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Artisan Group
Drew Zang, Mark Mahoney, and Mike Walsh run Artisan Group, a food-and-beverage sourcing firm that also makes direct equity investments into CPG...
Artisan Group
Artisan Group was founded by three food-and-beverage veterans whose careers span specialty brokerage, brand-building, and large-scale M&A. Drew Zang grew up inside his family's 30-year-old specialty food brokerage and later diversified its customer base. Mark Mahoney founded or co-founded Maui Beverages, Mixerz, Powell & Mahoney, and Atomic Coffee Roasters, building aggregate retail sales that exceeded $1 billion. Mike Walsh held senior leadership roles at Island Oasis and Kerry Ingredients, where he worked on transactions north of $400 million and managed over $500 million in P&L. The firm operates a dual-track model. On one side it acts as a sourcing and supply-chain consultancy for CPG and institutional clients, connecting them to a curated network of ingredient suppliers, packaging producers, and contract manufacturers. On the other side it makes direct equity investments and syndicates capital into vetted manufacturing and component partners within that same network. The firm's services span product development for retail and institutional formats, supply-chain audits, contract-manufacturing selection, and project management from seed to scale. Geographically, the firm maintains offices in New York, Boston, and Austin, with sourcing relationships concentrated in North America. The leadership team remains the three named founders. The firm's website lists no additional investment professionals, suggesting a lean structure that relies on the founders' personal networks and industry relationships rather than a large analyst pool. There is no disclosed AUM or deployment figure. What distinguishes Artisan Group is that its investment activity is inseparable from its operating business. The founders do not sit outside the industry evaluating pitches; they are actively brokering manufacturing relationships and then selectively deploying capital into the same asset base they already know from the inside — a structure that mimics an operating company with an embedded investment arm rather than a detached family office.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, Boston, Austin, United States
Additional offices
Boston · Austin
Principals
Drew Zang
Co-Founder
Mark Mahoney
Co-Founder
Mike Walsh
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Artisan Group source its direct investments?
Artisan Group's deal flow is an extension of its core sourcing business. The firm connects CPG and institutional clients with a network of ingredient suppliers, packaging producers, and contract manufacturers. The founders evaluate the same manufacturing and component partners they negotiate with commercially, which gives them operational visibility into a company's books, production quality, and management before committing capital.
Is Artisan Group structured as a family office or a venture firm?
It operates as a single-family office for its founding principals, but its outward-facing activity resembles a hybrid sourcing consultancy with an embedded direct-investment function. The firm does not market itself as a venture fund, nor does it publicly report AUM. Its investment activity is conducted alongside its commercial sourcing work, not through a separate fund structure with outside LPs.
What investment stages does Artisan Group typically target?
The firm describes its investment approach as supporting companies from seed to scale, often taking an active role in product incubation and commercialization. This suggests a preference for early-stage and growth-stage manufacturing and component companies within the food-and-beverage supply chain, though no specific check-size range is publicly disclosed.
Which sectors does Artisan Group explicitly avoid?
The firm's publicly stated focus is exclusively on food-and-beverage manufacturing, ingredient supply, and packaging. It does not list any activity outside the CPG manufacturing landscape, which implies it avoids sectors such as software, healthcare, financial services, and real estate.
Where does the underlying wealth come from?
The wealth originates from the founders' prior careers in the food-and-beverage industry. Drew Zang's family operated a specialty food brokerage for three decades. Mark Mahoney founded and exited several beverage brands, with combined retail sales exceeding $1 billion. Mike Walsh contributed through senior leadership roles and M&A transactions valued at over $400 million at Island Oasis and Kerry Ingredients.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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