The largest food producer in South Korea, a company known as CJCJ, is buying Minnesota food distributor Schwan’s for 1.8 billion dollars. Schwan’s has its main operations in Marshall, and Mayor Bob Byrnes says the new owners “have publicly announced and communicated to me that they do not anticipate that this will result in any immediate changes.”
The Schwan family will retain 20 percent ownership and run the company’s home delivery service. Executives of CJCJ say they expect with the Schwan’s acquisition to gain scale and cost efficiencies in U-S stores, and hope Schwan’s distribution system will bring their Korean products into more grocery stores and restaurants.