Barilla acquires US mac-and-cheese brand Goodles as Jen Zeszut remains CEO
Barilla has agreed to acquire California-based Goodles, expanding its position in the US shelf-stable convenience-food market. Goodles CEO and co-founder Jen Zeszut will continue to lead the brand, which has increased its share of US shelf-stable mac-and-cheese spending from 0.8% to 7.8% in three years.
Barilla adds a fast-growing US brand
Barilla Group has finalized an agreement to acquire Goodles, a US brand specializing in macaroni and cheese, according to Blasting News Italia. The Italian food company confirmed the transaction on September 3, 2026, following an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal. Financial terms were not disclosed in the source material.
The deal gives Barilla a larger foothold in the US market for shelf-stable macaroni and cheese, a category with estimated annual sales of between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion. It also adds a younger convenience-food brand to a group already closely associated with pasta. Goodles is owned by Gooder Foods, Inc. and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.
Goodles retains its leadership and identity
Goodles co-founder and CEO Jen Zeszut will remain in charge of the business and its team after the acquisition. The arrangement is intended to preserve the brand's operational continuity, autonomy and identity while giving it access to Barilla's resources. Zeszut described Barilla as an ideal partner that could help Goodles innovate, grow, make more effective decisions and maintain product quality.
Barilla chairman Guido Barilla said the group had followed Goodles for some time. He pointed to the strength of the brand, the quality of its products and the momentum of its growth as reasons for the acquisition. Retaining the existing chief executive indicates that Barilla plans to support the business without immediately replacing the management responsible for its expansion.
Gooder Foods was founded in Santa Cruz in 2020 by Jennifer Zeszut and Paul Earle. The first Goodles range reached the market toward the end of 2021 with four macaroni-and-cheese varieties. The company has remained focused on macaroni and cheese and pasta, and its products are manufactured entirely in the United States.
Market share growth strengthens the strategic case
Goodles has captured 7.8% of total spending in the US shelf-stable macaroni-and-cheese segment, compared with 0.8% three years earlier. That gain gives Barilla an established growth platform in a category where brand recognition, retail distribution and repeat purchases can be difficult and expensive to build from scratch. It also provides Goodles with the backing of a larger food group as it seeks to develop new products and broaden its reach.
The business was valued at $88 million following a significant funding round in 2023, although no current purchase price has been reported. The earlier valuation and the subsequent market-share increase provide context for Goodles' development, but they do not establish the value of the Barilla transaction. For producers and retailers, the immediate significance lies in the combination of Goodles' recent consumer traction with Barilla's scale and category experience. The decision to retain Zeszut suggests that brand continuity will remain central as the companies integrate.
