Selling Garden Fresh Salsa to Campbell's Soup, and Trying To Buy It Back | John Latella

The Wise Exit

E27: On today's episode of the Cashing Out podcast we have a good friend and entrepreneur, John Latella. John is the former owner and CEO of the family-owned iconic food brand Garden Fresh Gourmet, which John and his partners sold to The Campbell Soup Company in 2015 for $231 million.

John and Todd talk about how he acquired Basha Hummus and El Matador Tortilla Co. to help grow his business to more than $100 Million in sales. We touch on how the Garden Fresh team managed through multiple inbound offers and M&A interest to eventually land on what they thought to be their ideal acquirer, The Campbell Soup Co. And finally, we discuss what drove John and some new business partners to try to buy the business back just a few years later.

Today, John is an active angel investor and founder of Legacy Fantasy Sports, a fantasy sports platform that allows users to insert their favorite professional players from the past into live professional sports events.

Episode Highlights:

5:48 - Managing inbound interest (M&A) from six different potential acquirers over the years
8:55 - What finally let John to sell Garden Fresh to The Campbell Soup Company
15:50 - The details of the Garden Fresh sale, and what happened next
22:57 - John (and team) have the opportunity to buy Garden Fresh Gourmet back from Campbell's
30:20 - John's first phone call after the sale to Campbell's
31:46 - The joy of bonusing the original employees of Garden Fresh after the transaction
32:54 - John's final Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) advice to his fellow founders and entrepreneurs

Where To Find John Latella:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-j-latella/

Where To Find Todd Sullivan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddfsullivan/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Todd_Sullivan

Episode 27 References:

• Garden Fresh Gourmet
• Garden Fresh Gourmet Acquires Basha Hummus
• Garden Fresh Gourmet Acquires El Matador Tortilla Chip Co.
• Campbell Completes Acquisition of Garden Fresh Gourmet
• Campbell Soup Sells Bolthouse Farms
• Campbell Soup Announces Deal To Sell Garden Fresh Gourmet
• Legacy Fantasy Sports
• Exitwise