The story of Ford Gum began in 1913. Ford Mason, a 20-year-old roofing salesman spent spring, summer and early fall traveling by horse and buggy over the winding country roads of western New York State. He was idle during the winter because nobody repaired barn roofs in cold weather. Looking for work that winter, Ford met a man engaged in the business of operating chewing gum vending machines. The first machine had been invented only a few years before, and just a handful of entrepreneurs had ventured into the business. Ford was impressed. He borrowed the money to lease 102 machines and placed them in stores and shops in western New York communities. Ford spent the winter collecting pennies and restocking machines. Ford quit the roofing business and devoted all his energy to selling gum. Today, Ford Gum is a leader in the manufacture and distribution of gum and confectionary products. Ford Gum’s signature brand is Big League Chew®, the iconic shredded bubble gum brand loved by all since 1980. It is the #1 shredded bubble gum brand in the world, with over 800 million pouches sold. We have a modern manufacturing facility located in Akron NY, and offices in the Chicago suburbs.

Over 12 years of accounting experience in manufacturing and distribution. Specializing in general ledger, costing, intra and intercompany transactions, month-end and year-end closing processes, including financial statements preparation, interim and external audits, accounts receivable and accounts payable management. Managing the day-to-day accounting functions, tools and resources to ensure timely, accurate and complete financial information for executive management. Provided leadership, direction and supervision to staff. Leading and managing the parent and subsidiary companies’ monthly and quarterly combined consolidated financial reporting under US GAAP guidelines. Open for new opportunity and challenge.

Brothers International Food Holdings, LLC. is based in Rochester, New York with offices in Ft. Lauderdale & Tampa, Florida, and Shanghai (China). The company was founded in 2000 by brothers Travis and Matthew Betters, whose family have been passionately involved in the processed fruit and vegetable industry for more than 70 years. Even though Matthew is no longer in the business, Travis has continued on to lead brothers as CEO for more than 22 years. Brothers International Ingredients Division is a full-service direct importer, distributor, and supplier of bulk packaged ingredients for the food and beverage industry. In addition to supplying top-quality fruit and fruit juices, Brothers International is the parent company of Brothers-All-Natural, a leading Freeze-Dried Snack brand. Both Branded and Private label products can be found in retailers nationwide. In 2020, Benford Capital recapitalized Brothers International. BCP and Brothers outlined a plan to continue investing in sales, marketing, and new product development to support growth, both in the ingredients and Brothers All Natural divisions. In addition, BCP and management are actively pursuing add-on acquisitions of related healthy snack and food ingredients companies. In 2021, Brothers International acquired Dennick FruitSource. The combination has allowed these two leading B2B ingredients companies to significantly expand their diversified product portfolio to better serve their customer base as a global supplier. In 2023, Brothers International acquired Hosh International LLC. Hosh is a value-added supplier of fruit and vegetable juice concentrates and purees to global CPG companies, operating a similar business model to Brothers’ B2B fruit ingredients division. For more information, visit: www.brothersinternational.com

Sweeteners Plus is a distributor and manufacturer of liquid and dry sweeteners for food and non-food applications. These include white and brown sugar, organic and kosher products, fructose, maltitol, corn syrup, and invert syrups. Additional services include bottling, custom blending, and liquid fondants. Sweeteners are available in bulk, pails, drums, and liquid totes. Sweeteners Plus ships product long haul by rail and short haul by its own fleet of trucks. The company is located in the Finger Lakes region in Lakeville, NY.

Founded in 1933, Costanzo’s Bakery, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of fresh and frozen submarine rolls, sandwich rolls, dinner rolls and specialty bread products. From our humble start nearly 80 years ago as a small retail bakery, we now operate a modern, multi-line baking facility located in Buffalo, NY with a rapidly expanding frozen sales and distribution network that serves many of the premier food service operators, distributors and supermarket chains throughout the U.S. and Ontario Canada. Our company-owned fleet provides fresh DSD delivery service throughout the Buffalo/Niagara/Rochester, NY region where the phrase “Served on a Costanzo’s Roll” is a common sight on local menu boards and in-store bakery displays.

In 1946, two brothers, Louis and John Watson, and their respective wives, Ellen and Mary, began making chocolates in the back room of their soda fountain and luncheonette on Delaware Avenue in Kenmore, NY. Using old-fashioned methods and recipes shared by their relatives, Watson’s quickly established a reputation for producing fine confections, albeit on a very limited scale. Demand for the chocolates continued through the years. In 1987, Lou and Ellen’s son Jim, who had joined the family business in 1971, decided to take over the chocolate part of the company, adding new retail and production facilities. With the addition of Jim’s daughter, Whitney into the company in 1993, the Watson’s Chocolates product line was greatly expanded, and five more stores were opened, bringing the total number of retail locations to eight. Our family recipes are still made today, by hand, and in small batches, including our famous Sponge Candy. Our candy makers and chocolatier are our extended family and we take pride in using only the highest quality ingredients. In addition, Watson’s is committed to using only Fair Trade Certified Cocoa in all the chocolate products produced in our Tonawanda factory. A favorite of thousands of chocolate lovers around the world, Watson’s continues to grow through catalog and internet sales. Our partnerships have blossomed with other Buffalo favorites like Anderson’s Ice Cream and Resurgence Brewery, and we continue to open new stores in some of our favorite old neighborhoods.

For more than 140 years Zweigle’s has been making great tasting sausage, hot dogs and deli products based on our “Old World” family recipes. Today, we carry on the legacy of quality that has been the cornerstone of our success since the late 1800’s. From our famous Pop Opens® and classic sausages to our newest varieties of breakfast sausage, meatballs and chicken breasts all products are made from premium ingredients and are backed by our commitment to delivering unmatched quality and taste.

Culinary Arts Specialties is a Consumer Services company located in 50 French Rd, Cheektowaga, New York, United States.

Steven Karr established Pride Pak Canada Ltd. (“Pride Pak”) in 1984 to service what he saw as a need to meet Canada’s growing trend for a demand for high quality, healthy, easy to use fresh food. We now proudly operate as Canada’s largest fresh fruit and vegetable processor from a state-of-the-art facility in Mississauga.