Eustis, FL—Florida Food Products (FFP) recently announced that it will acquire Comax Manufacturing Corp., a provider of flavor solutions.
Under the stewardship of the Calabretta family, Comax Flavors has grown to become one of the largest providers of natural flavors in the US since its founding in 1977, FFP noted. Comax formulates natural ingredients that replace synthetic flavors and maintains a portfolio of almost 1,000 natural flavor SKUs, including a range of dairy flavors.
As part of the FFP family, Comax will continue to operate its Melville, NY, manufacturing facility, and develop formulations in its Marlton, NJ, research and development facility. The Calabretta family will maintain an equity position in the combined business.
Founded in 1954, Florida Food Products is a formulator and producer of vegetable and fruit-based clean-label ingredients. Earlier this year, Ardian and MidOcean Partners announced a partnership to accelerate FFP’s strategic roadmap through increased investment in R&D and the completion of stratetic acquisitions.
“Comax is the result of 40-plus years of dedication to our craft and the hard work of hundreds of our colleagues. We are incredibly proud of the business that we have built and are confident that the Comax legacy will live on as part of the FFP family,” commented Peter Calabretta Jr., Comax’s CEO.
“We are excited to partner with the FFP, Ardian, and MidOcean teams, who share our belief that natural ingredients provide consumers with healthier options while offering our customers highquality alternatives to traditional, synthetic ingredients,” Calabretta continued. “This partnership gives Comax access to new technologies, ingredients, and distribution that will accelerate the existing Comax business and provide more solutions and capabilities for our valued customers.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Comax to the FFP family, and to partner with the Calabretta family. Comax has built an impressive portfolio of natural flavors, which we intend to augment with FFP’s industry leading extraction, drying, and fermentation capabilities,” said Jim Holdrieth, FFP’s CEO.
“Our acquisition of Comax represents our first major investment of the Ardian and MidOcean partnership and accelerates our objective of becoming the industry’s largest independent provider of natural ingredients,” Holdrieth added.
