Table Talk Pies of Worcester, Mass., has officially completed the acquisition of the assets of Acton Vale-based Pâtisserie Gaudet, which was previously under the management of trustee Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton after being placed under the protection of the Creditors Arrangement Act. With this transaction, which closed on Dec. 22, Table Talk hopes to return the closed facility to its key position in the Canadian sweet goods industry.
"We intend to reopen the Gaudet plant to make pies for the Canadian market again and we will work closely with the former employees, as well as local and provincial authorities, to try to get this plant back up and running as quickly as possible," says Harry Kokkinis, president of Table Talk Pies.
To that end, Table Talk has retained the plant's former general manager, Georges Berbari, to help lead the effort to reopen the plant. Management and production will remain in Quebec, according to Berbari, who added that he was speaking on behalf of the owners of Table Talk, whose three U.S. plants, with 300 employees, already produce nearly 250 million tarts and 25 million pies a year; products that are distributed in all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada.