1-800-Flowers.com acquires gourmet dessert retailer Cheryl & Co.

1-800-Flowers.com will acquire Cheryl & Co. Inc., a Westerville, OH-based manufacturer and seller of cookies and baked gift items. 1-800-Flowers.com will pay approximately $40 million to acquire all the stock of Cheryl & Co.

"Cheryl & Co. has a history of strong sales growth that we believe we can accelerate by leveraging our operating platform, including our e-commerce technology, customer service and fulfillment capabilities, as well as our expanded corporate sales force and database of more than 15 million customers,” said CEO Jim McCann. “Importantly, when combined with our other food gift offerings, this acquisition will increase our annual revenues in the fast growing Food, Wine and Gift Basket category to more than $100 million."

CEO Cheryl Krueger will be staying with the company. Krueger started Cheryl & Co. as Cheryl’s Cookies in 1981.

The acquisition of Cheryl & Co. extends 1-800Flowers.com’s already broad range of gourmet food offerings. The company owns ThePopcornFactory.com, GreatFood.com, AmbrosiaWine.com and WineTasting.com. In gift retailers, it owns PlowandHearth.com, HearthSong.com and MagicCabin.com.