Conagra To Sell Chef Boyardee For $600M

Arrivederci! Conagra is saying bye-bye to Chef Boyardee.

Today, the Chicago-based conglomerate announced the signing of a definitive agreement to divest the ready-to-eat pasta meals producer to Brynwood Partners-owned Hometown Food Company for $600 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 of Conagra’s FY26 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The Chef will now be slung alongside Hometown’s other brands – including the likes of Pillsbury, Hungry Jack, Birch Benders and Arrowhead Mills. The transaction includes the brand’s Milton, Pa., manufacturing facility along with all assets and operations for its shelf-stable products.

Conagra, however, will retain control of Chef Boyardee’s frozen skillets business, instead licensing the line to Hometown rather than selling it outright – which makes sense considering Conagra has been working to realign its portfolio to focus on its frozen meal and snack businesses as sales and profits struggle.

In 2024, the company bought FATTY Smoked meat Sticks and sold off its India joint venture, Agro Tech Foods. Conagra is focusing on high-fiber and high-protein offerings in its core categories as it tunes its assortment for current consumer demands, specifically around weight loss and GLP-1 use.

Per its third-quarter earnings report in early April, the company saw both net sales and organic net sales drop 6.3% and 5.2%, respectively. During the full run of fiscal year 2024, the Boyardee business contributed roughly $450 million in net sales.

Now, under Brynwood’s guidance the firm’s CEO Hendrik Hartong told The Wall Street Journal it would work to “reinvigorate” the century-old shelf-stable pasta producer and bring The Chef’s items to new areas of the store. Conagra first bought Boyardee back in 2000 through a $2.9 billion buyout of International Home Foods, which also gave it Pam cooking spray, Gulden’s mustard and Bumble Bee seafood, the latter of which it divested just three years later.

Brynwood has been an active player in the consumer products space, acquiring more than 60 brands and currently operating five food and beverage companies: Carolina Beverage Group, West Madison Foods, Great Kitchens Food Company and Miracola Pizza Company. Earlier this year, the firm sold its Harvest Hill portfolio business – which included Sunny D, Juicy Juice and others – to Guatemalan conglomerate Castillo Hermanos for nearly $1.5 billion.