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BFD Expert Voices - Retail Deals

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Somos Foods, which makes premium Mexican food products for distribution in supermarkets, would opportunistically take on an investment partner to accelerate the growth of the brand, CEO Miguel Leal tells Axios.

Why it matters: Somos is an encore for its founders, the same team behind snack food brand Kind, which was sold to Mars for $5 billion in late 2020.

Details: The founders include Kind's founder, Daniel Lubetzky, its head of innovation, Rodrigo Zuloaga, and Leal, who led marketing.

What they're saying: "If we ever felt that the brand could grow larger or the mission could be done in a better way if we open an investment from someone that is not part of the team today, I think both of us would do it in a heartbeat," Leal says.

"In the world that we live in, I do see a lot of brands taking advantage of the cap table in order to bring in a partner that will help them promote the brand and take the brand to another level," he elaborates.

"When I see those success cases, I get very excited to do something like that," Leal adds.

Yes, but: Leal says the company doesn't really need the capital — it's more a matter of finding the ideal investor to help get Somos' message to a larger number of people. 

Though, he adds, once Somos finds that "right partner," it will "definitely pull the trigger."

He says that he would like to build out the team and brand more but declined to comment further on the timing or the size of the investment.

Flashback: All three founders, who started Somos last year, are longtime friends who wanted to bring a version of the food they grew up with in Mexico to grocery shelves.

At Kind, Lubetzky sold a minority stake to VMG in 2008, which the New York Times said they subsequently bought back. 

Per PitchBook, BDT Capital Partners and SWaN & Legend Partners participated in a $220 million LBO of Kind in 2013.

By the numbers: The company began life as a DTC business but began selling products in stores beginning with supermarket chain Sprouts in February.

It has grown rapidly since then and will be available in 3,800 stores this month. "In four months we went from 100 to almost 4,000," Leal says.

Indeed, the CEO projects that Somos will continue its rapid growth and likely generate north of eight figures ($10 million) in sales in its first full year of business.

The bottom line: "The most important thing and probably the one thing I've learned from Daniel [Lubetzky] is that we are building the business for the long-term. We believe the mission, in this case, is more important," Leal says.

Premium Mexican food distributor Somos open to investors

The Mexican food brand would take new investment.

Illustration of a hundred dollar bill with Benjamin Franklin wearing a chef's hat. 

Food

Somos Foods, which makes premium Mexican food products for distribution in supermarkets, would opportunistically take on an investment partner to accelerate the growth of the brand, CEO Miguel Leal tells Axios.Why it matters: Somos is an encore for its founders, the same team behind snack food brand Kind, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="which was sold to Mars for $5 billion in late 2020" data-vars-click-url="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/business/dealbook/kind-bars-acquired-mars-snickers.html" data-vars-content-id="856a63af-47c6-4ddf-aac4-1b357db9fbe1" data-vars-headline="Premium Mexican food distributor Somos open to investors" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/business/dealbook/kind-bars-acquired-mars-snickers.html" target="_blank">which was sold to Mars for $5 billion in late 2020</a>.

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Premium Mexican food distributor Somos open to investors

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