This is HUGE. GOODLES Finds Its Perfect Match With Barilla Group for a New Chapter of Growth.

GOODLES will remain independent, continuing its daring reimagination of boxed mac and cheese

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GOODLES, the brand that reimagined boxed mac and cheese, today announced it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by the Barilla Group.

Founded in October 2020 as Gooder Foods, Inc. and based in Santa Cruz, California, GOODLES was born out of the idea that everyone’s favorite comfort food, mac and cheese, could be more nutritious, incredibly delicious and bring joy. With premium nutrition and a wide variety of bold, adventurous flavors, GOODLES is proving that mac and cheese is not just for kids anymore and is driving significant incrementality for all of its retail partners – new customers shopping the mac aisle, rapidly growing velocities, the highest average basket size, the highest buy rate and the highest purchase frequency in the category. GOODLES only hit retail shelves a little more than four years ago and has quickly grown sales.

Fan-fueled-momentum is building. GOODLES’s small-scale and human-centric approach to community and its scrappy and brave marketing have earned it a passionate, die-hard base of millions of fans. Fans are tattooing the branding on their bodies, dressing up like GOODLES mac and cheese for Halloween and using GOODLES in promposals. Fans of GOODLES report, on average, that they have each personally converted 27 new fans to the brand, and GOODLES has the highest NPS score in the category. In the last 90 days alone, GOODLES fans generated 235 million organic (free) impressions for the brand, and about 2 million new customers started eating GOODLES.

GOODLES has brought mac back and is loved by kids, young adults and families. By combining joy, taste, and good nutrition, GOODLES has become a fast-growing mac and cheese brand. With a small but mighty and passionate team of 73 people, the GOODLES brand is distributed in the U.S. in major and independent retailers.

GOODLES has decided to embark on its next phase of growth with the Barilla Group, a fourth-generation family-owned company that was founded in 1877 and will celebrate 150 years in 2027. The Barilla Group is an international food company with the purpose to celebrate the joy of food for a better life. With brands in pasta, sauce and bakery goods, the Barilla Group operates in more than 100 countries. According to RepTrak, consumers around the globe picked the Barilla Group as one of the Top 10 highest brands for reputation in the world across all categories and ranked it #1 among the food companies globally. GOODLES and the Barilla Group share several common values, including a passion for food and an obsession with quality and taste. This acquisition will strengthen both brands’ commitment to bring beloved products, made with carefully selected ingredients, to the tables of people around the world.

“Our mission has been to positively impact as many lives as possible with our delicious mac and cheese, and we are so proud of the millions of lives we’ve touched. But more than 90% of people in the US have never tried GOODLES, so we’ve only just begun! This brand wants to spread its wings and keep doing our weird and wonderful thing, so that we can have an even bigger impact – eventually on a global scale. I could not DREAM UP a better partner for our little brand and our beloved, hard-working team. We chose the Barilla Group because they can help us innovate and grow internationally while letting us make gooder decisions and maintain our quality. The Barilla Group loves us just the way we are, from our barely-running dune buggy to our over-flowing-with-joy HQ office in Santa Cruz! We’re not changing a thing,” said Jen Zeszut, the Cofounder & CEO of GOODLES. “I knew the Barilla Group was the perfect partner when I jokingly offered The Chairman (Mr. Barilla) a GOODLES bumper sticker for his new car that read ‘Me and My Homies Love Macaronis’ and he actually took it! I am so excited to see how our two worlds continue to collide.”

Upon the close of the merger, nothing will change: GOODLES will remain headquartered in Santa Cruz and will continue to operate independently as a standalone brand, free to make its own decisions about product, recipes, quality, ingredients, suppliers, marketing and more. The entire team will be retained with no reporting changes, and Cofounder & CEO Jen Zeszut will continue to lead the GOODLES team.

“Today is an important day for our Group,” said Guido Barilla, Chairman of the Barilla Group. “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. 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. Together, these qualities convinced us that GOODLES was the right choice and represents an exciting opportunity for the future.”

The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals. KO Law is serving as legal advisor and Centerview Partners is serving as financial advisor to GOODLES in connection with the transaction. Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP and PedersoliGattai are serving as legal advisors and Piper Sandler and Orbin & Company, LLC, are serving as financial advisors to the Barilla Group in connection with the transaction.