Olympic Foods Inc., a 41-year-old Spokane company, says it has signed a letter of intent to sell its assets to Johanna Foods Inc., a privately owned manufacturer of chilled juices and beverages based in Flemington, N.J.


Terms of the tentative agreement werent disclosed.


Gene Peters, Olympic Foods general manager, says the goal of both companies is to complete the asset sale by March 31, and he adds that the transaction will have very little impact on operations here.


Olympic Foods packages and distributes fruit juices under its own brand names, which include Citrus Sunshine and Natures Genuine, and also under private-label arrangements with such grocery chains and distributors as Albertsons Inc., Fred Meyer Stores Inc., Safeway Inc., and Western Family Foods Inc. It employs 90 workers at its 116,000-square-foot plant at 5625 W. Thorpe Road on the West Plains, and another 50 workers at a juice-packaging plant near Los Angeles that it acquired three years ago. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Darigold Inc., of Seattle.


Peters declines to share Olympic Foods revenue figures, but says its revenue last year fell short of a $40 million projection made earlier by another company executive.


He says the plant near Los Angeles likely wont be included in the sale to Johanna Foods, but Olympic Foods is negotiating to sell it to other prospective buyers.


Johanna Foods Web site says it sells refrigerated juices and beverages, drink boxes, and yogurt. The Web site doesnt include information about company revenue or the number of plants Johanna Foods has, but does say it employs about 500 workers at its Flemington complex.


The company said in a press release last month that it would acquire Olympic Foods, but its president and CEO, Robert Facchina, declined in a phone interview earlier this week to elaborate on the pending sale.


Weve done due diligence and have a general agreement, but all that could be subject to change, he said. Once I own Olympic Foods, we can chat.


In the news release, Facchina said, The acquisition of Olympics chilled business by Johanna Foods is consistent with recent consolidations in the manufacturing, warehousing, and retailing industries.


Peters says Johanna Foods is one of the leaders in the beverage industry and is seeking to expand westward. Olympic Foods, he says, will be the companys first acquisition in the Western states.


Olympic Foods began operations here in 1966 under the name Olympic Corn Dog Inc. and took on the Olympic Foods name in 1980 when it and its 6-year-old subsidiary, Early Bird Juice Co., consolidated. Darigold bought a controlling interest in the company in 1995, and became its sole owner in 2004.


Olympic Foods sold its corn dog operations to Livingston, Calif.-based Foster Farms Inc. in 1996.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at [email protected].