Approximately $1.28 billion across 3 disclosed transactions — anchored by the $1.0B Quest Nutrition acquisition, the company's largest ever.
Active acquisition years
2017 · 2019 · 2024
one transformative brand acquisition per active year.
Primary sectors
Branded nutritional snacking and active-lifestyle nutrition
Atkins (the founding brand, via the Conyers Park SPAC combination), Quest Nutrition (protein bars, shakes and snacks) and OWYN (plant-based, allergen-free ready-to-drink protein shakes).
Verified3 deals on this page · sourced from SEC filings
+ 1 earnings transcript
All cross-references covered.
Timeline
3 deals, $1.28B deployed.
Plotted by close date where disclosed, otherwise announcement. Click any marker to jump to the deal entry.
The playbook
The rationale that repeats.
Three patterns show up across Simply Good Foods's deal book — what the team buys, how it pays, and how it integrates. The patterns are the throughline; the individual deals below are the evidence.
01
Acquisition criteria
Building a multi-brand nutritional snacking platform, one complementary brand at...
Building a multi-brand nutritional snacking platform, one complementary brand at a time. Simply Good Foods began as a single-brand company built on Atkins via the 2017 Conyers Park SPAC combination, then deliberately layered on complementary brands: Quest Nutrition in 2019 and OWYN in 2024. Each acquisition is framed as expanding the portfolio's reach into a new, on-trend consumer segment while sharing the same mission of healthier, higher-protein, low-sugar snacking.
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (Conyers Park Acquisition Corp. business combination)Quest NutritionOnly What You Need, Inc. (OWYN)
02
Capital deployment
Buying scaled, fast-growing brands and leaning in on go-to-market and cost syner...
Buying scaled, fast-growing brands and leaning in on go-to-market and cost synergies. The deals target established but high-growth brands — Quest brought combined net sales of nearly $900 million at close, and OWYN was expected to reach roughly $120 million in 2024 net sales. Management consistently pitches the same value-creation playbook: accelerate distribution, increase household penetration, cross-sell across channels, and run the acquired brand through Simply Good Foods' cost-efficient supply chain to drive margin expansion.
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (Conyers Park Acquisition Corp. business combination)Quest NutritionOnly What You Need, Inc. (OWYN)
03
Integration approach
Cash deals financed with balance-sheet cash, equity and incremental term-loan de...
Cash deals financed with balance-sheet cash, equity and incremental term-loan debt, with founder leadership retained. Quest ($1.0 billion) was funded with cash, equity-offering proceeds and a $460 million incremental term loan; OWYN ($280 million) was funded with cash and a $250 million incremental term loan. In both cases Simply Good Foods retained the acquired brand's operating leadership (Quest's Dave Ritterbush, OWYN's Mark Olivieri) to run the business through integration while the company prioritized rapid deleveraging.
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (Conyers Park Acquisition Corp. business combination)Quest NutritionOnly What You Need, Inc. (OWYN)
Deal book · 3 acquisitions
The full deal book.
3 acquisitions. Click any row to see the deal value, financing structure, target revenue, executive commentary, and the original SEC filing — the evidence behind the patterns above.
Conyers Park Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: CPAA), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company led by consumer-industry executives Jim Kilts and Dave West, completed its business combination with an affiliate of Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. — a leading developer, marketer and seller of branded nutritional food and snacking products. The combined entity became The Simply Good Foods Company, listing on NASDAQ under SMPL beginning July 10, 2017.
Why it was attractive
01Atkins offered a loyal
02established health-and-wellness consumer base
03strong retailer relationships and a scalable branded-nutrition platform on which Conyers Park's consumer-products operators could build a broader snacking company
Capabilities acquired
Branded nutrition barsshakesconfections and snacksthe Atkins brand and platform
Atkins, an iconic American brand for consumers who are focused on overall health and wellness, is the first part of what we believe will be a broader healthy snacking platform.
Dave WestExecutive Vice Chairman, The Simply Good Foods Company (former Conyers Park executive founder)
Simply Good Foods has many exciting opportunities for growth within the snacking space and broader food category and we are excited to make this step in our evolution. The Company is well positioned given its loyal Atkins brand consumer base, strong leadership, dedicated team members, and relevance with key retailers.
