Dive Brief:
- Pasta giant Barilla Group will acquire better-for-you mac and cheese brand Goodles for an undisclosed amount, the companies announced Thursday.
- Goodles will operate as an independent brand under Barilla’s ownership and be led by co-founder and CEO Jen Zeszut. It will maintain its headquarters in Santa Cruz, California.
- Goodles, founded in 2020, features protein and prebiotics and is positioned as a better-for-you alternative to boxed mac and cheese. The deal with Italy-based Barilla Group will allow Goodles to innovate and expand internationally, according to Zeszut.
Dive Insight:
The acquisition broadens Barilla’s presence in better-for-you pasta, a category Goodles helped pioneer with functional ingredients such as fiber and protein.
One serving of Goodles has 14 grams of protein and 6 to 7 grams of fiber, including prebiotics, with other offerings including nutrients extracted from plants. It additionally stands out in the mac and cheese aisle with its “squeezy cheese” mac that includes a liquid cheese sauce pouch instead of the usual dry powder mix.
Goodles quickly became a disrupting force in the mac and cheese sector, delivering higher dollar velocities than Kraft and Annie’s less than three years after its founding.
“We had been following GOODLES closely for some time and became increasingly impressed by the strength of the brand, the quality of its products, and the momentum behind its growth,” Guido Barilla, chairman of Barilla Group, said in a statement. “As we got to know the management team, led by Jen Zeszut, we were equally impressed by the strength of the organization, its unity, and its forward-looking mindset.”
Goodles largely appeals to young adults as well as children and families. Foods that are rich in both protein and fiber are increasingly of interest to consumers, with Circana recently reporting that nearly half of adults are seeking more protein in their diets.
Barilla, the world’s largest pasta maker, has recently invested to expand production in the U.S. Earlier this year, it invested $170 million to improve its production, packaging lines and warehouse capacity in Livingston County, New York.
