Van de Kamp's, Quaker Oats ink deal for select Celeste, Aunt Jemima products

Nation's Restaurant News, June 3, 1996

CHICAGO--Van de Kamp's Inc., a privately held producer of branded frozen seafood, reached an agreement with The Quaker Oats Co. to acquire Quaker's Aunt Jemima frozen breakfast products and Celeste frozen pizza products businesses.

Terms were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the pact, Van de Kamp's will buy the Celeste trademark and the Jackson, Tenn., frozen-foods plant where Celeste and Aunt Jemima products are manufactured.

The sale does not include the Aunt Jemima trademark, which will continue to be owned by Quaker and used on its pancake mix, syrup and corn products.

Quaker, however, will license the Aunt Jemima trademark to Van de Kamp's for frozen breakfast products.

The combined sales of the Aunt Jemima frozen breakfast products and Celeste frozen pizza businesses for 1995 were approximately $175 million, with Aunt Jemima generating about 55 percent of sales.

"Though frozen foods have been a good business for us for more than three decades, it is not a core business, accounting for less than 3 percent of Quaker's sales last year," Quaker Oats, chairman, William Smithburg, said in a statement.

Based in St. Louis, Van de Kamp's produces a full line of frozen fish and seafood products under the Van de Kamp's and Mrs. Paul's brands.

The company also markets a line of frozen desserts, including Pet-Ritz Cobblers and cream pies and Oronoque Orchards pie shells.