Jim KiltsChairman, The Simply Good Foods Company (Conyers Park executive founder)
Quest Nutrition is a fast-growing active-lifestyle healthy-food company with a highly engaged consumer base. Its on-trend philosophy focuses on creating snacks that contain high protein levels with minimal sugars and net carbohydrates, across bars, shakes, confections, cookies, chips and pizza. The transaction was structured as the purchase of 100% of the equity of Voyage Holdings, LLC and VMG Quest Blocker, Inc. from Quest's founders and other equity holders.
Why it was attractive
01Fast-growing
02on-trend active-lifestyle brand with a highly engaged consumer base and strong presence in convenience-store and e-commerce/specialty channels that diversified Simply Good Foods beyond Atkins
03expected to track to the acquisition model on net sales and EBITDA
Capabilities acquired
High-proteinlow-sugar barsshakesconfectionscookieschips and frozen pizzaengaged active-lifestyle consumer baseconvenience-store and e-commerce/specialty channel reach
The acquisition of Quest strengthens Simply Good Foods' position within the nutritional snacking category by expanding our portfolio of brands and product offerings while also providing us with greater consumer and channel diversification. This combination delivers on our strategy to become a broader nutritional snacking company that offers consumers a broad range of brands and products that satisfy their nutritional needs.
Joseph E. ScalzoPresident & CEO, The Simply Good Foods Company
The acquisition of Quest brings together two great nutritional snacking brands that provide the combined business with greater consumer and channel diversification. The combination creates a unique, diversified nutritional snacking portfolio that offers consumers and retailers a broad range of products — bars, shakes, confections, cookies, chips and pizza - to satisfy their nutritional snacking needs.
Joseph E. ScalzoPresident & CEO, The Simply Good Foods Company (closing release, Nov 7, 2019)
Post-close · earnings-call commentary
Joseph Scalzo, Q1 FY2020 earnings call (Jan 9, 2020): "With the closing of the Quest acquisition on November 7, we fulfilled a strategic initiative of acquiring a fast growing on trend business... One of our main objectives in 2020 is the integration of Quest. This work is well underway and progressing as planned... Importantly, Quest is tracking to the acquisition model and the full calendar year 2019 net sales and EBITDA we discussed on prior conference calls."
Only What You Need (OWYN) is the leading plant-based, allergen-free ready-to-drink (RTD) protein shake brand and the fastest-growing RTD protein shake brand in the market. Launched in 2017, OWYN focuses on truth and transparency with high-protein, minimal-sugar, low-net-carb shakes, and has strong relationships with blue-chip customers in measured and natural channels plus a profitable, growing e-commerce business. Simply Good Foods acquired OWYN from existing investor United Nutritional Brands, an affiliate of Purchase Capital LLC, and other minority investors.
Why it was attractive
01Fastest-growing RTD protein shake brand with top-tier net sales growth
02a differentiated plant-based and allergen-free positioning
03blue-chip customer relationships and a profitable e-commerce business that reaches an incremental consumer segment for Simply Good Foods
Capabilities acquired
Plant-basedallergen-free ready-to-drink protein shakeshigh-protein/low-sugar formulationsblue-chip retail relationships in measured and natural channelsprofitable e-commerce business
The acquisition of OWYN represents a significant strategic win for Simply Good Foods. It introduces a third complementary brand and opens the door to a new consumer segment, significantly strengthening our position in the rapidly expanding RTD shake market and solidifying our leading position with retail partners.
Geoff TannerPresident & CEO, The Simply Good Foods Company
Since OWYN's launch in 2017, our goal has been to bring truth and transparency to everything we do while providing the best tasting RTD protein shakes in the market. This transaction is a continuation of our mission as Simply Good Foods is also committed to providing its consumers with quality products focused on high protein, minimal sugars and low levels of net carbohydrates.
Mark OlivieriPresident & CEO of OWYN (Senior Vice President and General Manager, OWYN, post-close)
End of deal book
3 acquisitions
·$1.28B deployed
·2017 — present
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