California Custom Fruits & Flavors (CCFF) has acquired the Custom Nutritional Ingredients (CNI) division of Skjodt-Barrett Foods, adding a four-decade-old specialist in bar layers, fillings, bindings, toppings, and icings to its custom-ingredient platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquired division will continue to trade under the Skjodt-Barrett Foods name as a unit of CCFF.
The Strategic Fit
CCFF, a 1986-founded developer and manufacturer of custom-formulated specialty ingredients, is an affiliate of Peak Rock Capital, a middle-market private equity firm. The CNI business has supplied better-for-you bar components to leading brands, co-manufacturers, and foodservice operators for more than 40 years, giving CCFF an immediately deployable manufacturing base and a client roster that includes several top quick-service restaurant chains in North America. The deal deepens CCFF's presence in the high-growth better-for-you segment, where demand for clean-label, functional bar formats has expanded across both retail and foodservice channels.
Doug Glade, Chief Executive Officer of CCFF, framed the acquisition as a capacity and capability play. "The business' dedication to the success of its customers makes it an ideal fit for CCFF, offering customers expanded flexibility, capacity, and capabilities to better serve their needs," he said. Glade added that the combined entity is positioned to help leading foodservice operators develop new and innovative menu items — a signal that CCFF intends to compete more aggressively for QSR contract development business.
Investor and Management Signals
Michael Graham, Managing Director of Peak Rock Capital and Board Member of CCFF, described the transaction as "transformative," pointing to accelerated product development as a primary rationale. Guy Burton, President of Skjodt-Barrett CNI, indicated the division will retain its identity and management team under the new ownership structure, characterizing the deal as an expansion of resources rather than an operational overhaul.
For Peak Rock, the acquisition continues a pattern of bolt-on growth within CCFF's platform. The firm's equity strategy targets corporate carve-outs — precisely the structure of this CNI transaction, which separates one division from the broader Skjodt-Barrett Foods organization — and back-office integration synergies typical of such deals could allow the combined business to rationalize procurement and R&D spending over time.
Outlook for Custom Ingredient Consolidation
The deal reflects broader consolidation underway in the custom and co-manufactured food ingredient sector. Operators across foodservice and packaged goods are increasingly outsourcing complex formulation work to specialists, driving demand for suppliers capable of serving both retail brands and large QSR chains from the same platform. CCFF has signaled it will pursue additional acquisitions to expand its value-added capabilities further, suggesting Peak Rock views the custom ingredient space as a fragmented market ripe for roll-up activity.
For industry observers tracking mergers and acquisitions in food manufacturing and shifts in foodservice supply chain strategy, the CCFF-CNI combination is a bellwether: private equity continues to find value in mid-market ingredient specialists that sit at the intersection of nutrition trends and large-format foodservice contracts. Coverage of similar consolidation trends has been tracked by Food & Beverage Magazine, which monitors brand and operator strategy across the sector.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
