Private investment firm Jefferson Capital Partners announced its financing of growth capital to Louisiana Pepper Exchange, a trading company that provides pepper mash to the global hot sauce industry based in New Orleans, Louisiana.

According to Greater New Orleans Inc., the regional economic development organization for Southeast Louisiana, their support will allow the company to make a significant capital investment into its facility and bring on essential new company personnel. This is the third Opportunity Zone (OZ) operating company investment for JCP.

“We have had considerable growth over the last two years and Jefferson Capital Partners was the perfect partner to help fuel our growth immediately and into the future.” said Chris White, Founder and CEO of Louisiana Pepper Exchange. "JCP shares our home base of New Orleans, which is particularly important to me. We are very proud and excited to have this partnership in place and adding a little spice to the lives of many more customers in the future.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Chris White and the LPE team.” said Joe Truhe, a Partner with Jefferson Capital Partners. “We believe spicy foods are on trend and LPE's dominant position in the pepper mash supply chain provides a variety of tremendous growth opportunities. LPE also embodies much of what makes New Orleans such a compelling market with its proximity to the port of New Orleans and access to the Public Belt providing a durable competitive advantage.”

Louisiana Pepper Exchange maintains significant logistical and supply chain advantages with its location adjacent to the Port of New Orleans.

“This investment represents continued faith in Greater New Orleans as a food manufacturing hub and the success of the Opportunity Zone program,” said Michael Hecht, President and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc. “We are incredibly excited about Louisiana Pepper Exchange’s commitment to bring high visibility to an industry that already provides a nearly $800 million impact to our region’s annual GDP, a number that will only grow in the near future.”

In addition to processing its own products, LPE also offers co-packing services to select craft hot sauce makers and leverages its bottling capabilities, certifications and supply chain advantages to help their customers grow into large grocery store chains and multi-unit restaurant groups. The company has already established a vertically integrated operation to provide pepper mash (as a base ingredient) to a large percentage of the existing hot sauce market. The JCP investment provided LPE with access to capital that was previously limiting the Company’s growth and expansion.