Family business roundup: Guida's Milk and Schweppe sold

Two family businesses operating in the US food industry have been sold – with the Guida family in Connecticut ending its involvement in dairy company Guida’s Milk and the Schweppe family in Illinois selling food service firm Schweppe.

Guida's Milk, which produces milk, cream and ice-cream mixes, as well as fruit juices, was sold to Dairy Farmers of America, a Kansas City-based co-operative, for an undisclosed sum.

Family member Jim Guida, who served as executive vice-president of the business, told regional newspaper The Courant that the family took the decision unanimously.

He added that about 20 members of the family owned shares in the company, but only five worked at the family business, which in 2010 had revenues of about $120 million (€90.1 million).

The sale will end the Guida family’s involvement in the running of the company, which was founded in 1932 by Jim’s uncle Alexander.

However, Guida told The Courant that, apart from the ownership, nothing will change at the dairy firm. All employees, including non-family president Michael Young, will keep their jobs, the newspaper said.

In Illinois, the family behind Schweppe Kitchen Equipment & Supply, a Lombard-based food and kitchenware company, has sold the family business to Alliance Paper & Food Service, a distributor of disposable packaging and paper goods for restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets.

However, the family will maintain a role in the management of the firm, which was founded in 1932 by August and Emma Schweppe and makes cooking equipment and kitchen utensils, as well as distributing food and beverages for other brands.

“The two companies clearly share the same operating philosophy,” Schweppe president and August’s grandson Jeff Schweppe said in a statement last week.