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Happy Family (food company)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Happy Family
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryFood
Founded2003; 21 years ago (2003)
FounderShazi Visram
Headquarters
U.S.
Key people
  • Shazi Visram, founder & CEO
  • Jessica Rolph, COO & founding partner
  • Amy Marlow, nutrition advisor
ProductsBaby food
ParentDanone
Websitehappyfamilyorganics.com

Happy Family is an organic and baby food company in the US.[1] It was ranked No. 2 in Inc. Magazine's 2011 list of the 500 Fastest-Growing Companies, in the food industry category.[2]

History

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Happy Family was founded in 2003 by Shazi Visram. Visram developed the idea as a graduate student at Columbia Business School, where she studied the baby-food market and child nutrition, and began building the company while in business school.[3] In 2005, Jessica Rolph joined as COO and founding partner. Rolph, a Cornell Business School graduate, had a prior career at Whole Foods in research.[3]

The company launched its first products on Mother's Day in 2006 – a line of organic, fresh-frozen baby meals sold through a New York grocery store chain.[4]

By 2010, Happy Family grew to more than $13 million in sales and was ranked 68th in Inc. Magazine's list of fastest-growing companies, with three-year growth of over 3,000%.[4] By the end of 2012, the company employed more than 70 people, and its products were available in over 14,000 stores and 30 countries.[5]

The company secured $30 million in debt and equity financing from individual private investors through a number of financing rounds rather than selling equity to private equity or venture capital groups.[6][7] In May 2013, Groupe Danone acquired a 92% stake in the company with both Visram and Rolph as current owner partners.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Inc. Magazine. "A Happy Business". Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  2. ^ Inc. Magazine. "Happy Baby Profile". Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  3. ^ a b New Hope 360. "Shazi Visram and Happy Baby Hit Jackpot in American Express Commercial". Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Happy Family. "eBaby". Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  5. ^ Happy Family. "Kids Nutrition Report". Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  6. ^ Craine’s New York. "40 Under Forty – Shazi Visram". Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  7. ^ Fox Business. "Young Guns Reloaded No Crying Babies Here". Retrieved 14 August 2012. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ "Danone acquires US organic baby food company Happy Family". Foodnavigator.com.
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