Middleby acquires Crown Food Service Equipment

ELGIN - The Middleby Corporation said it has acquired Crown Food Service Equipment, Ltd., a designer and manufacturer of steam cooking equipment for the commercial food service industry.

Terms of the acquisition were not announced.

The Toronto, Canada-based company was founded by the late Mr. Josef Stritzl nearly 40 years ago and has approximately $20 million in annual revenues.

Middleby Chairman and CEO Selim A. Bassoul, said the acquisition is in line with others the company has made in the steam cooking category, including the acquisitions of Firex and Market Forge.

"With this collection of brands and products, the Middleby steam platform is positioned with industry leading innovations and customer solutions including unique offerings that address customer demands for labor savings, menu flexibility and automation, while also supporting growing food service trends of sous vide-cooking, organic, and health awareness," Bassoul said.

Group President John Perruccio will oversee the Middleby steam group, in addition to continuing responsibilities for the Southbend and Star brands, Bassoul added.

"John will lead a unified and focused strategy to bring this complement of brands and product offerings to the marketplace, which we believe will allow us to capture significant growth opportunities in the steam cooking category," he said.

Middleby develops, manufactures, markets and services a broad line of equipment used in the commercial food service, food processing, and residential kitchen equipment industries. Brands in Middelby's portfolio include Giga, Southbend, Toastmaster, TurboChef and Viking.