Minneapolis-based Flagstone Foods, a major producer of store-brand snack nuts and trail mixes, has acquired Emerald Nuts.
Campbell Soup Co. sold the brand, which had $66 million in sales last year, for an undisclosed amount, the soup company announced Tuesday.
Flagstone has long worked as a behind-the-scenes manufacturer — making and packaging private label products for others. Now, with a well-established brand, the company gains higher visibility in the snack aisle.
"This is a transformative acquisition for the company to really return us to a growth model," Flagstone CEO Harry Overly said. "Because of our scale, there's room for us to improve the quality of the product. That's where our forte is, designing really great, high-quality products."
Flagstone was part of Chicago-based Treehouse Foods until 2019, when the private equity firm Atlas Holdings bought the snacking division and set up its headquarters in Minneapolis. Flagstone named Overly as CEO last year.
Flagstone employs about 800 people and operates three manufacturing plants in North Carolina, Texas and Alabama. It also owns the Goodfields, Hoody's, Nature's Harvest and Nutcracker brands.
About 60 to 80 new jobs will be added as part of the acquisition, mostly in Minnesota and Texas. Overly said the El Paso plant will take on the Emerald production lines.
Emerald was founded in 2004 and acquired by Campbell in 2018. The sale is part of the company's strategy to "focus on driving accelerated growth across our snacks division and power brands," said Chris Foley, president of Campbell Snacks, in a statement.
