IFG Partners with The Killer Brownie Company
Irresistible Foods Group, Inc. (IFG), a family-owned house of brands including King’s Hawaiian, Grillo’s Pickles, Shaka Tea, Innovation Bakers and the IFG Restaurant Group, has formed a strategic partnership with The Killer Brownie Company, the top-selling gourmet brownie company in the nation, to accelerate future growth in the Killer Brownie brand.
Killer Brownie is famous for the brand’s indulgent flavors and textures of its premium brownies. It was founded by Dorothy Lane Market CEO Norman Mayne in 1988 and originally sold in the three family-owned Dorothy Lane Market stores in Ohio. In recent years, Killer Brownie has expanded from Dorothy Lane Market to grocery stores across much of the United States.
Dorothy Lane Market CEO Norman Mayne said about the partnership, “It’s not in our nature to take on partners, so in order for us to do so, it would have to be with a very special, family-owned business who would share the same values that we have at Killer Brownie and Dorothy Lane Market. We found such a family, the Taira family and their president John Linehan. For us, the future is bright to have partners who are such incredible folks.”
IFG president John Linehan said, “This is a partnership between two wonderful families that share similar values and long records of being great employers and members of their communities. They are also close friends who have been talking about and planning this partnership for several years. We could not be more excited about our future together.”
Killer Brownie CEO Chimene Mayne Ross added, “The IFG team and the Taira family have been amazing to work with. Like us, they prioritize people and culture first. The future is going to be ‘Killer’!”
The original IFG business was founded in 1950 in Hilo, Hawaii, as a small bakery that became known on the Big Island as the King’s Hawaiian® Brand. Almost 75 years later, it is still 100 % family-owned and is now IFG, a group of food and beverage companies that includes King’s Hawaiians, Grillo’s Pickles, Shaka Tea, the IFG Restaurant Group and Innovation Bakers. The IFG model is highly decentralized with leadership of every company resident in that company. As such, Killer Brownie’s executive team and management group are planning to remain in place, leading the company to a great future.
Cody Peak Advisors and the Baird Business Owner Solutions group assisted in completing this partnership.