Second Nature Brands has agreed to acquire Tillamook Country Smoker (TCS) from Insignia Capital Group and family shareholders, the Chicago-based snack platform announced June 8. The deal marks SNB's first entry into the protein snacks category and extends a portfolio that already spans nuts, trail mixes, cookies and wafers across both retail and foodservice channels.
Financial terms were not disclosed. TCS, best known for its smoked sausages and meat snack sticks — including a zero-sugar SKU line — gives SNB a branded protein platform at a moment when high-protein snacking continues to outpace broader snack-food growth. The acquisition adds manufacturing and distribution infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest to SNB's existing footprint.
The protein snacks segment has drawn sustained operator and distributor interest as convenience-channel and noncommercial foodservice buyers seek higher-margin, shelf-stable items that index well with health-forward consumers. Meat snacks, in particular, have posted consistent velocity gains in vending, college and university dining, and travel-plaza foodservice — channels where SNB's existing portfolio of Kar's Nuts and Sahale Snacks already holds distribution. Layering a smoked-protein line into those same routes creates meaningful cross-sell leverage without requiring new account development.
For SNB's foodservice and co-manufacturing customers, TCS broadens the number of better-for-you SKUs available under a single vendor relationship — a key efficiency driver for distributors and contract feeders managing SKU rationalization. The brand's zero-sugar smoked sausage line also aligns with dietary trends increasingly prominent in healthcare foodservice and corporate dining dayparts.
SNB's existing stable — which includes Sanders and Brownie Brittle in the premium confections lane and Voortman in the better-for-you cookie segment — positions the combined company as a multi-category better-for-you platform capable of servicing national distributors with a broader assortment. Insignia Capital Group, the seller, had held TCS as part of a branded consumer-goods strategy focused on premium food assets.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.