Udi's Healthy Foods is a brand of

gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of prolamin proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. ...

food owned by

Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

History

Udi's started as a group of

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

s in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, owned by Udi Baron. Baron's first cafe was called Udi the Sandwich Man, which opened in 1994. In 2008, Baron teamed with a gluten-free baker and started producing gluten free products. The pair focused on the 10% of Americans that are either gluten intolerant or have

celiac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine. Patients develop intolerance to gluten, which is present in foods such as wheat, rye, spel ...

, knowing that typical gluten-free products on the market "tasted terrible". The market was worth $1.6 billion at the time. Retailers initially rejected gluten-free products, seeing them as a "fad"; the market has since grown to $4.2 billion annually. Sales of Udi's reached $60 million in 2012, and the brand was purchased by

Boulder Brands Boulder Brands is an American food company based in Boulder, Colorado. It used to be known as Smart Balance. The company traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol BDBD. The company's brands include Smart Balance, Udi's, Glutino, Earth Balance, EVOL a ...

for $125 million in 2013. Some locations of

Smashburger Smashburger IP Holder LLC, doing business as Smashburger and stylized as SmasHBURGER, is an American multinational fast-casual hamburger restaurant chain founded in Denver, Colorado. As of 2022, it has more than 227 corporate and franchise-ow ...

first offered the Udi's gluten-free bun. In 2016

Pinnacle Foods Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018. History The company was foun ...

purchased Boulder Brands. Two years later,

bought Pinnacle Foods in order to expand their frozen foods line. Conagra Brands is the current owner of the Udi's product line. It supplies Udi's brand products to many grocery stores and restaurants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Udi's Healthy Foods Gluten-free diet Bakeries of the United States Products introduced in 2008 Conagra Brands brands Food and drink companies established in 2008 Companies based in Denver 2008 establishments in Colorado 2013 mergers and acquisitions