Big Picture Foods Acquired By Atalanta Corp

Big Picture Foods announced today it has been acquired by the Atalanta Corp. for an undisclosed sum.

The Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) food brand sells a line of naturally fermented organic olives, peppers and capers sourced directly from small farmers across the Mediterranean region. Founded in 2021 by husband-and-wife duo Chris and Daniela Jensen, Big Picture sells its products in about 1,000 doors nationwide.

The pair had originally been working to raise its first round of funding, but found the current climate made the task nearly a “full-time job” for both operators. “Even if you have the strongest business metrics and lots of reasons to invest, there just isn’t money circulating,” Daniela Jensen told Nosh.

That was how they connected with Atalanta, which acquired Sonoma Creamery’s legacy fresh cheese division in May 2023, expanding to its roster of cheese, preserved vegetables and specialty ingredient brands. Jensen explained that rather than fight for the same VC dollars as the rest of the CPG industry, Big Picture decided to begin seeking out a strategic partner. She noted that particularly in the current, constrained climate, cash is most often going to categories like snacks and beverages.

“Dollars are going towards brands that have high turnovers,” Jensen emphasized. “We started thinking about raising capital in a way where we [thought] ‘what is the most strategic path that allows us to continue to run the business?’ That’s the most important thing at the end of the day; we can’t always be out fundraising when we truly have a business to operate.”

Both Chris and Daniela Jensen will remain in their current roles and in control of the brand per terms of the deal. According to Jensen, Atalanta offered the duo a lot of flexibility in how they wanted to structure the deal, and she claims this was one of the food corporation’s first acquisitions where it has allowed both operators to stay in their roles and continue leading the brand “almost as a subdivision of their organization.”

“Atalanta truly was super authentic from our very first meeting… they started talking about what they saw in Big Picture – we had sent them our deck, [but] it was cool to hear them tell us, rather than us tell them, [what they saw in the business] – we felt so seen.”

The brand’s third co-founder, Sotiris Kitrilakis, who is also the founder of Peloponnese and Mt. Vikos, will also remain involved in his current role as an advisor. The acquisition by Atalanta is also somewhat of a reunion for Kitrilakis. The cheese corporation already sources numerous products from his Greek and Mediterranean co-packing facility PELOPAC and, in October 2023, acquired the Mt. Vikos brand from United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI).

Under the Atalanta umbrella, the team will have access to a much broader swath of resources, including the other entities under Gellert Global Group (GGG), which owns Atalanta, including Camerica, a grocery and frozen food supplier, and Finica, GGG’s Canadian arm. Jensen said Big Picture is pitching Finica in the coming weeks and explained that prior to the acquisition, the brand would have been unable to support an international expansion due to the tariffs, logistics and scale of its startup import business; if they are able to lock in a deal with Finica, those challenges disappear.

“If Chris and I were working alone, we would have to bring products into the states – it would go from Greece to the U.S., and then from the U.S. to Canada,” she explained. “Finica has it dialed in, where they can import directly from Greece to Canada… and now, all of the worry that we had about going to Canada and being able to maintain our pricing… These efficiencies allow us to still deliver on that [price parity] promise.”

Beyond international expansion, Jensen also highlighted the benefits Big Picture will see having the support of Atalanta’s marketing, product development and sales expertise. She believes this deal will allow the brand to “go further faster,” noting that now both she and Chris “finally get to become very strategic, whereas before we had to be strategic and executionary.”

Looking ahead, Jensen believes Big Picture can bring its clean label, organic, regenerative proposition to more categories across the store with Atalanta’s support.

She emphasized that Atalanta views the brand’s regenerative mission, focus on soil health and clean ingredient list as “truly differentiated.” The deal allows Atalanta to unlock adjacencies and other portfolio expansions including running combined promotions and demos of olives with its other cheeses brands.

“I think what’s important for people to consider is the benefits of a strategic acquisition [and] it’s so important to be able to see how they’re going to support and help drive the growth, versus a VC group that’s going to give you a lot of money and then watch and see what you do with it,” Jensen said.