Courtesy / Specialty Food Association
Tom Knibbs, left, and Jim Dygas, founders of a Chicago gourmet products business, Urban Accents, have sold it to York-based Stonewall Kitchen.
March 11, 2021
Stonewall Kitchen makes its fifth acquisition, and it's in uncharted territory
File Photo / William Hall
Stonewall Kitchen, whose York headquarters are shown here in a photo from last summer, has acquired Chicago-based Urban Accents, a provider of spices and gourmet food products.
By William Hall
While much of its growth has been close to home, the newest acquisition for York-based Stonewall Kitchen is a departure of sorts.
The specialty food retailer has purchased Urban Accents Inc., a Chicago producer of spices, seasonings, sauces and other gourmet products, for an undisclosed price. The acquisition is the fifth for Stonewall, and the third since the company itself changed ownership in July 2019.
Urban Accents was founded in 1996 by partners Tom Knibbs and Jim Dygas, who began by blending a few spices in their kitchen. Today, the business has over 150 spice blends and other gourmet products, a 30,000-square-foot production facility, and deals with stores including Whole Foods, Macy’s and Safeway.
The company’s annual revenues were around $15 million when Forbes magazine profiled Knibbs and Dygas in 2016. They’ve even caught the eye of Oprah, whose magazine recently recommended the Urban Accents’ Tangy Tomatillo Garlic Taco Simmer Sauce.
“We’re extremely excited to welcome Urban Accents to our growing family of specialty brands,” Stonewall CEO John Stiker said in a news release last week.
“Both of our companies have long histories in the specialty food industry, and many of us have known Tom and Jim for years. Like us, they’ve been selling high quality products to many of the same premium retailers nationwide, as well as directly to consumers online.”
In the Forbes article five years ago, Knibbs had expressed concern about outside ownership, saying, “It would terrify me if I had financial people who had a say.” But he sounded a more optimistic note in the Stonewall release.
“Jim and I couldn’t be more pleased to have Stonewall Kitchen become the new home of Urban Accents,” he said. “While we’re stepping away from our ownership roles, we’re excited that we, and the entire team we’ve built here at Urban Accents, will stay on and join the Stonewall Kitchen family.”
New growth, and growing pains
Like Urban Accents, Stonewall Kitchen was founded by a pair of food entrepreneurs, Jim Stott and Jonathan King, who began the business in 1991 by selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets. Today the product line includes sauces, condiments, crackers, baking mixes, home goods and more.
The company now has more than 500 employees, 8,500 wholesale accounts, two cooking schools, an online and catalog division, and retail stores in Camden, Portland, York and seven other New England locations.
In 2014, Stonewall was purchased by a New York private equity group, Centre Partners, where Stiker worked. The company later acquired two other specialty food businesses.
The growth accelerated after Centre Partners sold its stake two years ago to another PE firm, Audax Private Equity, based in Boston. Since then, Stonewall has acquired two New England businesses: Vermont Village, a producer of apple sauce and vinegars in Barre, Vt.; and Village Candle, based in Wells, a few miles from Stonewall’s headquarters.
In December, Stonewall also opened its 10th company store, in Boston, next-door to the Boston Children’s Museum. But that debut was marred by criticism from parents worried that the in-store eatery, dubbed the PB&J Cafe, posed a health risk for children with peanut allergies.
The danger of accidental, potentially life-threatening exposure for an allergic child provoked hundreds of angry comments on Facebook. Since then, Stonewall has taken peanut-butter sandwiches off the menu, and changed the name of the restaurant to the Stonewall Kitchen Cafe, the name used at its cafe in York.
“We’ve also added extensive signage and messaging, including the request that peanut butter menu items not be purchased if guests will be visiting the museum after Stonewall Kitchen,” spokeswoman Janine Somers told Mainebiz Thursday. “Guests have appreciated the response and additional efforts.”
With the addition of Urban Accents, Stonewall now has a new priority — assimilating the Chicago business and brand.
While Urban Accents has a national presence, its roots remain in the Windy City, coincidentally also Oprah’s home. “We’re on the North Side, the Ravenswood Industrial Corridor,” Knibbs told Forbes in 2016. “We’re Urban Accents, not Suburban Accents, so we will always be in the city.”
The difference in geographic roots is greater than in previous acquisitions, Somers said.
“The biggest difference for sure is that they are in Chicago. We are excited to extend our footprint beyond New England, while still focusing on authentic brands producing high-quality products,” she said.
“Now we just have to get used to setting up team calls in a different time zone.”
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