Canadian cookie maker Voortman is once again changing ownership.
The company, which has produced its iconic Dutch wafers alongside dozens of other cookie varieties in Burlington, Ont., for more than 70 years, is being sold for the fourth time since 2015. The J.M. Smucker Co. said Tuesday it was selling Voortman to Ohio-based Second Nature Brands for US$305-million in cash.
Orrville, Ohio-based Smucker acquired Voortman in 2023 as part of its US$5.6-billion takeover of Hostess Brands. Hostess had purchased Voortman in 2019 from private equity company Swander Place Capital for US$320-million in cash, meaning the cookie maker has lost some value over the past five years.
In 2015, Voortman co-founder and then-chief executive officer Harry Voortman sold the business to Swander Place for an undisclosed sum.
Smucker said total Voortman cookie sales are expected to surpass US$150-million for its 2025 fiscal year. All Voortman trademarks, as well as its leased bakery in Burlington and its approximately 300 employees will transition with the business, Smucker said.
Michigan-based Second Nature Brands is owned by British private equity investor CapVest Partners LLP. CapVest owns several food producers, including Ohio-based dip and salsa maker Lakeview Farms, British producer of Wagg-branded pet treats Inspired Pet Nutrition and Spanish chocolate maker Natra.
Second Nature’s other brands include Kars trail mix and Brownie Brittle. The company has 380 employees, most of whom are based at its two manufacturing facilities in the Detroit area.
Second Nature did not respond to questions about whether the company plans to maintain Voortman’s Canadian operations and work force.
Voortman is the second Smucker-owned brand Second Nature has acquired in the past year. In September, 2023, Second Nature bought Sahale Snacks from the jam and peanut butter giant for US$34-million.
Smucker said proceeds from the Voortman sale will go toward paying down debt, which the company said will contribute to an earnings-a-share benefit of roughly 10 cents on a full-year basis.
Like many other food conglomerates, Smucker has been selling assets in order to focus more on core brands, which include Jif peanut butter and Folgers coffee. In 2023, Smucker sold several pet food brands to Post Holdings Inc. for US$1.2-billion and earlier this year, the company closed the sale of four condiment brands – Bick’s pickles, Habitant pickled beets, Woodman’s horseradish and McLarens pickled onions – to TreeHouse Foods Inc.
Voortman was founded in 1951 by Harry and his brother Bill, three years after they moved to Canada from the Netherlands with their father, John. The bakery was originally based in Hamilton, where the two brothers lived and worked at National System Baking Co., before moving to Burlington in 1956. Bill retired in 1987 and sold his stake in the company to Harry.
Harry retired shortly after selling the company to Swander Pace in 2015 and died in April, 2022, at the age of 88. Anne Voortman, Harry’s wife of nearly 63 years, predeceased him just 16 days earlier.
Having dropped out of school before completing Grade 7, Harry was surprised by his company’s level of success.
“I expected to have a small bakery,” he told the Hamilton Spectator in 2005. “I didn’t tell anyone I had my own business because I didn’t think it would last.”