure more effective customer support and sustained growth into the future, said Steve Moon on Tuesday.
Readi-Bake - with annual sales of approximately €22 million - has supplied American recipe cookies to high street bakeries, supermarkets and cookie stores in the UK and Europe since 1983. Arkady Craigmillar is part of the Dutch bakery ingredients and sugar confectionery giant CSM that has an annual turnover of €3.8bn and operates in Europe, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Asia.
In 2000 CSM acquired the European bakery-supply arm of Anglo-Dutch group Unilever for €700m.