1440 Foods Acquires FITCRUNCH (and Bakery Barn) | Implications to Protein Bar Market

With M&A transactions getting louder, it can only mean one thing…protein bar brands are starting to party like it’s 2019 again! In my April 2024 content, I stated for that "party to restart" the protein bar market needed increased deal announcements. And maybe not so surprisingly…it only took less than four months before a deal announcement included a protein bar brand that was included on my list. That’s because in early-August, international private equity firm Cinven announced that it had reached an agreement to become the lead investor in Vitamin Well Group, valuing the brand portfolio that includes Barebell protein bars at around $2.2 billion. But what sparked the inspiration for this content…was that about two weeks ago, another deal announcement included a protein bar brand from that list of attractive potential M&A targets. This time it was 1440 Foods acquiring FITCRUNCH, a protein bar brand that was co-founded a dozen years ago by celebrity chef Robert Irvine (and the contract manufacturer Bakery Barn). And the acquisition of FITCRUNCH by 1440 Foods makes perfect logical sense especially if your deep domain expertise includes the protein bar market. And that’s because you’d understand that the protein bar market (like the entire supplement industry) has mostly a “sea of sameness” composition. But where the protein bar (or functional foods space in general) varies is that differentiation can be derived from having a unique form factor. Furthermore, if that unique form factor proves popular…a competitive advantage can be created through defensibility if you own/created that manufacturing process. This is the story of FITCRUNCH…because if you remember what I said earlier, it was co-founded by the contract manufacturer Bakery Barn. So, as you likely realize…not only did 1440 Foods acquire FUTCRUNCH, but also vertical integration assets with Bakery Barn. This is super helpful across a number of strategic areas from financial to operational…as the core FITCRUNCH product being a multilayered baked process is much more complex than the typical extrusion or slab bars on the market. Additionally, while the financial details of this transaction were private…Bakery Barn customer concentration likely kept the EBIDTA multiple lower than typical contract manufacturing deals in the protein bar space. But beyond extracting value from the product complexity (uniqueness) and Bakery Barn vertical integration aspect, 1440 Foods acquired FITCRUNCH because its highly complementary to the existing brand portfolio of Pure Protein, MET-Rx, and Body Fortress. Additionally, this deepens the 1440 Foods concentration into the active nutrition sub-segment of convenient nutrition bars that has shown strong growth of late compared to the general grocery category. But my latest first principles thinking content will examine the near-term outlook 1440 Foods…and if the convenient nutrition brand portfolio is pointed towards an eventual IPO. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