Lenox Acquires Oneida

Lenox Corporation has acquired Oneida Consumer LLC, including all existing Oneida-branded flatware, dinnerware and cutlery, for an undisclosed sum.

The two companies, which are both owned by the private equity firm Centre Lane Partners but have been separate and independent of each other, will now serve as complementary brands in the Lenox Corp. portfolio.

Noting Oneida’s strength in the mid-tier specialty channel and in the hospitality business, Burbank said the acquisition gives each brand the opportunity to cross distribution channels where each is a leader and strengthens the company’s good/better/best assortment.

Lenox acquired Hampton Forge, whose flatware business is strong in the warehouse and mass merchant channels, in January.

In a statement about the Oneida acquisition, Burbank said, “All of these great brands have served as industry leaders in their respective categories, reaching a broad consumer base. As one family, our products are sold to thousands of retailers including specialty and department stores, mass merchants, warehouse clubs and grocery stores across the U.S., Canada and international markets worldwide. This new combination of brands and array of products will create unprecedented growth opportunities within our existing customer base and open new distribution worldwide.”

“I believe the combination of these two iconic brands creates a truly dynamic consumer product company,” said Mark Eichhorn, CEO of The Oneida Group.  “With the brand management expertise and product and supply chain knowledge that Lenox possesses combined with their commitment to reenergize and grow the beloved Oneida brand, I believe that Lenox is the ideal steward for the Oneida brand.”

Out of the gate, the Oneida team will stay intact and “current Oneida customers will see very little change,” Burbank told HFN, sister publication of Gifts & Decorative Accessories, though he acknowledged that at some point, sales and other departments may be consolidated.

It has been a busy year for Lenox. It closed its Kinston, N.C., factory at the beginning of the pandemic last year and was acquired by Centre Lane Partners in October. It acquired Hampton Forge in January and sold the Dansk brand to Food 52 last month. Burbank succeeded Mads Ryder as CEO in between the acquisition of Hampton Forge and the shedding of Dansk.

When asked about his brand strategy, Burbank said that, looking at its core assets in flatware and tabletop, “You can’t be great at all things.” He said that Kate Spade and Reed & Barton, two other brands in the Lenox Corp. portfolio, complement the Lenox, Hampton Forge and now, Oneida, brands.

“It’s more of a simplifying focus, less to do with anything about the [Dansk] brand specifically,” he said.