Hippeas picks previous Annie’s and PopCorners head as new CEO

Dive Quick:

• Paul Nardone is the new CEO of chickpea snack brand name Hippeas, the organization stated in a statement. Nardone has extra than 30 a long time of experience in a wide variety of foods, beverage and customer packaged goods firms, like CEO roles at Annie’s and PopCorners proprietor BFY Models. 
• The CPG veteran will aim on developing Hippeas’ portfolio, expanding creation and opening new channels of distribution. Founder Livio Bisterzo has transitioned into the govt chairman position exactly where he will aim on strategic initiatives.
• The naming of a new CEO carries on what has been an lively yr for the snack maker. In January, Hippeas elevated $50 million in an expense round from The Craftory Confined, and named Greg Buscher, who has 25 yrs of C-suite knowledge and a qualifications in functions and manufacturing, as CFO.

Dive Insight:

Hippeas has developed into a $100 million brand name due to the fact it was established five many years in the past, and its latest government appointment delivers refreshing evidence that it truly is banking on marketplace working experience to aid even further its expansion. Bisterzo has formerly explained the company, which started promoting puffed chickpeas, wants to evolve into a snacking system with a existence throughout multiple classes.

A big section of its early accomplishment arrives from the truth that its nutritious snack goods offer numerous of the attributes customers are wanting for, including natural, gluten free of charge, non-GMO and vegan. But meeting these requirements isn’t sufficient to assurance good results in present day marketplace. Young businesses need a leader who can not only enable them navigate and compete with smaller sized opponents and deep-pocketed CPGs but also help them in marketing and advertising their choices, offer with altering customer habits and get the job done with retailers, the two on the web and in the retail store. 

Nardone seems to have the experience Hippeas will require following his prior knowledge at Annie’s Homegrown, Stirrings, Immaculate Baking and PopCorners. During his time at Immaculate Baking, he grew the firm into the major-advertising normal model in the $2 billion refrigerated dough category ahead of it was obtained by General Mills. At PopCorners, which was acquired as section of BFY Makes by PepsiCo in 2019, he prioritized leading and rising progressive foodstuff and beverage models, with a concentration on sales, marketing and advertising and brand name building. 

Just one thread that binds substantially of his prior food stuff knowledge at these businesses with each other is healthier foods and beverages. Hippeas’s presence in the much better-for-you snacking category will undoubtedly profit from Nardone’s information in fostering these brands. 

The tempo of acquisitions has been particularly active in food stuff with CPGs bulking up their presence in much healthier ingesting. In the past many months, Mondelez Intercontinental purchased Hu Grasp Holdings, a maker of quality snacks and candies made from uncomplicated ingredients Nestlé obtained Freshly, a company of contemporary-well prepared food supply companies in the U.S. Danone included to the mix plant-primarily based pioneer Observe Your Heart and Mars procured bar maker Form. 

Hippeas has prolonged been rumored as an acquisition concentrate on, but so significantly has managed to continue to be a standalone business. It truly is possible Nardone is being brought in to the on-development Hippeas to further enhance revenue that would generate up the rate tag a opportunity acquirer would be prepared to spend. At the very least two companies he has ties to in the earlier had been in the end gobbled up by major CPGs whilst he was CEO.

Hippeas’ value is no doubt on the rise as buyers glance to try to eat much healthier and snack a lot more, a pair of traits that have attained momentum during the pandemic. With a fresh round of dollars in hand, as perfectly as new management in a CEO and CFO, the upcoming for Hippeas appears promising, both as a standalone business of as component of a larger sized enterprise.