Barilla is to stop selling its range of grain-free pasta products under the Tolerant Foods brand in the US.
The Italian giant wants to focus on “pasta options” sold under its namesake brand.
A Barilla spokesperson told Just Food there would be “no impact on our employees”.
The company estimates products sold under the Tolerant Foods brand would remain on sale “until May but possibly beyond that time as well depending on retail availability”, the spokesperson said.
“In a rapidly shifting marketplace, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue the Tolerant brand and its products,” the spokesperson added.
“We’re focused on prioritising pasta options that offer a variety of different nutrition benefits under our Barilla brand.”
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By GlobalData
In the US, the privately-owned business sells pasta-type products made from ingredients such as chickpeas and lentils under the Barilla brand alongside its more conventional fare.
The Tolerant Foods range also includes pasta alternatives made from the two ingredients. Retail stockists have included Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market.
Family-owned Barilla does not disclose sales by individual market. The company’s most recently-published annual report covers 2022, a year in which its group turnover hit €4.66bn ($5.06bn). Barilla also published a turnover figure that excluded the impact of “hyperinflation” in Türkiye. On that basis, turnover grew 18% to €4.65bn.
Without providing detailed figures, the report said the US pasta market saw its sales grow in the country’s retail channel “in both volume and value terms” during 2022.
Barilla said its share of that market grew by “1.5 percentage points”, adding: “This increase is largely attributable to durum wheat-based products and, to a lesser extent, the better-for-you products.”
In January 2023, Barilla finalised a deal to buy US biscuits-to-crackers business Back to Nature from local manufacturer B&G Foods.
At the time, Guido Barilla, the chairman of Barilla, said the acquisition was a “key step for this exciting journey” to build a long-term presence in the US.
Barilla’s US business also includes the crispbread brand Wasa.
