Get that Cheddar: Goodles Raises $13M to ‘Out Weird’ the Competition

Mac and Cheese and pasta brand Goodles announced yesterday a $13 million in new capital as it looks to take on its blue box and bunny competitors.

The raise, which closed in May, was led by venture firm L Catterton with Gingerbread Capital, Springdale, Third Craft Partners, Willow Growth and more than 100 musicians, actors, athletes and influencers also taking part. The company had previously raised $11 million via several SAFE notes.

“[L Catterton] is the right partner at the exact right time,” Goodles co-founder and CEO Jen Zeszut said, adding that given the brand is trending towards profitability, this may be Goodles’ last raise. “We’re here to build a legendary business.”

According to Zeszut, the capital will be used to scale distribution beyond Goodles’ existing 30,000 doors. First launched in Target in 2021, in 2022 the brand launched in Whole Foods Market and this year, rolled out a club pack in Costco. In further natural channel expansion, Goodles is launching in Sprouts this week. Given the reach its competition has in grocery and mass, Zeszut said she felt it was important to prove out the concept in conventional retailers off the bat. The brand has found that not only is is stealing share from larger players, but is bringing incremental sales to the category.

Capital has also been used to add to Goodles’ exec team, with former Plum Organics and Cerebelly exec Stacie Hajduk joining as CMO and Nathan Lord, former CFO at Kodiak Cakes, taking on the role of CFO.

Founded in 2021 by a group of long-time CPG execs, Goodles counts Wonder Woman herself — actress Gal Gadot — as a co-founder. While the brand has a slate of more traditional flavors in retail, including a vegan option, Cheddar and white Cheddar, it’s also released more adult-forward options such as Elote, Hatch Chile and IPA, in a series of online-only limited flavors, with another to be released next week.

“We’re really margin focused and we’re margin agnostic in the sense that wherever we sell [online or brick and mortar], we’re making a ton of money,” Zeszut said. There’s no scenario where we are losing money.”

Product diversification may also be on the docket. Goodles released a three SKU line of boxed pasta at Whole Foods this summer. While the company’s formal name is Gooder Foods, which could lend itself to future category expansion, Zeszut said the team has its hands full with mac and cheese and pasta.

“We got our hands full and I think, in general, crossing temperature states and doing anything other than shelf stables just sounds like a headache and a nightmare, she told NOSH. “So we’re going to focus and just hit this out of the park.”

Taking on category incumbents Kraft and Annie’s may be tricky, but the company has some institutional knowledge of the category on hand in Deb Luster, Goodles co-founder and Chief Impact Officer, who previously was the co-founder and former president of Annie’s.

“We’re going up against very big competitors with really deep pockets. We were never intending to raise a ton of money and just throw money at the problem,” Zesut said. “We’re throwing creativity at the problem. We’re out-weirding the competition, we are joyful, we are more joyful than the competition.”