Castle Harlan, Inc., a New York-based middle-market private equity firm, acquired Gold Star Foods, Inc., an Ontario, Calif.-based nutritional food distributor to K-12 schools in California, Arizona and Nevada. The seller was Chicago-based private equity firm Prospect Partners.
Gold Star Foods serves 380 school districts comprised of more than 3,500 schools. Gold Star Foods' proprietary software platform and expertise in USDA commodity tracking provides a valuable service to schools, which receive reimbursements from federal and state governments based on compliance with strict and increasingly complex regulatory standards. Gold Star Foods purchases products from more than 600 food manufacturers and farms and sells over 6,000 products of fresh bread and produce, as well as refrigerated, frozen and dry menu items.