Second Nature Brands has completed a SAP Cloud ERP project that brought its acquired Voortman Bakery business onto a common enterprise platform, according to IBM. The update follows the snack maker’s approximately $305 million purchase of Voortman in December 2024.
IBM disclosed the project on October 7 as part of its announcement of IBM Ready for SAP Solutions, a service for companies modernizing their business software.
“Working with IBM, we successfully integrated the Voortman Bakery business and expanded our common enterprise platform,” said Jeff O’Gradney, Second Nature Brands’ vice president of information technology, in the announcement.
O’Gradney said the platform positions the company to grow more efficiently as one organization.
A platform for an acquired business
Second Nature Brands bought Voortman from J.M. Smucker in an all-cash transaction that closed on December 2, 2024. Its approximately $305 million value was subject to a working capital adjustment, reflecting agreed operating assets and liabilities at closing.
The transaction included Voortman’s trademarks and a leased manufacturing facility in Burlington, Ontario. Smucker said at closing that approximately 300 employees would transfer with the business.
In its October 2024 deal announcement, Second Nature Brands described Voortman as a maker of zero-sugar cookies and wafer cookies sold across the US and Canada. The buyer said the acquisition would expand its position in specialty cookies and the Canadian market.
Voortman followed its purchases of Sahale Snacks in September 2023 and Brownie Brittle in December 2022. Second Nature Brands’ portfolio also included Kar’s Nuts, Second Nature Snacks and Sanders.
The latest update concerns the software project connecting Voortman with its new owner. The acquisition itself was completed in 2024.
What is acquisition integration?
Acquisition integration is the work of bringing a purchased business into its new owner’s operations. It can include financial reporting, software systems and management arrangements. The scope depends on the transaction.
In this case, IBM identified SAP Cloud ERP as the platform used. ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. SAP describes ERP systems as connecting functions such as finance, manufacturing, purchasing and supply-chain management through shared data.
These are general capabilities of ERP software. The announcement does not specify which individual Voortman processes were moved or how their performance changed.
Our earlier coverage of established business systems examined how software can contain years of accumulated operating rules, adding context to the work involved in changing a business platform.
IBM says its new SAP service is currently available in selected countries and industries, with broader availability planned. Second Nature Brands is one of the customers featured in the announcement.
The release does not disclose the Voortman project’s cost, duration or quantified savings. It confirms a completed software implementation through statements from IBM and its customer, while leaving the financial contribution to the acquisition undisclosed.
