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Victorinox Swiss Army Announces Investment in Epicurean

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Epicurean USA Cutting Board

Victorinox Swiss Army, Inc., (VSAI) announced today the company will purchase an investment stake in Epicurean Cutting Surfaces, an innovative leader in cutting boards and kitchen tools manufactured in the USA. The partnership between the two companies is a culmination of many years of mutual respect for their shared commitment to innovation, quality and customer-first business values.

“Our complementary product assortments made this partnership a natural fit, however, product synergies alone don’t make for a successful business relationship,” said René Stutz, President and CEO of Victorinox Swiss Army North America. “Over the years, a mutual respect has developed between our two brands; and understandably so. We at VSAI have long admired Epicurean’s nimble innovation and fresh perspective, which is infused in everything they do. Likewise, our experience and 130-year history of growing a world-renown brand is appealing to Epicurean. But irrespective of the age of our brands, we share a commitment to quality – we do it right, or we don’t do it at all. That makes Epicurean exactly the kind of brand we want to work with.”

“High quality products, industry-leading innovation, and a brand we’re proud to stand behind – those are the tenets of the Epicurean brand that are also reflected in the way Victorinox Swiss Army has approached its business for more than 130 years. Having the opportunity to team up with a brand that’s been doing things that way with great success for more than a century only furthers our efforts. And now that our two companies are ‘officially’ partners we couldn’t be happier,” said Epicurean Cutting Surfaces co-founders Dave Benson, Greg Benson and Tony Ciardelli.

Both teams and offices will remain intact, and will operate in the manner they currently do. So what changes then, should one expect as a result of the investment deal? In a word, collaboration. Victorinox Swiss Army’s strengths lie within the commercial cutlery arena, and international markets, while Epicurean’s domestic retail business is strong; the two plan to tap into best practices and customer networks on those fronts. Additionally, co-branded projects and new products are already in the works.

The closing of the investment is expected to occur September 1, 2015.