Thomas Kruger, a corporate partner with Paul Hastings in New York, earlier this month helped good friend Kathleen King sell her famous Tate’s Bake Shop to a private equity firm for an undisclosed sum.
The deal marks the end of a long journey for King, who more than a decade ago lost the name to the company she founded in Southampton, N.Y., as Kathleen’s Bake Shop in 1980. The ensuing legal battle and King’s decision to rebrand from Kathleen’s Cookies to Tate’s—derived from her father’s nickname—has been the subject of stories in such publications as Inc. and The New York Times.
