Columbus Foods and Harris Ranch Announce Joint Venture to Expand Deli Meat Production
Columbus Foods, San Francisco-based producer of premium specialty meats since 1917, has announced expansion of its deli meat production through a new partnership with industry leader Harris Ranch. Family-owned and located in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, Harris Ranch has been producing superior meats for more than 50 years.
To ensure consistency and quality during the transition, the two manufacturers spent more than a year planning, testing and duplicating Columbus’ time-tested consumer favorite deli meat recipes within this new modern facility.
“Like Columbus, Harris Ranch is dedicated to producing the highest quality products with the utmost dedication to food safety,” said David Wood, Chairman and CEO of Harris Ranch Beef Company. “This is a good fit for both of our companies – and the synergies between Harris Ranch and Columbus will ensure a seamless production transition.”
Significant investment between both companies of more than $10 million dollars was made to ensure the implementation of a state of the art deli meat processing facility to support this venture. The current layout was built to produce an initial volume production of 25 million pounds of deli meat cooking and processing, but can be expanded to another 50 million pounds of capacity with minimal disruption to operations.
“Columbus’ deli cooking facility in South San Francisco is landlocked and necessitated we find a solution to provide for capacity expansion on our branded deli meat growth,” said Timothy Fallon, CEO and President at Columbus Foods. “By partnering with Harris Ranch we’re well-positioned to continue to provide the quality and taste that consumers and our retail customers expect from Columbus and meet continued growth in the coming years.”
About Columbus Foods
Founded by Italian immigrants in 1917, Columbus Foods is a venerable San Francisco Bay Area institution bringing its passion for food and commitment to authentic Italian culinary traditions to life. Old World family recipes inspire the most extensive hand-crafted collection of Italian-style dry cured salame and a rich assortment of premium deli meats that are marketed under the Columbus brand.
Its products are available at specialty food stores and supermarkets nationwide. For more information, visit www.columbussalame.com. Columbus Foods is a portfolio company of Arbor Investments.
About Harris Ranch
The Harris name is deeply rooted in California history. Back in 1937, Jack Harris became one of the pioneering farmers on the west side of California’s San Joaquin Valley, planting crops where only desert had existed before. Through the years the farm grew to several thousand acres and today produces dozens of different crops enjoyed across the country and around the world.
But it was Jack’s son, John, who turned the Harris name into one of the most recognized and trusted brands. He assembled a visionary management team, and together they built the family’s small cattle business into the sophisticated, state-of-the-art feeding and beef processing operation it is today.
Harris Ranch is now the largest cattle feeder, beef processor and beef marketer in California and also one of the largest family-owned agribusinesses in the nation.
About Arbor Investments
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, Arbor Investments is a specialized private equity firm that focuses exclusively on acquiring premier companies in the food and beverage industry. The firm has acquired or invested in over 30 food and beverage companies in North America and currently has $700 million of assets under management across three funds..