Dive Brief:
- Hillshire Brands, a maker of processed-meat brands such as Hillshire Farm luncheon meats and Jimmy Dean breakfast sausages, will buy Van's Natural Foods in a $165 million deal.
- Van's, which offers gluten-free waffles and similar frozen foods in the wellness category, is sold at Whole Foods and other health-oriented retailers.
- Hillshire had previously expressed its intent to move beyond its traditional product line and expand into more healthy options.
Dive Insight:
You'd be hard-pressed to come up with a less-intuitive merger than Hillshire and Van's. There's something about a frozen meat company combining with a leader in the gluten-free, healthy space that feels a little ... weird.
But the combination is considerably more well-reasoned than might first appear. There are certainly synergies and such to be found in combining the logistics, warehousing, and distribution functions of two players in frozen foods.
Perhaps most importantly, Hillshire, with its breakfast sausages and frozen Sara Lee bakery products, has access to shelf space at retailers across the country that would make a nice home for Van's -- which has not yet made the jump to mainstream shoppers.