Pre-close · Food & Beverage

Independent Sponsor Customer Contract Assignment in Food & Beverage

Independent sponsor counsel for food and beverage, focused on Customer Contract Assignment and the deal mechanics that protect sponsor economics and LP alignment.

EV range $10M to $120M EV EBITDA $2M to $20M Audience Buy-side / Sponsor
The deal context

Customer Contract Assignment on food and beverage deals is one of those workstreams that looks routine on a checklist and decides outcomes in practice.

The typical food and beverage platform sits at $10M to $120M EV with EBITDA in the $2M to $20M range. The thesis runs on CPG roll-up or co-packing platform with regional bolt-ons. Treat trade spend like a working capital item, not a marketing line. The valuation moves accordingly.

The moves

How Customer Contract Assignment actually gets structured.

  1. Identify contracts with anti-assignment clauses, especially in government and healthcare.

  2. Plan the customer communication sequence to protect retention.

  3. Map consent collection against the closing checklist, with material thresholds defined.

  4. Address change-of-control notifications even where consent is not required.

  5. In food and beverage, layer in co-pack capacity agreement re-papered as part of the Customer Contract Assignment workstream.

The common mistake

Asking every customer for consent. You alarm customers who would have been silent.

Jason's take
"Customer assignment is a sales motion, not a legal one. Lead with operations, follow with paper."
Jason Powell · Customer Contract Assignment
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

Capital after close is where the IRR actually gets made. The right introductions at month nine through month thirty are where this practice works as hard as it does at the LOI.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
TALK TO JASON

An LOI on the desk, a food and beverage target, and a Customer Contract Assignment question worth a real conversation.

Twenty minutes of practitioner-grade input from a securities attorney whose first move is to read the deal, not the engagement letter.