The Marzetti Company has agreed to buy Japanese barbecue sauce brand Bachan’s for $400 million in cash as the dips and dressings maker looks to deepen its presence in the fast-growing sauce category.
Marzetti will finance the purchase through cash on hand and additional financing, and the deal is expected to be completed by June 30, the company said in a press release.
In addition to its namesake dressings and dips, Marzetti also owns Sister Schubert’s rolls and New York Bakery frozen garlic bread. The company also holds sauce licensing agreements for restaurant brands Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell and Subway.
Bachan’s gives Marzetti a chance to own a sauce brand especially as it sees growing sales of its licensed products. Sales of licensed Chick-fil-A sauces, for example, grew 6.7% in the second quarter.
"Our most recent chapter of growth in sauces has come by way of brands that we've licensed, and we love those brands," Marzetti CEO David Ciesinski said in an earnings call. "That being said, we've always wanted brand platforms that we could own that we could also grow."
Ciesinski added Bachan's “significantly over-indexed with millennials and Gen Z" due to its globally-inspired flavors and clean-label marketing. The brand also has "very broad shoulders" that could allow it to extend into other aspects of Marzetti's portfolio including marinates, glazes and dips.
Bachan’s, named after the Japanese word for grandmother, launched in 2019 and offers sauce flavors including original, roasted garlic, sweet and spicy, hot honey and miso.
Between 2022 and 2025, Bachan’s had a compound annual growth rate of 48%, due to expanded distribution and consumer demand, Marzetti executives said on an earnings call. Net sales for 2025 totaled $87 million.
In a statement, Ciesinski added the company intends to broaden Bachan's distribution, support continued innovation and "thoughtfully extend the brand into new channels and adjacent categories."
Marzetti generated $518 million in net sales in its most recent quarter, marking a 1.7% increase year over year.
