Who owns ghirardelli square

Ghirardelli launches Intense Dark bars, created with luxuriously deep, velvety chocolate fused with sophisticated ingredients.

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More From Eater SF. Sign up for the newsletter Eater SF Sign up for our newsletter. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. Loading comments Lee Company, was buying Ghirardelli. Thomas H. Lee controlled a slew of consumer products manufacturers, including the General Nutrition Companies, Playtex Family Products, and others.

Lee held on to Ghirardelli for only four years. Lee investment group in the takeover of the company. Anton oversaw great growth in the company's sales during this time. Ghirardelli began opening retail shops, in an effort to find a new market. It had three soda fountain and chocolate shops in San Francisco, and in Ghirardelli announced it would open more such stores in upscale retail venues in other cities in California and in Chicago.

Retail sales accounted for only about 15 percent of the company's total sales, but it seemed the area open for the most growth. Ghirardelli also worked on expanding its presence in grocery stores with branded baking products such as cocoa and chocolate chips. While the company was owned by Thomas H. Lee, its branded products surpassed industrial products in percentage of total sales. By , around 60 percent of total sales were in the branded products division.

The company pushed to get its products in more grocery stores and other retail outlets in major markets, particularly in big cities in the Northeast and Midwest. In November , Ghirardelli announced that it had forged a distribution deal with the Sam's Club food chain, a grocery chain owned by Wal-Mart. This move helped Ghirardelli reach a national market. By , almost half the company's sales were in markets east of the Rocky Mountains, up from just 20 percent when Thomas H.

Lee first acquired Ghirardelli. Ghirardelli had also boosted growth by doubling the number of products it sold, making different food items by It marketed its baking goods in supermarkets by setting up displays, a recipe center, and a toll free customer support line.

With increased marketing and distribution, its grocery sales grew at 50 percent annually in the early s. Hicks, Muse was called "one of the most successful LBO [leveraged buyout] artists in the country' by Business Week magazine in a July 1, article. The firm specialized in a "buy and build' strategy, where it bought up small companies in related areas and ran them together.

Jack Anton continued as CEO, and kept the company on its growth course. Ghirardelli's new chairman was C. Dean Metropoulos, who managed food acquisitions for Hicks, Muse. Hicks, Muse let it be known that it was satisfied with Ghirardelli's present course, which had resulted in annual growth of about 13 percent a year over the past four years.

Therefore, the new ownership did not constitute big changes for Ghirardelli. Rather, Hicks, Muse let the company go on with its expansion. But the relationship with Hicks, Muse was also short-term. Jack Anton maintained his position as president, so despite the quick turnover in ownership in the s, there was continuity in management.

Its major markets were Switzerland, Germany, and France. Since , the company had been on an expansion program, and its acquisition of Ghirardelli fulfilled its objective of increasing its share of the North American market. Lindt brand chocolate had more of a presence in the eastern United States than in the West, so its purchase of Ghirardelli gave it better coverage of the entire country. Lindt announced that it was pleased with Ghirardelli's growth, which had averaged 20 percent annually over the five years preceding the sale, and did not anticipate making major changes.

It had grown impressively since Quaker let it go. In the company was still on an expansion track, working on increasing its presence as a national brand by getting more items on supermarket shelves.