BONITA SPRINGS — Innovative Gourmet, a subsidiary of Bonita Springs-based Innovative Food Holdings, acquired substantially all the assets of igourmet, a northeast Pennsylvania-based online gourmet food and gift retailer.
Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The business will continue to operate under igourmet's name, according to a release. Based in West Pittston, Pa., igourmet offers a wide assortment of high quality gourmet and specialty food products through its website and a full line of omni-channel partners, the release adds. In addition, through its specialty foodservice division, igourmet offers a wide assortment of specialty food products to restaurants, specialty retailers and other business establishments.
A key goal of the acquisition, say Innovative Food Holdings executives, is to leverage igourmet's current available capacity, including 19,000 square feet of underutilized space available in the igourmet 65,000-square-foot warehouse.
“We plan on working closely with the igourmet team toward quickly driving bottom line profitability through operational efficiencies, cross-company synergies and margin improvement,” says Innovative Food Holdings President Justin Wiernasz in the statement. “We believe this acquisition provides Innovative Food Holdings with both near term and long term revenue and bottom line opportunities, in several key specialty food market areas.”
The CEO and founder of igourmet, Spencer Chesman, a gourmet and specialty food industry leader, has been named president of Innovative Gourmet, the release states. Innovative Gourmet will operate the igourmet business as a wholly owned subsidiary, with its officers reporting directly to senior management of Innovative Food Holdings.
“As the specialty food world rapidly evolves, we continue to see significant shifts towards e-commerce across multiple channels,” says Innovative Food Holdings CEO Sam Klepfish in the release. “We are particularly excited to have acquired one of the leading direct to consumer e-commerce brands in the specialty and gourmet food space, which significantly expands our specialty food distribution channel capabilities.”
Innovative Food Holdings had $35.10 million in 2016 revenues.