Seneca Foods Completes the Acquisition of Burnette Foods Maraschino Cherry Business

MARION, N.Y. and ELK RAPIDS, Mich., Feb. 02, 2018 -- Seneca Foods Corporation (“Seneca”) (NASDAQ:SENEA) (NASDAQ:SENEB) and Burnette Foods, Inc. (“Burnette”) announced today that Seneca has completed the acquisition of Burnette’s maraschino cherry business. This business is based in Traverse City, Michigan and allows Seneca to supplement its existing maraschino operations and Burnette to enhance its core business.   

“Burnette maraschino business has a history of providing quality maraschino cherry products to their customers.  We are very excited about this acquisition as it is a nice complementary fit with Seneca’s existing cherry business,” stated Kraig Kayser, Seneca Foods' President and CEO. 

“We are pleased to be able to sell our maraschino business to a high quality food producer as is Seneca.  Maraschinos are a small part of our total sales and this transaction will enhance our ability to concentrate on our core business lines of shelf stable fruit fillings, apple products, vegetables and juices.  We will continue to explore new products for our existing red tart and dark sweet cherry offerings,” according to William R. Sherman, CEO of Burnette Foods, Inc.

About Seneca Foods Corporation
Seneca Foods is North America’s leading provider of packaged fruits and vegetables, with facilities located throughout the United States. Its high quality products are primarily sourced from over 2,000 American farms.  Seneca holds the largest share of the retail private label, food service, and export canned vegetable markets, distributing to over 90 countries. Products are also sold under the highly regarded brands of Libby’s®, Aunt Nellie’s®, Green Valley®, CherryMan®, READ®, Seneca Farms® and Seneca labels, including Seneca snack chips.  In addition, Seneca provides contract packing services mostly through its wholly owned subsidiary Truitt Bros., Inc. Also, Seneca provides vegetable products under a contract packing agreement with B&G Foods North America, under the Green Giant label.   Seneca’s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Stock Market under the symbols “SENEA” and “SENEB”. SENEA is included in the S&P SmallCap 600, Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indices.

About Burnette Foods, Inc.
Burnette Foods, Inc. is a family owned producer of shelf stable fruit and vegetable offerings operating out of four plants on the western side of Michigan. Beginning as a cherry farm in East Jordan, Michigan, Burnette has continually invested back into its business through acquisitions and organic growth. Each of its plants specialize in their own product sets with the Hartford location producing apple products and fruit juices, the Elk Rapids plant producing fruit fillings and apple slices, the New Era plant producing vegetable products and the East Jordan plant doing a combination of vegetable and fruit products. The company is primarily a private label producer for its customers which include major retailers, wholesale food producers and the USDA. Burnette sources its fruit and vegetable products primarily in the upper Midwest.  

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about management’s beliefs or expectations, are forward looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) of 1995.  All forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements.  Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include those set forth in Seneca Foods Corporation’s filings with the SEC, including the disclosure under the heading “Risk Factors” in Seneca Foods’ Annual Report on Form 10-K. There can be no assurance that the merger will close on the expected schedule or that the merger will be consummated at all. We are under no obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:
Timothy J. Benjamin, Chief Financial Officer
Seneca Foods Corporation
315-926-8100

John E. Pelizzari, COO
Burnette Foods, Inc.
231-264-8116