Garner’s baby food brand captures $20M

Once Upon a Farm, the organic baby food line co-founded by actress Jennifer Garner, snagged a $20 million investment from Cavu Venture Partners as it plans hard growth for the soft-food company.

The investment will help it build distribution and develop new products, said Chief Executive Officer John Foraker, who previously led natural mac-andcheese maker Annie’s.

Once Upon a Farm makes coldpressed baby food, applesauce and smoothies packaged in refrigerated pouches. It’s starting a new line of baby food cups that will be in stores next year and will move beyond the refrigerated section to the baby aisle with coolers.

The company’s presence in retailers such as Whole Foods Market and Walmart has jumped from 300 locations to more than 8,500 over the past year, Foraker said.

“The baby food category has lacked real product innovation for quite some time,” said Brett Thomas, managing partner at Cavu, a private equity firm specializing in consumer-brands. He said he sees Once Upon a Farm moving to “disrupt and lead in this space.”

Consumers are shifting away from traditional packaged food staples toward the perimeter of grocery stores, where fresh products are sold. The trend is the same for baby food.

One potential area for expansion — packaging products for adults.

Garner said it “makes sense” to eventually offer the smoothies in bottles and in larger sizes for bigger kids and grown-ups.