Rise Baking Company has completed its acquisition of Jimmy's Gourmet Bakery, the Minneapolis-based manufacturer announced July 31, adding three Northeastern production facilities totaling more than 350,000 square feet to its North American bakery network. No financial terms were disclosed.
What Rise Is Getting
Founded in 1985, Jimmy's brings a thaw-and-sell retail and foodservice platform built around three distinct product lines: the Jimmy's Cookies brand, the King Krumb Cookie line, and Ecce Panis artisan breads. The company has spent four decades supplying grocery chains and foodservice operators nationwide and carries a private-label manufacturing capability that Rise flagged as a strategic draw. The deal deepens Rise's presence in the cookie category, one of the highest-velocity segments in the in-store bakery channel, while giving the acquirer Northeast production capacity it did not previously hold at scale.
Rise, formed in 2013 and headquartered in Minneapolis, already operates a broad portfolio of bakery brands — including Brill, Table Talk, South Coast Baking, Best Maid, Henry & Henry, and Bakestone Brothers — serving national grocery chains, convenience stores, quick-service restaurants, and mass merchandisers. The company specializes in cakes, cookies, muffins, icings, and pies.
Integration Timeline and Leadership
Jimmy's will continue to operate as an independent unit during an unspecified transition period while both companies manage integration planning. Howard Hirsch, CEO of Jimmy's, and Michael Pisani, President of Jimmy's, remain in place. "This acquisition allows us to build on that legacy while creating new opportunities for our employees, partners and customers," Hirsch said. Pisani added that access to Rise's broader resource base positions Jimmy's to accelerate product innovation and respond to shifting customer demands.
Mark McNeil, CEO of Rise Baking Company, framed the rationale around personnel and culture as much as capacity. "Jimmy's has built an outstanding team, a strong culture and a reputation for delivering innovative products and service," McNeil said. "Together, we'll build on that foundation as we continue investing in our customers, our people, and the future of our business."
Strategic Context
The deal is the latest in a series of bolt-on acquisitions Rise has used to build scale since its founding. For in-store bakery and foodservice suppliers, manufacturing density in the Northeast represents a logistics and freshness advantage — particularly for thaw-and-sell and short-shelf-life products where proximity to distribution hubs directly affects margin. Adding 350,000 square feet of regional capacity through an established operator is a faster path to that position than greenfield construction.
The broader bakery manufacturing sector has seen sustained consolidation as large contract manufacturers seek to diversify channel exposure across retail, foodservice, and private label simultaneously. Rise's acquisition of Jimmy's fits that pattern, layering artisan bread credentials — through Ecce Panis — onto a base that has historically skewed toward commodity and mid-tier cookie production. For foodservice operators and in-store bakery buyers evaluating supplier stability, the combined entity's expanded geographic footprint and product breadth may factor into sourcing decisions at contract renewal.
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.
