Wake Forest, North Carolina-headquartered Imperial Frozen Foods has obtained a $20 million senior secured revolving line of credit from Ares Commercial Finance. Proceeds are being used to refinance existing debt and to fund strategic acquisitions.
Imperial, a unit of Kenex Holdings, is a supplier of Grade A conventional and organic frozen fruits and vegetables to retail, club and foodservice clientele in North America.
Meanwhile, the company has debuted a Happy Healthy frozen product range that is now available at Walmart, Heinen’s, Albertsons, Hy-Vee, Lowes Foods, Harris Teeter, Foodtown and Fairway and other grocery store chains across the United States.
Happy Healthy offers five 8-ounce Smoothies, three 8-ounce Overnight Oats and a 10-ounce Acai Bowl. Carrot Cake, Tropical Green Tea, Tropical Mint and Indulgent Blend are among the flavors.
The convenient, “better for you” products combine farm-frozen nutritious ingredients in a convenient usable package that can be recycled. Just add a liquid of choice to the smoothie cup, pour the entire contents into a blender, blend and pour back into the cup. The lid has a convenient hole for a straw, so the smoothie can be consumed on the go.
Overnight Oats just needs the addition of a liquid of choice. Thereafter leave it in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, mix the product and a healthy, convenient breakfast is ready to consume. The Acai Bowl contains organic ingredients and is simply a thaw-and-serve product.
“Consumers are asking for convenient, healthy options at a reasonable price and we heard them loud and clear,” said Imperial Frozen Foods Vice President of Sales, Alex McIntosh. “We have seen these items resonate with people dining at quick serve restaurants and juice bars, and we wanted to bring these options to the frozen aisle for consumers to enjoy at home.”
About the Company
Imperial Frozen Foods was founded in 1957 in Brooklyn, New York, by Sam Skolnick as an extension of the Fruitcrest Preserve Company. It remained a family business for 57 years, with Sam’s son Peter at the helm in Monterrey, California, for almost two decades, until the company was sold in 2014. At the helm today is CEO Kevin Migdal, a 40-year food industry veteran with deep experience leading branded and private label companies in all retail and foodservice classes of trade.
Imperial was among must a few frozen fruit brokers in the United States for much of its existence. It purchased a strawberry processing plant in central Mexico in 1962, and was one of the first companies to establish a multinational fruit processing facility. Intermex (the Mexican factory) and Imperial Frozen Foods became one of the largest exporters of frozen strawberries from Mexico.
At its peak, Imperial exported 80 million pounds of frozen fruit a year, it also produced a brand of strawberries called SunVale. The brand has evolved from the humble milk carton of frozen strawberries to a full line of frozen fruit, including IQF whole strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, berry medleys, peaches and rhubarb.
Imperial’s industrial product offerings include whole fruit, IQF, sliced, and sliced with sugar, chunks, purees, and juice stock. The company’s industrial/foodservice includes apples and apricots to boysenberries, cherries, cranberries, figs, gooseberries, loganberries, pastes, juice blends, concentrates and flavors.
