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Dive Brief
The sale comes as the CPG giant focuses on its core snacks and frozen meals offerings, including Slim Jim and Healthy Choice.
Published May 1, 2025
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Dive Insight:
Conagra has prioritized two major food categories: snacks, such as Slim Jim meat sticks and Angie's Boomchickapop popcorn; and frozen meals, like Healthy Choice and Marie Callender's. In recent years, it has sold peanut butter brand Peter Pan and Wesson cooking oil, and acquired premium meat stick brand Fatty.
"The Chef Boyardee divestiture marks another milestone in reshaping the Conagra Brands portfolio for better long-term growth, while also paying down debt,” Sean Connolly, Conagra’s CEO, said in a statement. “By deepening our focus on our leading, growth-oriented frozen and healthy-snacking businesses, we continue to build a more focused company with modern consumer brands."
Conagra has avoided large acquisitions following its $10.9 billion purchase in 2018 of Pinnacle Foods, which added well-known brands such as Birds Eye, Duncan Hines and Vlasic to the fold. Since then, the company has worked to invest in its portfolio and pay down debt.
The sale of Chef Boyardee should go a long way toward helping Conagra lower its debt level and place it in a stronger financial position should it find a larger M&A deal to its liking.
In a statement, Henk Hartong, the CEO of Brynwood Partners, said the Chef Boyardee acquisition is the largest acquisition in its 40-year history. The firm plans to “reinvigorate the Chef Boyardee brand and extend into new formats quickly,” he said.
Conagra has owned Chef Boyardee, which makes predominantly canned pasta with Italian-inspired offerings like Beef Ravioli and Spaghetti & Meatballs, for more than two decades. It acquired the brand in 2000 following its $2.9 billion purchase of International Home Foods, which also included Pam cooking spray.
Chef Boyardee was created by Hector Boiardi, an Italian immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1914, the brand said on its website. He later opened a popular Italian restaurant in Cleveland where guests would ask for his pasta and sauce recipes, leading to the idea of selling his food for home consumption.
