July 30, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

The Riverside Company’s latest addition to its Riverside Flavor Platform is GSB & Associates (GSB) – a flavor house specializing in bespoke flavor development.

Founded in 1988, The Riverside Company is a global private equity firm focusing on investing in growing businesses valued at up to $400 million. Over the course of its existence, Riverside has made more than 650 investments, and today holds an international private equity and structured capital portfolios consisting of more than 90 companies.

The intention behind the investment is to bring together GSB’s diverse portfolio of liquid and powdered flavors, masking agents, and flavor enhancers, with the extensive flavor library and industry-leading customer service of its existing portfolio company National Flavors. 

National Flavors hasn’t been in Riverside’s hands for very long, having been acquired by the investor in March of this year for an undisclosed amount. 

Founded in 1941 and based in Michigan, National Flavors (NF) is an innovative developer and supplier of liquid flavors used in frozen desserts, beverages, confections, processed fruits, and baked goods. The company serves manufacturers, franchises, and food service clients offering Flavorush – a flavor sampling order tool that ships samples 24 hours a day. 

Upon the acquisition of NF, Loren Schlachet, managing partner of Riverside, said, “The market for flavor manufacturing businesses is highly attractive, and it is a great time for founders to sell.”

“During our investment period, we will look to strengthen NF’s research, development and application capabilities through organic and inorganic growth initiatives to continue delivering innovative custom flavors and leading customer service. We are actively pursuing add-ons of other leading flavor houses to complement NF.”

GSB now represents the first add-on for Riverside’s growing flavors platform, and once the deal is closed, GSB teams will join NF under the leadership of its CEO, Brian Briggs, who assumed the role from Dan Hinkle only in April of this year. 

“Working together, NF and GSB will build on their strengths with a shared vision to deliver an exceptional experience and superior flavor solutions to all our customers,” said Briggs. “The strong foundation built by GSB aligns very well with NF’s promise to Deliver Joy Through Flavor.”

The global flavors segment has seen its fair share of consolidation and dynamic activity within the past few years as global players position themselves to expand beyond commodities and up the production chain in order to gain a foothold in higher margin businesses, while companies and investors seek to capitalize upon consumer trends that lean toward flavorful but healthy foods – trends that have made the natural flavors category one of the fastest growing in both developed and emerging markets.

This increase in demand is expected to translate into a CAGR of 5 percent for the global food flavors market, to reach a value of $19.72 billion by 2026 – up from a value of $13.31 billion in 2018, according to research conducted by Reports and Data. 

With each of their strengths integrated, together, National Flavors and GSB will be better positioned to capitalize upon the growth potential presented in the industry.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to partner with National Flavors and offer customers a comprehensive suite of flavor resources to support their new product development efforts,” said GSB current President, Corinne Baskin.

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.