Essential Cuisine acquired by Solina

British stocks and sauces manufacturer Essential Cuisine has been acquired by European savoury ingredients supplier Solina.

The business will continue as normal with the same product portfolio and customer base across both foodservice and manufacturing channels.

The partners have said they have "joint innovation agendas" and aim to expand "into new territories."

Solina UK country manager, Adam Jones said: "Essential Cuisine is a great addition to our portfolio. We have long sought to complement our leading presence in B2B sectors by securing a strong foothold in the UK foodservice market. The acquisition of Essential Cuisine not only opens up this channel for Solina, but we also see great opportunity in the combination of our shared innovation, market and product philosophies."

Essential Cuisine founder Nigel Crane added: "This company has been a labour of love for me and everybody involved in its success since 1995. As shareholders we realised that maintaining such growth on our own would become more and more difficult, so decided last autumn to find the right future partner for Essential Cuisine.

"In Adam, we have a more than worthy successor, someone with the vision and backing to take Essential Cuisine to the next level and open up new, untapped markets. I'm confident that the combined group will become stronger and a more attractive partner for our UK customers."

Essential Cuisine was founded in 1995 by Crane. In 2018 it generated double digit year-on-year growth and sales of £14m.

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