George Weston Foods, maker of brands such as Tip Top, Don and Yumi’s, has acquired New Zealand-founded bakery brand Abe’s Bagels.
The bespoke bakery was founded in 1996 by Megan Sargent and Brent Milburn, following their journey to the US to learn the art of bagel making.
Abe’s bagels began as a cafe bringing authentic bagels to Auckland’s CBD. It soon established a loyal following and began supplying supermarket chains nationwide with fresh bagels, eventually closing its stores and focusing on supply.
Catherine Parlane, GM of sales and marketing at Abe’s Bagels, announced the acquisition in a LinkedIn post.
Parlane joined the company about 3.5 years ago. She said the company had grown from about $32 million (A$26 million) in revenue at the time to more than $50 million (A$41 million).
“Achieving 56 per cent growth for a 30-year-old brand is amazing, a testament to the strength of the brand and team behind it,” Parlane said.
Abe’s has also become a market leader in bagels with 75 per cent of market share in Australia and New Zealand, she continued, praising the particular launch of Thiiins, now a $9 million range that is incremental to the business.
“Our focus, speed of thinking, speed of decision making and growth mindset consistently set us apart. We moved quickly, backed ourselves and stayed relentlessly focused on building both the brand and the category for the long term,” Parlane said.
According to the post, Parlane will step down from her role following the acquisition, but will support the business through the transition period to its next chapter under new ownership.
