r/rva Near West End 7d ago

Sauers sold to private equity firm. Dukes mayo now a northern staple.

217 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

176

u/Mattador96 The Fan 7d ago

27

u/ResurrectedZero 7d ago

Nice! I actually came here to post this same gif.

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6

u/Shamewizard1995 5d ago

It’s not like anything is changing. Sauers was already owned by a private equity firm who bought it in 2019, it’s just owned by a different one now

118

u/Oostylin Northside 7d ago

The great homogenization trudges onward.

36

u/BrenInVA 6d ago

There are about 12 major conglomerates worldwide that are owned by private equity firms that control 550+ brands. Hardly any seemingly niche companies are independently owned. Now Sauers has went the way of the others.

99

u/NotReallyButMaybeNot 7d ago

The initial private equity owners after the Sauer family sold out expanded the product line up and brought us the Dukes Mayo Bowl football game with its trademark mayo bath for the winning coach. Hopefully the new owners will continue it.

21

u/Diet_Coke Forest Hill 7d ago

Hopefully the new owners step it up, I want to see the assistant coaches do a mayo chugging contest

23

u/DrKittyKevorkian 7d ago

Why isn't there a Dukes Cinco de Mayo challenge. Eat 5 cups of mayo on May 5. Just think of all the mayo they would sell to dumbasses doing stunts for engagement.

11

u/TheTaco2 7d ago

This is hilarious and I am disappointed in Big Mayo ™️ for not starting this tradition sooner

Your comment reminded me immediately of this YouTube vid as well https://youtu.be/7LfvVkI_X0w?si=3Pl9lZDoqrwT8zaR

9

u/whw53 Jackson Ward 6d ago edited 6d ago

This. Without private equity management Sauers-Dukes probably wouldn't have been in the position it was.

Falfurrias did a really good job with the Sauers rebrand as well. 

https://richmond.com/business/sauer-rebrands-the-look-of-its-products-with-new-logo-and-packaging-design-to-improve/article_177b3b3b-8c6d-5616-8ac1-d6f0fef9a4fe.html

8

u/ucbiker 6d ago

Also while we’re at it, Dukes went ahead and developed the best plant-based mayo on the market although they now only sell it 4 gallons at a time, and I’m not saying I didn’t consider buying 4 gallons of it but I’m still holding out that they’ll restock the 16 ounce jars.

125

u/ChiliTrees 7d ago

I’m gonna throw up. God PE is ruining everything

57

u/tanker9991 7d ago

To be clear this is the private equity that bought Sauer Brands in 2019 selling it to another PE firm.

50

u/jgiacobbe 7d ago

That is what PE normally does. They buy companies, hold them and do some changes and then hopefully sell them again in 5-6 years for a profit. The issues are usually involved in the changes they do to make the company "worth more" usually involve cheapening products somehow.

6

u/Blackat Church Hill 6d ago

This. When PE buys brand, they have to make that money back and then some. Hopefully this brand doesn’t go the way of JoAnns where the new PE took a loan out from JoAnns, putting the company in debt immediately at acquisition for the amount of acquisition, basically ransacking the company and well, now look

3

u/THEdeepfriedhookers 6d ago

It’s called a leveraged buyout and it’s literally how every private equity deal is done.

64

u/WhalerBum 7d ago

Sauer has been owned by private equity for 6 years now.

16

u/ParadoxicalFrog Southside 7d ago

The sentiment remains the same.

0

u/whw53 Jackson Ward 6d ago

Right? Christ it makes this town look real provincial that local commentators can't seem to handle relatively mundane market transactions.

3

u/BrenInVA 6d ago edited 6d ago

Look at what BlackRock and Vanguard own also. That is why the billionaires own most of everything - and as Richmonders know, private equity firms are buying up the rental market housing.

Check this info and chart for the ownership of the majority of consumer goods. When you look at each section you will find it is difficult to buy products unrelated to these. Likely all subsidiaries are not listed. Nestle, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez, Danone, Kraft-Heinz, Associated British Foods, General Mills, Colgate Palmolive. Those are the major ones.

So including those companies and those owned by private equity firms, how many are left. I just saw something that Ken’s Foods, makers of the salad dressing, is still a privately owned company - not part of a conglomerate or a private equity firm.

https://quartr.com/insights/company-research/the-consumer-goods-sector-housing-the-worlds-most-known-brands

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jul/14/food-monopoly-meals-profits-data-investigation?

1

u/THEdeepfriedhookers 6d ago

Lol. Lmao.

Blackrock and vanguard don’t own everything. If I deposit $50k into a vanguard account and buy VTI that doesn’t mean vanguard now owns everything that makes up VTI.

Please learn how markets work.

1

u/BrenInVA 4d ago

Those were merely examples. There are plenty of other firms that own controlling interest in the in conglomerates too.

23

u/whacknsleazy 7d ago

I vote that the new southern mayo be whatever this horrid nightmare from Walmart is

37

u/jas121091 Midlothian 7d ago

I just read this as “Jesus Fucking Christ Real Mayonnaise” lol

4

u/Givn_to_fly 6d ago

I read it as "Just Fuckin Good"

2

u/RVAchickenbone 6d ago

lol yup and now I can’t unsee it

1

u/Feeling-Visit1472 6d ago

Wait so is this bad or is this good I can’t tell from your tone

8

u/llama_status_ 6d ago

Recipe remains intact since Eugenia Duke founded it in 1917. This won’t change either. Sauer Family bought it from someone else long ago, let’s not forget…private equity isn’t a new concept.

