Dive Brief:
- Clio Snacks, a maker of refrigerated Greek yogurt bars, has been acquired by private equity firm Stride Consumer Partners for an undisclosed amount.
- The purchase of the 11-year-old brand will help Cilo grow its reach, enhance its operational capabilities and drive innovation.
- Clio has more than quadrupled revenue since CEO John McGuckin took the helm in 2021, the company said. This year, the company estimated it will produce more than 150 million bars at its manufacturing facility in New Jersey.
Dive Insight:
As consumers embrace better-for-you and convenient snacks, few brands have benefited as much as fast-growing Clio. The single-serve bars position Greek yogurt as an indulgent snack loaded with protein and probiotics.
McGuckin told Food Dive in 2024 that sales that year were estimated at $60 million, up from $9 million in 2019. He was optimistic Clio could eventually near $500 million if the company could meaningfully boost consumption and household penetration.
In an environment where growth is hard to come by, Clio’s trajectory clearly caught the attention of Stride, which invests in disruptive consumer brands. Clio is currently sold in roughly 60,000 stores nationwide and is expanding its portfolio from its single-serve bars into new flavors, varieties and packaging formats.
“We have been trying to partner with Clio for years, admiring the brand’s vision and how the team has truly built a differentiated brand in the rapidly growing better-for-you ‘permissive indulgence’ snacking space,” Juan Marcos Hill, partner at Stride, said in a statement.
Private equity has become a popular channel to acquire food brands, especially for younger products or legacy brands discarded by bigger companies.
Private equity firms can help startups grow until they are ideally positioned to cash out. Startups might find it easier to tap into the financial resources of a private equity firm to avoid higher borrowing costs and a challenging economic environment.
Stride is no stranger to frozen Greek yogurt. It previously backed Yasso before it was acquired by Unilever in 2023. It’s also an investor in other consumer food brands, including meat stick Chomps and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.
