By Lauren Thomas

Kitchen-equipment maker Middleby is spinning off its food processing business and refreshing its board of directors in a bid to unlock value. The changes come after the company faced pressure from an activist investor.

The details

Middleby announced the moves Tuesday, when it reported quarterly results, confirming an earlier report from The Wall Street Journal.

Middleby said it will add activist Ed Garden to its board as well as Julie Bowerman, who is currently the chief marketing officer at Kellanova.

Garden Investments, founded by Ed Garden, had accumulated a nearly 5% stake in Middleby and was looking to continue buying more, the Journal reported in January. It marked the firm's first investment. (Garden had been pushing for changes to boost the stock, which was underperforming peers.)

The context

Middleby designs and manufactures cooking equipment for the commercial, residential, and industrial food-service markets. Its products are often seen in the kitchens at Chipotle, McDonald's, Wendy's, Starbucks and other restaurant chains.

Middleby, based in Elgin, Ill., said last month that it was conducting a strategic review of its businesses that had started back in 2024.

Spinning out the food processing business will allow Middleby to be an "even more focused and scaled entity," Middleby Chief Executive Officer Tim FitzGerald said in a statement Tuesday.

Middleby has a market value of about $9 billion. Its share price was up more than 24% year to date as of Monday.

Write to Lauren Thomas at lauren.thomas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2025 07:23 ET (12:23 GMT)

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