Smucker's Buys Cafe Bustelo, Will End Miami Production
ORRVILLE, OH (CBSMiami) - With a name like Bustelo, it has to be good. At least, what's what the Smucker's Jam people seem to think. Monday, they announced they have purchased the Miami coffee-roasting company which makes Cafe Bustelo for $360 million in cash. However, the sale could mean the end of an era in South Florida.
Rowland Coffee Roasters Inc., headquartered in Miami, specializes in Hispanic coffee brands such as Cafe Bustelo and Cafe Pilon, which have their biggest sales in South Florida and parts of the Northeast with a large Cuban-American population.
The coffee has been manufactured in Miami and distributed from South Florida for decades, but Smucker said Monday that once the deal is completed, it will eventually end manufacturing operations in South Florida and consolidate them at it's other coffee manufacturing facility in New Orleans.
Smucker is already a major player in the coffee business, selling the Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts brands.
Rowland is a leading producer of espresso coffee in the U.S, generating more than $110 million in revenue during 2010. It is a staple of Cuban coffee, a dense, sweet expresso sold in restaurants, cafeteria windows, and just about everywhere else in South Florida.
J.M. Smucker, also makes other products like Crisco shortening and it's namesake jams.
The deal includes Rowland's manufacturing, distribution and office facility in Miami. The company is currently in a regulatory "quiet period" and as a result, won't discuss the deal further until June 9, when it reports its fourth-quarter results.
It was not known when manufacturing operations in Miami would end, or how many jobs might be affected, but The Wall Street Journal reported consolidation should take place within 3 years.
