“We believe every meal is an opportunity to show kids that nutritious food can be food they love,” says George Blanco, CEO of Revolution Foods. “Bringing Ardella’s to the table enables us to offer more culturally relevant dishes that students are excited about, because healthy meals only make a difference when kids actually eat them.”

Founded in 1975 as a chain of Southern California pizzerias, Ardella’s built its reputation supplying schools with center-of-the-plate menu items. To this day, the company still follows the recipe for its “secret pizza sauce” brought over from Italy by an original family partner. In 2005, Ardella’s opened a USDA-inspected production facility in Carson, California, with individually quick-frozen (IQF) capabilities. The facility now joins Revolution Foods’ California manufacturing footprint, expanding production capacity for school and senior meal programs.

“For more than 50 years, our family has been crafting foods that kids and families enjoy, without cutting corners on quality,” says Hap Frank, co-founder of Ardella’s. “Passing the baton to Revolution Foods allows our recipes, our people, everything we’ve built to reach even more schools and communities.”

The acquisition adds Ardella’s to Revolution Foods’ growing family of brands, joining Balance Foods, a healthy snack and cereal company. The deal also positions Revolution Foods to expand select Ardella’s products into its senior meal programs, building on the company’s ability to provide nutritious, affordable meals to the communities it serves.