10.01.01
The Food Partners Aligns with Other Leading Food Industry Advisory Firms
Investment banking firm partners with other leading advisory firms to the food industry in order to offer expert resources clients can utilize in their quest to stay competitive.

October 1, 2001, Seattle, WA - The Food Partners (TFP), a national investment banking firm focusing on the food chain, said today that it has helped formalize a strategic alliance that brings together six of the leading advisory firms to the food industry.

In addition to TFP, the alliance includes Almond & Associates, Hambleton Resources, Inc., Commercial Design Systems, Inc., The Frause Group and Covenant Development Group.

The newly formed network offers a diverse but complementary set of offerings, including merger, acquisition, and capital raising advisory services, executive search, design, fabrication and installation of retail décor, public relations, and operations/operations turnaround consulting.

"The issues affecting our clients throughout the food chain have grown increasingly complex and often require expertise from a number of interrelated yet distinct disciplines. This network aims to address that need by bringing together a group of like-minded professionals who are committed to delivering significant value, possess highly developed knowledge of the industry and its trends, and who are recognized within the industry as experts within their respective fields." said Jeff A. Menashe, TFP Principal.

Other members of the newly formed strategic alliance are:

• Almond & Associates, John Almond, (206) 721-1111, provides retained executive search and consulting services to privately held and publicly traded food companies with particular emphasis on the western United States.
• Hambleton Resources, Inc., Bert Hambleton, (425) 392-9122, offers food industry marketing and research services including, but not limited to: consumer research, econometric modeling, site location analysis, and development of corporate objectives.
• Commercial Design Systems Inc., Rick Graap, (503) 885-7000, designs, fabricates, and installs décor, signage, cabinetry, and fixturing primarily to grocery retailers throughout the western United States.
• The Frause Group, Bob Frause, (206) 352-6402, offers public relations and public affairs counsel and support as well as financial, employee and marketing communications to clients both regionally and nationally.
• Covenant Development Group, Keith Miller, (503) 515-8504, provides operations and operations turnaround consulting services, including, control and procurement, to distribution and wholesale distribution companies primarily throughout the western United States.

The Food Partners, with offices in Washington, DC, and Seattle, WA, is a national investment banking firm focusing exclusively on the food chain. With nearly 80 years of collective investment banking experience, TFP provides merger, acquisition, divestiture, capital raising and strategic advisory services to the food industry. Clients served by TFP span the entire food chain and include privately and publicly held companies and cooperatives. TFPÕs website can be found at: www.thefoodpartners.com.