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Flagship Food Group has acquired guacamole and dip producer Yucatan Foods, for an undisclosed sum. Yucatan makes guacamole and salsa products under its Yucatan and Cabo Fresh lines for retail stores across Canada. The company operates a manufacturing facility in Silao, Mexico. Meanwhile, Flagship produces tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, green chile and frozen Mexican food products, under brands including 505 Southwestern, La Tortilla Factory, Hatch Kitchen and Lilly B’s. With the acquisition, Flagship hopes to strengthen its position in the guacamole category. Stephen Hillion, VP of sales and marketing for Yucatan, said: “This is great for the future of this legendary brand in the guacamole category. Being part of this broad family of complementary Hispanic and Southwestern food products will allow us to offer more value to our retail partners and to consumers. We are going into immediate action to collaborate with our partners to realise these synergies.” Sam Carson, brand president for 505 Southwestern, said: “We’re really excited about expanding our consumer reach into the refrigerated Dairy, Deli and Produce categories, and Yucatan is the perfect brand partner. We’ll be integrating Yucatan’s sales and marketing efforts into our salsa, green chile and dips business. We’re wasting no time in merging this brand into our 505SW portfolio and innovating on products, marketing, quality and packaging.” Rob Holland, executive chairman of Flagship, added: “This acquisition will definitely result in some innovative product development. I expect we’ll see some exciting ‘Hatch Valley’ guacamole products coming out very soon.”