Grace Foods USA, a unit of GraceKennedy Limited (GKL), a publicly traded Jamaican corporation listed on the Jamaica and Trinidad Stock Exchanges, has acquired a 49% equity stake in a new joint venture company doing business as Majesty Foods LLC.
Hialeah, Florida-based Majesty Foods manufactures frozen meat-filled patties and empanada products sold under its proprietary Patty King and Latin Delights labels as well as under other third-party brands. It has co-packing relationships with numerous companies, and products are marketed through large retail chains including Whole Foods and Publix. Majesty Foods also sells to major foodservice distributors including Sysco, Cheney Brothers and Jetro/Restaurant Depot.
Grace Foods owns and operates a 23,000-square-foot cold storage warehouse and food processing facility in Florida. As a part of the joint venture agreement, it will outsource to Majesty Foods its current factory operations including the production of a wide portfolio of frozen Hispanic and Caribbean products for retail and foodservice channels.
CEO Don Wehby
“Majesty Foods is the current manufacturer of Grace brand patties for the USA market which are available nationwide in leading retailer outlets including Wal-Mart and Target,” said Don Wehby, chief executive officer of the Kingston-headquartered GKL Group. “Grace brand patties have been doing exceptionally well, experiencing double digit growth in the market. The consolidation of these two entities will create a stronger and better capitalized business through various synergies, allowing Majesty Foods to provide an enhanced service offering to all its customers.”
He continued: “We have been aggressively pursuing opportunities for mergers and acquisitions as a part of our long-term strategy. This joint venture is a step in the right direction for our foods division as we strive to leverage our leading position in the United States-Caribbean market to become one of the top players in the USA-Hispanic market through our La Fe brand.”
The principals of Majesty Foods, Gary Tie-Shue and Colin Chang, will continue to lead the manufacturing operation that they started 20 years ago.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Grace Foods and look forward to embracing the challenge of transforming our business into the leading manufacturer of Hispanic and Caribbean food products in the United States,” Tie-Shue, president and director of Majesty Foods.
