The sale of Hain Celestial’s North American snack business announced Feb. 2 is a “decisive first step” in the health and wellness company’s bid to simplify its portfolio and resuscitate steadily slipping sales that have dragged down profits and share price since early 2022.
In the deal, Snackruptors, a family-owned snack maker that rebranded in 2025 from RDJ Bakeries, agreed to buy Hain Celestial’s snack business for $115 million in cash. The deal brings the Canadian company, which focuses primarily on co-manufacturing and private label, a line-up of well-known better-for-you brands, including Garden Veggie Snacks, Terra chips and Garden of Eatin’ snacks.
Snackruptors President Rick Taborda emphasized the “significant growth potential” of the brands and their complementary fit with his business in a statement announcing the deal.
The transaction is expected close at the end of the month, at which point Hain Celestial will have a more focused portfolio centered around dairy, including The Greek Gods yogurt, baby food, including Ella’s Kitchen and Earth’s Best, tea – led by its Celestial Seasonings line – and culinary oils under the Spectrum brand.
How Hain’s snack push unraveled
Hain’s decision to sell its snack business is an about-face from a strategy it aggressively pursued for the past 10 years.
As part of a strategy to become ‘bigger fish’ in snacks, dairy and meat alternatives, the company acquired better-for-you brands ParmCrisps, Thinsters and That’s How We Roll in late 2021, which followed a steady buying spree that picked up speed in the 2010s.
The company’s initial plan did not pan out, and Hain’s fortunes took a turn in December 2021 when its share price, trading around $42.64, began plummeting. By the Fall 2025, it had leveled out at roughly $1.32 per share.
The drop was led by a decline in sales in North America that has persisted, despite a “bold” plan unveiled in late 2023 to ‘reimagine’ the business through a five-prong plan focused on snacks, food for kids and beverages.
Signs the company’s snack strategy was faltering emerged less than a year later, when Hain began unwinding parts of its snack portfolio.
Among the first out, were the last in: including the sale of Thinster cookies to J&J Snacks and ParmCrisps to Our Home in 2024.
Despite investments last year in new Garden Veggie straws and a line of snacks targeting children between “toddlerhood” and “big kid independence,” the company’s snack sales continued to sag.
In the most recent quarter, organic net sales in snacks fell 17% year over year to about $80 million, driven by velocity challenges and distribution loss in North America, according to the company’s most recent earnings. These are on top of year-over-year sales declines of 7.3% in North America in 2024, which nearly doubled to a 15.8% year-over-year decline in 2025. These dragged down gross profit, which fell 1.9% and 13.8% respectively, according to company earnings reports.
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Snack business sale is a ‘constructive first step’
Hain Celestial President and CEO Alison Lewis called the company’s decision to fully sever the North American snack business a “decisive first step” to “sharpen our focus on categories and platforms in key markets where we can leverage our strongest organizational capabilities.”
Analysts with William Blair concurred. They wrote in a Feb. 2 investment note that the sale is a “constructive first step in the execution phase of the company’s ongoing strategic review (related to the exit or sale of businesses), which it initiated in May 2025.”
They added that “with enterprise value (adjusted for the sale) at about six times the 2027 EBITDA and the business projected to remain free cash flow positive, we believe there is a case for value to be created.”
During the company’s first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call in November, Lewis stressed Hain is “committed to building a winning, simpler portfolio by exiting unprofitable or low-margin tail SKUs, refocusing resources on brands and categories with the highest growth and margin potential, and managing product life cycles for improved long-term value.”
Are more brand’s on Hain’s chopping block?
Last fall, Lewis said Hain planned to eliminate about 30% of its North American SKUs through fiscal 2027, which she said would enable it to improve supply chain efficiency and shelf productivity.
This week’s deal represents 22% of the company’s net sales in fiscal 2025 and 38% of the North American segment net sales, according to Hain. But, it added, its EBITDA contribution in the past year was “negligible.”
Proceeds from the sale will go towards reducing debt and strengthening the company’s financial position, according to Lewis.
She added, “The resulting financial flexibility will enable increased investment over time, helping to drive sustainable, profitable growth and create long-term shareholder value.”
