Tulkoff Food Products, a nearly century-old, family-owned sauce manufacturer based in Southeast Baltimore, has been purchased by Pennsylvania-based Graham Partners, the companies said this week.

Graham Partners, a private investment firm that targets “advanced manufacturing companies,” did not disclose what it paid for Tulkoff Food.

“This is intended to help us grow and get to the next level,” said Phil Tulkoff, a third-generation owner of the sauce, dip and dressing maker.

He said the company fielded several offers and picked Graham Partners as the best fit, one that would honor the Tulkoff legacy and lead to growth.

Phil Tulkoff will continue leading the company as president and CEO for the foreseeable future. He said that Graham Partners will enable Tulkoff Food to bring on additional employees, beef up research and development, and allow for an expansion of manufacturing at Tulkoff Food’s Cincinnati plant.

Headquartered on Van Deman Street near Dundalk, the sauce company primarily supplies food service firms and the industrial sector, but also produces a line of retail products. The brand specializes in horseradish and cocktail sauces, but has expanded into specialty flavors like Kimchi Aioli sold through its retail wing. On the industrial side, the brand’s core offerings consist mostly of horseradish, garlic and ginger products.

Graham Partners said in a news release that it was attracted to the family-owned business by a track record of innovation and flexible manufacturing capabilities that has given it an edge over larger sauce manufacturers.

“As consumer interest in unique flavor profiles grows, sauces are playing an elevated role in kitchens and restaurants as a way of driving customer demand and traffic to their locations,” Graham Partners said in the news release. Tulkoff “differentiates itself on the basis of strong customer service and quality products, and Graham anticipates upholding that legacy during its ownership.”

Based in Newtown Square in the Philadelphia suburbs, Graham Partners has a portfolio largely focused in smaller manufacturers. It’s currently also invested in Baltimore-based Barcoding Inc., which merged with a Florida firm earlier this year.

In 2005, when Phil Tulkoff began leading the company, it was located on Conkling Street in Brewer’s Hill and looking to relocate.

“It was starting to get gentrified, and we knew that a horseradish factory in the middle of offices and retail and residential was probably not the best thing,” he said.

The company built a new factory at its current location, where it moved in 2008.

The business began to diversify around that time. From mostly selling to food-service companies that serve restaurants, caterers and hotels, it expanded into co-manufacturing, making products for national brands and expanding with items such as garlic spread, marinade and barbecue sauce. That segment has driven growth and now accounts for more than half the business.

“If you can flow it through a pipe, we can make it,” Phil Tulkoff said. “Over the years we’ve had lots and lots of opportunities for different kinds of products. But we pick the ones that are in our wheelhouse, where it makes sense to be able to take them on. … There’s always something new coming in the door.”

Tulkoff Food employs about 170 people. To meet increased demand, it plans to add shifts to its Cincinnati plant, which has room for another production line.

The sale to Graham Partners closed last week.

Phil Tulkoff said his two brothers had been working with him but decided to move on later this month.

Their grandparents, Harry and Lena Tulkoff, started the business in 1926 as a grocery store in New York before moving it to Baltimore. Their prepared horseradish became popular and the couple moved into production. Phil Tulkoff said his father and uncles ran the business before him.

“To me and to a lot of people here, we see this as a new start,” he said. “Nothing is really going to change, but you feel kind of invigorated because there is kind of change in the air and we know there’s going to be a push towards growth.”

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