Alabama’s favorite pickle company has been acquired by one of the South’s leading consumer packaged goods investment firms.
Fenwick Food Group, a division of Fenwick Brands Inc., officially absorbed Wickles Pickles on November 29. The business will be headquartered in Birmingham.
Fenwick also owns another Alabama based brand, Moore’s Marinades & Sauces. The rapid success and growth of that brand reportedly helped to convince the founders of Wickles Pickles that an acquisition was in their company’s best interest.
“Fenwick is the perfect partner to accelerate the brand’s growth trajectory while preserving its identity and operating roots. We’re excited to see Wickles get the resources and investment it deserves to scale,” said co-founder Will Sims.
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Melissa Baker, President and CEO of Fenwick Food Group, said that Wickles Pickles and Fenwick share common goals for the iconic Alabama brand.
“We were aligned on the long-term vision and strategy for the brand, which cemented the partnership. Will, Trey and Andy have built an incredible brand with impressive momentum,” said Baker. “Two Alabama-based consumer brands coming together is special in the broader consumer packaged goods industry and made the investment more relational than transactional.”
Baker elaborated on that strategy.
“Our long-term strategy is to curate a food platform with a handful of brands that could benefit from a shared team, investment and operational synergies,” she said. “Scale is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive, and we want to help similar brands with strong consumer demand stay around.”
Financial details of the acquisition are not being made public.
Wickles Pickles was founded in 1998 by brothers Will and Trey Sims, and Andy Anderson in Dadeville, Alabama.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.