ENID — A little more than a month into their merger, AdvancePierre Foods and Barber Foods are benefiting from combining their respective businesses.
On June 1, AdvancePierre Foods acquired Portland, Maine-based Barber Foods to become one $1.5 billion company.
As a result of the merger, Barber Foods can strengthen the distribution of its products to locations west of New England, while Advance-Pierre looks to enhance the value-added protein segment of their business.
“(The merger) gives us a product that has good retail presence, but we think it can grow to be a great retail presence nationally,” said AdvancePierre Foods CEO Bill Toler.
Barber Foods saw the merger as an opportunity to keep up with competitors and maintain its customer base.
“We saw our customers and our competitors getting bigger and bigger,” Barber Foods CEO David Barber said. “The best way to continue our success is to join on with a bigger company.”
Barber Foods’ two most popular products are Chicken Cordon Bleu and Chicken Kiev. These products fit into one of AdvancePierre’s three main product segments: value-added protein.
AdvancePierre’s other specialties are the Philly steaks and sandwiches.
“It was a good fit for us,” Toler said. AdvancePierre typically looks for acquisitions to compliment those three specific areas, he said.
Although AdvancePierre has acquired Barber Foods, the Maine company will stay up in the Northeast. While the plant stays in Portland, administrative support for the company will be located in Enid and Cincinnati.
Nonetheless, combining with AdvancePierre will help Barber Foods truly branch out, Barber said.
“The idea is AdvancePierre is much bigger in the western half of the country and we’re weak in the western half of the country,” Barber said. “So we see a bunch of markets and customers that we can double up on and grow our volume quickly.”
Mark Allen, AdvancePierre’s food service president, was complimentary of Barber Foods’ employees, as well as their products.
“They have great people,” Allen said. “Their product line is fantastic.”
Allen said what Barber needed was sales people and trucks to cover a greater portion of the country, which is something AdvancePierre has available.
“When you look at their product line and how this all fits together, it’s something we can get really excited about.”
Barber said he, too, was excited about the merger.
Toler said the company will retain the name of AdvancePierre Foods in the wake of the merger.
And speaking of mergers, Toler said AdvancePierre isn’t done looking for potential business partners.
“There are definitely more possibilities (for expansion) in the future,” he said.