About Us...
Carl Cordova
Carl is the founder of Food Cottage, having 27 years of private equity experience while managing more than $500 million of capital and serving on more than 10 company boards. Previously, he was a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of CSW, a middle-market private equity firm based in New York. Prior to CSW, Carl was a senior Principal in the New York office of Electra Fleming, Inc., which managed $2 billion of assets of London-based Electra Investment Trust, PLC. He generated a top-quartile track record, and invested in companies in the restaurant, convenience store, media, and wireless telecom sectors. Carl has also consulted for companies as well as served as an outside director to others, including Hillerich & Bradsby, the maker of Louisville Slugger and TPX. He earned an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, and a B.A. from Gettysburg College, where he was a Senior Scholar.
Chad Scales
Chad is an experienced executive with both large- and small-company leadership achievements. As Head of Innovation for The Coca-Cola Company and Vice President of Savory Foods for Unilever (a $1.7 Billion division with 12 brands), he led global teams, P&Ls, and projects around the world. Later at Roark Capital/Focus Brands, Chad created a new division of the company that leveraged brand equity in new channels resulting in nearly $1 billion of retail revenue. As an entrepreneur earlier in his career, he was President and Founder of three, small, consumer products companies funded by Bain Capital that were scaled up and sold to large industry consolidators for 10x total capital invested. Most recently, Chad was Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer at publicly-traded Interface Inc., where he directed over 300 associates globally in marketing, R&D, design, and digital marketing. He was also previously a senior partner at Ogilvy & Mather advertising in New York. Chad has an M.B.A. from Michigan State University, and a B.S. from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Bruce Olsen
Bruce has over 40 years of experience as a food manufacturing executive, with an emphasis on turnarounds in sales as well as in the restoration of companies to profitability. He is currently CEO of JamBak Foods, developing a new Bakery in Kingston, Jamaica. Previously, Bruce was CEO of Sapphire Bakery Company, where he tripled the volume run-rate within his first 18 months and built an extensive sales pipeline with big-box retailers. He also founded Western Baking Corporation, rebuilding it from an empty 175K s.f. facility into a fully-operational bakery with 65 employees making wire cuts, sandwiches, rotary, and fruit-filled cookies. Bruce was also formerly President of Organic Milling, completing a sales turnaround in their Bakery & Snack plants, and a Vice President of Consolidated Biscuit Company, where he eliminated $7.0 million of losses and returned the company to profitability. Bruce earned a B.A. from Cedarville University.
Cecil "Barney" Barnett
(1939 - 2019)
Barney was the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Algood Food Company, the largest independent peanut butter manufacturer in the U.S. After several positions early in his career at IBM and Cameron Iron Works, and as President of Tube Turns, Inc., he purchased the peanut butter subsidiary of Beatrice Foods in a 1985 LBO. He later expanded into ingredient as well as private label production, and diversified Algood's operations into jellies, preserves, and jams. Barney was also the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Simmons College of Kentucky, a private HBCU, and a member of the boards of 180 Skills, LLC, and Indie Power Systems, respectively. He was a Director of Hillerich & Bradsby, the makers of Louisville Slugger, for 38 years, and was a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' Agribusiness Council. Barney earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University, and a B.S. from University of Oklahoma. Barney was smart, direct, and kind, always with a twinkle in his eyes. We will miss him.