Cuisine Solutions, a pioneer in sous vide premium foods, on June 6 announced a $250 million investment from Bain Capital to accelerate its growth and global expansion. The minority investment will further establish the company’s authority in the sous vide category, provide additional resources to support accelerated product innovation, boost business worldwide and expand its manufacturing footprint beyond the United States, France and Thailand.
Cuisine Solutions will continue to operate under the leadership of the existing management team, led by CEO Felipe Hasselmann and Chairman, Stanislas Vilgrain, who remain significant owners in the business, in addition to the Vilgrain family retaining a controlling interest. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions.
Headquartered in Sterling, Virginia, Cuisine Solutions is the largest sous vide company in the world and a leading culinary innovation partner, with locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It provides prepared sous vide food products to foodservice, on-board, military, and retail customers worldwide including Amtrak, Costco, Dunkin’, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Panera, and Starbucks among many other industry leaders. Pasteurized sous vide items offer 18 months shelf life frozen, six days when defrosted, and can be oven finished in minutes.
“Our future, while bright before this strategic partnership, is now even more exciting as we see substantial runway to drive growth and expansion through continued innovation across multiple product categories,” said Hasselmann. “We are proud to be the leader in the art and science of sous vide, which is the answer to so many of the challenges our clients face inside and outside of the kitchen. This investment will enable us to rapidly scale our worldwide manufacturing infrastructure, business partnerships, and fortify our supply chain, thereby creating additional scale to meet the growing needs of the global partners who rely on our products every day across tens of thousands of locations.”
“My vision when founding Cuisine Solutions was to be the best innovator and food producer in our space, develop best-in-class partnerships, and have our reputation speak for itself through our quality, scale, and innovation,” said Vilgrain. “To have a world-class investment firm of Bain Capital’s caliber support our vision speaks to the success of our original mission and to the exciting future of our industry. I am extremely proud of our accomplishments from our humble start in 1990 to today, and am looking forward to building together with Bain Capital a leading, innovative food company of the future.”
Boston, Massachusetts-headquartered Bain Capital has a long history of partnering with companies in the food industry. The firm’s restaurant, foodservice, and grocery-related investments have included Advantage Solutions, Bloomin’ Brands, Brakes Group Food Distribution, Burger King, Dessert Holdings, Dunkin’ Brands, Domino’s Pizza, Gail’s Bakery, Retail Zoo, Skylark Restaurants and Valeo Foods.
