Iconic brand from your childhood finds new life

While many memories of our childhoods are worth looking back on, sometimes it seems there’s a special sparkle to ones that relate to food.

Whether it’s the comforting lentil soup your grandmother made when you came home from school, or simply a popular snack you really enjoyed when growing up, something about these experiences is especially nostalgic.

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One thing modern food businesses have learned about this highly common human experience is that it’s a powerful marketing tool. People tend to enjoy feeling nostalgic, and a brand can harness that to make them buy something.

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That may be exactly what you feel as you read the next part of this story, because we’re about to talk about a food brand you likely remember eating as a kid.

A grocery store shelf lined with Chef Boyardee staples.

Image source: Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Classic pasta brand gets a new owner

Conagra Brands has agreed to sell the Chef Boyardee brand to Hometown Foods Company in a $600 million deal. Hometown Foods Company is part of private equity firm Brynwood Partners.

“The Chef Boyardee divestiture marks another milestone in reshaping the Conagra Brands portfolio for better long-term growth, while also paying down debt,” Conagra CEO Sean Connolly 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.” 

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Brynwood Partners will gain control of the company’s Milton, PA, facility as part of the deal, along with its assets and operations, once the deal closes in the second quarter of 2025.

Conagra originally acquired the Chef Boyardee brand in 2000. 

A new Chef Boyardee

While the Chef Boyardee that we’ve seen in cans at the local grocery store has looked the same for decades, it may soon get a makeover, according to Brynwood Partners CEO Hank Hartong.

“We are excited to add the iconic Chef Boyardee brand to the Hometown collection of nostalgic brands that offer a longstanding rich heritage,” Hartong said in a statement. “We have grown the Hometown portfolio by nearly twofold since we formed the business and are confident that we can reinvigorate the Chef Boyardee brand and extend into new formats quickly.”

It will be interesting to see what Brynwood has in mind for the iconic brand, but one thing’s for sure — they have plenty of room to innovate, since the can hasn’t changed much in the past 40 years.

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A brand with a pedigree

While Chef Boyardee sounds very much like a made-up person, the brand’s name is actually based on real-life founder Ettore Boiardi, an Italian immigrant that once ran his own New York restaurant, Il Giardino d’Italia.

Boiardi originally founded the company after restaurant patrons asked him to bottle his marinara sauce. Some customers who owned a local grocery then helped Boiardi figure out how to get his product canned and mass-produced.

Perhaps the most interesting bit of the story is that the U.S. military once hired Boiardi to supply army rations during World War II, so while you may remember Chef Boyardee as a childhood treat, your veteran grandfather may recall it as a ration!