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California Custom Fruits & Flavors (CCFF), a specialist developer and processor of custom-formulated ingredients and flavourings, has acquired the Custom Nutritional Ingredients (CNI) division of Skjodt-Barrett Foods.
Announced on 26 October 2026, the transaction unites two long-standing North American ingredient manufacturers, expanding CCFF's processing capacity, functional formulation portfolio, and technical service footprint. Following the completion of the deal, CNI will continue operating under its established trade name, Skjodt-Barrett Foods, functioning as a dedicated operating division of CCFF.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
CCFF, an affiliate of middle-market private investment firm Peak Rock Capital, stated that the integration will broaden its commercial offerings across bakery, active nutrition, snacking, and foodservice applications, while establishing operational synergies across research and development (R&D) pipelines.
"Skjodt-Barrett's Custom Nutritional Ingredients business has earned its reputation for quality and innovation among the world's leading brands and contract manufacturers," said Doug Glade, Chief Executive Officer of CCFF.
"We are thrilled to welcome Guy Burton and the talented CNI team to CCFF. The addition of CNI's unique product portfolio and state-of-the-art facilities expands CCFF's scale, capability, and flexibility, which will allow us to deliver exceptional service and innovative solutions to our valued customers."
Better-for-You Ingredients and Processing Footprint
Founded in 1985, Skjodt-Barrett's CNI division has operated for more than four decades as a developer and contract manufacturer of specialised components for functional nutrition and bakery formats.
The business formulates and manufactures functional food systems engineered for clean-label, high-protein, and reduced-sugar profiles:
🍫 Bar Layers and Fillings: Formulated caramel layers, fruit pastes, and textured cremes engineered to withstand shelf-life moisture migration in extruded and layered snack bars.
🍯 Nutritional Bindings and Syrups: Specialised syrup systems and plant-based binding agents designed to hold grains, nuts, and crisps together in clusters and chewy snack bars.
🧁 Toppings and Confectionery Icings: High-stability glazes, drizzles, and functional icings developed for commercial baked goods and shelf-stable ambient snacks.
By incorporating CNI's formulation library, CCFF enhances its capabilities beyond fruit preps, purees, and flavour systems into core active-nutrition components, allowing the combined business to serve as a single-source development partner for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, co-manufacturers, and foodservice operators.
"This transformative investment for CCFF reflects our commitment to growth in support of our customers," commented Michael Graham, Managing Director of Peak Rock Capital and Board Member of CCFF. "The combination of Skjodt-Barrett CNI and CCFF's expertise and footprint will enable even better customer service with accelerated and exciting product development."
The acquisition marks CCFF's latest commercial expansion under the ownership of Peak Rock Capital, which acquired the Irwindale, California-based ingredient processor in March 2024.
Headquartered in Irwindale, CCFF operates processing and R&D facilities supplying custom-formulated fruit preparations, variegates, and flavours to dairy processors, industrial bakeries, ice cream brands, and beverage manufacturers across North America. The integration of CNI expands CCFF's manufacturing bandwidth, providing multi-site redundancy and specialised production lines tailored for viscous syrups and functional confectionery coatings.
"We are very excited for our next stage of growth in partnership with CCFF," noted Guy Burton, President of Skjodt-Barrett CNI. "By bringing together our complementary capabilities and customer-first cultures, we will be able to unlock new opportunities for our customers and drive continued innovation in the better-for-you food category."
Management confirmed that CCFF will continue to evaluate targeted strategic acquisitions to expand its technical portfolio, geographical reach, and manufacturing capabilities across value-added speciality ingredients.
