General Mills Martel facility
Mennel has reached a tentative agreement to acquire General Mills' Martel, Ohio, bakery mix plant.

FOSTORIA, OHIO — The Mennel Milling Co. has reached a tentative agreement to acquire the Martel, Ohio, bakery mix plant of General Mills, Inc. Financial terms of the transaction, which is pending negotiations with union officials, were not disclosed.

The Martel plant has been operated by General Mills since the company acquired the plant as part of its acquisition of Pillsbury in 2001 and employs approximately 180. The facility manufactures dry baking mix products for bread, brownies, cakes, cookies, donuts, muffins, pancakes, pie crusts, pizza doughs and sweet doughs. Mennel has supplied the facility for more than 40 years.

The transaction is expected to close by Nov. 1, 2016, if approved by all parties. At that time, Mennel would act as a supplier to General Mills.

D. Ford Mennel, Mennel Milling
D. Ford Mennel, president of Mennel Milling

“This is an exciting time for The Mennel Milling Co. to extend into the bakery mix business,” said D. Ford Mennel, president of Mennel Milling. “It allows us to continue to add value to wheat flour and expand our product offerings to better serve our customer base.

“With this acquisition we will no longer be constrained to selling flour as an ingredient into baked goods or bakery mix. We will now be able to offer a full line of bakery mix products to our big box, commercial, wholesale and bakery customers and marketplaces.”