Lakeside Foods, Manitowoc, Wis., announced plans to acquire Good Eats Food Co., Fayetteville, Ark., and its  products offered under the SER!OUS Bean Co. and Ruthie’s Twisted Harvest brands.

The acquisition positions Lakeside to immediately expand their product offering and to broaden and accelerate development of new products.

“Innovation is the cornerstone of our strategy. Consumer preferences, and therefore customer needs, are evolving faster than ever,” says Glen Tellock, president and CEO, Lakeside Foods. “Good Eats injects a shot of entrepreneurial spirit into Lakeside, which will help us more quickly advance around this key strategic priority. Lakeside, on the other hand, provides the needed scale for SER!OUS Bean Co. and Ruthie’s Twisted Harvest to efficiently expand. Ultimately, our customers win.”

The acquisition will infuse Lakeside with fresh ideas and innovation expertise. Among other things, Good Eats maintains:

• A line of premium canned beans under the SER!OUS Bean Co. brand featuring Dr Pepper Sweet & A Bit Sassy, Buckin’ Buffalo, Chipotle Tomato and Cracked Pepper.
• A frozen vegetable product line currently shipping in foodservice and retail that features Mexican Street Corn, Sweet Potato Smashers (available in Bourbon Brown Sugar and Plain) and Cauli Smashers mashed cauliflower.
• A network of best-in-class co-manufacturers.

Good Eats will continue to operate as a division of Lakeside, while co-founders Matt Brown and Trey Taylor will join the company to lead Lakeside’s sales and innovation efforts. Brown will lead sales for both Lakeside Foods and Good Eats as vice president of sales while Taylor will lead marketing and innovation efforts.