Franchising

Wickles Pickles acquired by Fenwick Food Group

Photo: Adobe

January 9, 2024

Fenwick Food Group — a division of Fenwick Brands Inc., a consumer packaged goods investment firm in the Southeast — has acquired Wickles Pickles. Fenwick Food Group is an operating platform for food businesses and includes Alabama-based Moore's Marinades & Sauces and newly acquired Wickles Pickles.

Founded by brothers Will and Trey Sims, and Andy Anderson in 1998, the brand is hitting an inflection point where investment and additional resourcing was needed for scale, according to a company press release. As growth-minded investors already operating in mainstream retail outlets with Moore's Marinades and Sauces, Fenwick's decision to purchase the Wickles Pickles brand makes the partnership synergistic.

"Fenwick is the perfect partner to accelerate the brand's growth trajectory while preserving its identity and operating roots. We're excited to see Wickles get the resources and investment it deserves to scale, co-founder Will Sims said in the release.

"We were aligned on the long-term vision and strategy for the brand, which cemented the partnership," Melissa Baker, president and CEO of Fenwick Food Group, said in the release. "Will, Trey and Andy have built an incredible brand with impressive momentum. Two Alabama-based consumer brands coming together is special in the broader consumer packaged goods industry and made the investment more relational than transactional."

Baker partnered with Benny M. LaRussa Jr. in 2013, and the pair has been investing and operating in the consumer packaged goods sector ever since. Fenwick Food Group's investment strategy is built to operate a platform of food brands that have profiles similar to Wickles and Moore's.

"Our long-term strategy is to curate a food platform with a handful of brands that could benefit from a shared team, investment and operational synergies," Baker. "Scale is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive, and we want to help similar brands with strong consumer demand stay around."

The Wickles deal closed on Nov. 29, and the business will be headquartered out of Birmingham alongside Moore's.