One Single freshly baked Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookie with colorful candy on a white background

Legacy Bakehouse Acquires Classic Cookie

Feb. 6, 2025

Contract and private-label baker adds retail brand to its portfolio, and looks to apply its expertise to the cookie and brownie baker’s product capabilities.

Andy Hanacek

Waukesha, Wis.-based Legacy Bakehouse, a contract and private-label manufacturer of baked snacks, has acquired Mannon Specialty Foods Inc., which does business as Classic Cookie and bakes premium cookie products out of Sevierville, Tenn. This is the second acquisition for Legacy in the past six months, with the company having added the shuttered facility and assets of Angelic Bakehouse in July 2024 (Angelic had closed in March 2024).

Classic Cookie was founded in 1984 and sells its cookies through Walmart and other national and regional retailers and distribution partners, according to the release posted by Legacy. Classic Cookie also serves the fundraising channel nationwide. Products are produced in a 50,000-sq.-ft., recently expanded commercial bakery in Sevierville.

Legacy was founded in 1917 and offers such products as pita chips, tortillas, rye chips, garlic chips and breadsticks, among other baked snack products. It was acquired by Benford Capital Partners in 2023. Adding Classic Cookie expands the company’s bakery categories and also brings a new brand with retail distribution to the Legacy portfolio. On the flip side, Legacy is excited to apply its expertise in contract and private-label manufacturing to Classic Cookie’s cookie and brownie production capabilities.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.