Chef Boyardee Sells

Conagra, owner of Chef Boyardee, has reportedly agreed to sell the historic brand to private equity firm Brynwood Partners. The deal, which is not yet finalized, is valued at $600M. 

Italian immigrant Ettore “Hector” Boiardi launched the pasta sauce with his brothers in 1928 after running a popular restaurant in Cleveland. The brand played a key role in introducing Italian food to the US, challenging the preeminence of French cuisine. Chef Boyardee was once the US’ No. 1 importer of Parmesan cheese. At the company's height, its Pennsylvania factory produced 250,000 sauce cans per day. Read more about the celebrity chef here.

Chicago-based Conagra, which bought Chef Boyardee in 2000, is shedding the brand to focus on its frozen food and snack portfolio, including protein-heavy Slim Jim meat sticks. Amid slowing sales, the company recently launched “GLP-1 friendly” labels to market products to customers using weight-loss drugs (how they work).