Brewer Maker Wilbur Curtis to Be Acquired by Groupe SEB

The Curtis GemX brewer on display at the SCA Expo in Seattle last April. Daily Coffee News photo/Nick Brown.

French conglomerate Groupe SEB is acquiring California-based commercial coffee brewing manufacturer Wilbur Curtis. The deal is expected to be finalized next month, according to Groupe SEB. The financial terms have not been disclosed.

Wilbur Curtis is a leading manufacturer of coffee and tea brewing equipment for a range of commercial brewing applications, with a particular focus on batch brewing and carafes. The company had remained family-owned since its inception in 1941, employing some 300 people from its headquarters in Montebello, California.

The company has released several new products and product upgrades in recent years, including the Seraphim automatic pourover brewer for the specialty coffee market, and the GemX batch brewing system.

Groupe SEB, meanwhile, owns a range of international brands in the small appliances and housewares categories, including the U.S.-based cookware brand All-Clad and the home espresso and small appliance brand Krups. The group also owns German super-automatic espresso machine maker WMF.

“Following the acquisition of WMF in 2016, Groupe SEB confirms its determination to pursue expansion in the professional coffee industry, which offers great development opportunities worldwide,” Thierry de La Tour d’Artaise, chairman and CEO of Groupe SEB, said in a press release today. “As a specialist in filter coffee machines in the United States, Wilbur Curtis represents for the Group — that is already present on this market with Schaerer and WMF full-automatic espresso machines — a very valuable strategic complement to its product offering and customer portfolio [sic]. As a result, Groupe SEB becomes one of the leaders in the professional coffee business in the United States.”