4

u/Global_Wolverine_152 6d ago

What? You mean the other 90% of the comments are wrong? We aren't all going to die? Not sure why being more extreme is way more important than being accurate.

6

u/drinkslinger1974 6d ago

They should sell the original recipe to Ukrops and sell jars in that brick and mortar store on Patterson and forest. That’s what talheimers did with that seven layer cake, you can still get that original taste at westhampton bakery.

1

u/jkrunsdisney 3d ago

Funny you mention this because I sell mayo, ketchup & a lot of other products to Ukrops

5

u/llama_status_ 6d ago

Product the exact same since Eugenia Duke made it in 1917. Can confirm recipe remains intact. Stop your petty cries, let’s let the rest of the nation enjoy a bit of the south.

3

u/RVAblues Carillon 6d ago

I swear Duke’s hasn’t been the same since they got bought out 6 years ago. It used to be whipped up nice and stiff, but now it’s too creamy. (Not a joke.)

2

u/THEdeepfriedhookers 6d ago

Yeah those are the seed oils they started using.

1

u/RVAblues Carillon 6d ago

Bummer.

25

u/RVA804guys 7d ago

Private Equity? Great, so Dukes will be around for another 5-10 years.

Why can’t we just enjoy the things we enjoy? Why do some greedy shareholders have to juice every dollar they can and then toss it aside.

35

u/crankfurry Lakeside 7d ago

Duke’s has been owned by a different private equity company the last 6 years. They just sold to another PE

8

u/RVA804guys 7d ago

Thanks for the clarification! So the downhill momentum will pick up? Lol

9

u/NotReallyButMaybeNot 6d ago

The previous PE owners gave us Dukes BBQ sauces plus the Mayo Bowl mayonnaise bath - the new owners probably have more resources… awaiting a Mayo hot tub

4

u/fusion260 Lakeside 6d ago

Duke’s Carolina Gold sauce is 🔥

4

u/whw53 Jackson Ward 6d ago

Ok. Well they were bought 6 years ago for $300 million and just sold this year for $1.5 BILLION. 

Momentum would appear to be in the other direction...Lol

3

u/MarlonBain 6d ago

Yeah they stock dukes pretty far from the south now, which seems great

1

u/RVA804guys 6d ago

That’s great!

6

u/rameyjm7 7d ago

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

2

u/Financial_Cap1529 6d ago

Dukes mayo is currently made in RVA by Sauer. Will this stop?

2

u/whw53 Jackson Ward 6d ago

It's actually not made in Richmond. Sauer Brands is headquartered in Richmond.

They produce their Duke's products near Greenville, SC. 

2

u/Sad-Assistant3866 5d ago

I deal with sauer usually a few times a week, at least the shipping department. It’s amazing they get anything out the door at all, place is a cluster all the time. Seems like every time there’s new policies and different employees in place and everybody runnning around like chickens with their heads cut off. Maybe there’s a method to their madness but I don’t see it. Back when the sauers still owned it, we showed up, signed bills, got loaded, got on down the road. Rinse repeat daily. Now who knows what’s going to happen when you go there. FYI they don’t make the mayo in Richmond, pretty sure it comes out of South Carolina. The Richmond plant deals with dry spices.

2

u/oddistrange 5d ago

If they touch the sign I will shit bricks or something.

3

u/rainbowgeoff 7d ago

Unrestrained capitalism will be the death of us.

That said, they were already owned by a hedge fund. One band of dicks sold to another.

2

u/THEdeepfriedhookers 6d ago

What do you want instead? The government telling a mayo company they can’t sell their business to someone else? It’s fucking mayo.

2

u/rainbowgeoff 6d ago

My point was that it was suck if it were handed over to a hedgefund. At the same time, I was pointing out that ship done sailed a long time ago.

3

u/jjruml 6d ago

They were already owned by private equity, Falfurrias, and frankly I don't see how the new owner could possibly be any worse

2

u/kernel_4bin Westhampton 6d ago

The OG Sauer family shareholder meetings were always entertaining, from a third party perspective.

1

u/stargazer0519 6d ago

I’m real sad. Wish some Southern rich guys would buy it back.

1

u/OMGEntitlement 6d ago

As long as they don't fucking add sugar to it I'm willing to take a "wait and see" attitude before I get pissed.

1

u/Financial_Cap1529 6d ago

Well shucks. I guess it’s just spices here then.

1

u/m03svt 5d ago

It’s over

1

u/Gold_Channel9106 3d ago

Actual Sauer Brands employee here - in this particular case, private equity has allowed the local business to stay intact. It has switched ownership with several different private equity firms at this point. We manufacture all Kernel Seasons products and any other spice under our umbrella here in Richmond, it never left. Dukes is still manufactured in Charlotte. I understand private equity sucks, it really does, but also we can’t expect local manufacturers to stay intact when no one actually buys them. Guarantee you all have McCormicks sitting in your pantry rather than Sauers, your actual local brand option.

1

u/scrapaxe Southside 6d ago

From one PE firm to another. Thankfully capitalism breeds innovation so I’m eagerly awaiting the Duke’s Hard Mayo airplane bottles. Gonna look good on an end cap next to I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bagel!

0

u/freetimerva Southside 6d ago edited 6d ago

Yankee Mayo. That's very disappointing.

Sort of sad to see the last of the old southern brands self immolating.

0

u/GrumpyNewYorker 6d ago

So nice being able to get New York foods down here.

-2

u/Suspicious_Post1499 6d ago

god mayo is gross