A longtime Springfield manufacturer has been sold, marking the end of more than a century of family ownership.
Bunn-O-Matic, the beverage equipment company known worldwide for its commercial coffee brewers and filters, has been acquired by the Chicago-based Ali Group. The sale ends five generations of ownership by the Bunn family. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to reporting from the Springfield Business Journal, Ali Group is an international food-service equipment company that manufactures and markets equipment used by restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, airports and other institutions around the world.
Company officials say the acquisition will strengthen Ali Group’s position in the global coffee and beverage equipment market, while adding Bunn’s long history of innovation and product development to its portfolio.
Questions remain about what the sale could mean locally. Bunn employs an estimated 850 people in Springfield, where the company has long served as one of Sangamon County’s largest manufacturers.
Bunn also maintains other facilities, including a location in White Hall in Greene County. That site employs a smaller workforce and manufactures and services beverage equipment, filters, food equipment and related accessories.
The company’s roots in Springfield date back to 1840 when Jacob Bunn opened a grocery store that counted a young Abraham Lincoln among its customers. The beverage equipment business that became Bunn-O-Matic was later established in the mid-20th century and grew into a global brand for commercial coffee and beverage systems.
At this time, company officials have not announced any operational changes or potential layoffs following the acquisition.