BACKGROUD
Goodles is just a mac and cheese brand with modern packaging and branding, and it has now captured almost 8% of the mac and cheese market. On September 2, Barilla agreed to buy it. The price wasn't disclosed and the deal still needs regulatory approval.
Boxed mac and cheese is a roughly $2.1 to $2.3 billion category in the US, and Kraft Mac & Cheese has owned it for decades. Over the last three years, Kraft's share of spending fell from 42.2% to 36.6% while Goodles grew to 7.8%, according to Numerator data reported by the Wall Street Journal. Goodles is based in Santa Cruz and was founded in 2020 by Jen Zeszut and Paul Earle, a former Kraft brand manager. It launched in November 2021 with four flavors, and its backers include L Catterton, which led a $13 million Series A in 2023, and the actress Gal Gadot.
The catch is that Goodles could never outspend Kraft. So it built a different kind of mac and cheese for a different kind of buyer, and these are the six things it did.
Move 1:
They made mac and cheese for adults
Before launch, Goodles surveyed young adults and found most of them already ate boxed mac and cheese, but Kraft and Annie's were built and marketed for kids. So it kept the familiar cheddar and added flavors like Twist My Parm and Mover & Shaker, a cacio e pepe mac. Its newest noodles come in white miso Alfredo and chili garlic.
Evidence: Goodles survey found 85% of young adults aged 24 to 36 regularly eat mac and cheese (Food Dive, November 2021).
Why it works: it went after buyers the category had ignored, so it didn't have to fight Kraft for the same parents.
Move 2:
They sent noodle samples to 3,000 people before launch
Goodles launched during the pandemic, so it couldn't sample on the street. Instead, it mailed small bags of noodles to thousands of people and built a community of 3,000 testers it calls Do-Gooders. It took more than 1,000 versions to get a noodle with 14 grams of protein that still tasted like mac and cheese.
Evidence: At a price two to three times Kraft's, testing reached a 92% switch rate (Zeszut, Bain, January 2026). The launch inventory sold out in two weeks (Goodles).
Move 3:
They positioned themselves as taste-first and health-conscious
Most better-for-you brands lead with protein and fiber. Goodles leads with bright colors, spot gloss, a big photo of noodles on a fork, and flavor names like Here Comes Truffle. The nutrition is on the pack too, just not the first thing you read.
Evidence: Zeszut to Forbes, 2022: "Our primary message is: YUM. While the product is nutritious, the emphasis is on taste."
Move 4:
They pitched retailers on bringing in new customers
Goodles started online, then won a national rollout at Target, about 1,900 stores plus endcap space, even though Target rarely stocks brands with no revenue yet. The pitch was growing the category instead of taking sales from Kraft, which is an easier yes for a buyer.
Evidence: At one national mass retailer, 78% of Goodles shoppers had never bought mac and cheese in that store before (Zeszut, Bain, January 2026).
Move 5:
They built their marketing around attention
Goodles makes much of its marketing in-house in Santa Cruz, and some videos are reportedly shot in the parking lot with employees' kids. Every April Fools' Day it renames every product on its website with names it says shouldn't see the light of day. It has reportedly seen impressions jump about 16x that day, with no boxes shipped.
Why it works: Kraft can't credibly look scrappy or strange, so Goodles competes on the one thing its biggest rival can't copy.
Move 6:
They launched Twirly Mac as a six-day mystery
Twirly Mac is a new fork-twirling noodle that launched on August 4, 2026 in three flavors: Cheddar Weather, Alfredo Heights and Hotshot Jackpot, at $3.79 a box. According to creator coverage of the launch, Goodles wiped its Instagram and spent about six days posting people twirling, from a hula hooper to a figure skater, with no explanation. Followers guessed what it was, and the reveal made every post make sense.
Evidence: Goodles reported 235 million organic impressions and about 2 million new customers in the 90 days before September 2. That covers the whole brand, not Twirly alone.
TAKEAWAYS:
Survey for the buyer your category ignores. Do it before you design anything, because Goodles' adult finding shaped its flavors, its box and its retail pitch.
Prove the product before you sell it. Mail samples to a few hundred people and ask if they would switch at your real price, not a discounted one.
Lead with taste or the feeling, and put the specs on the back. The front of your pack should make someone want it before it explains why it's good for them.
Pitch retailers the new shoppers you bring. Track how many of your buyers are new to the category or the store, and put that number in your buyer deck.
Do the thing your biggest competitor can't. If they are large and polished, make your marketing small and strange.
One-line takeaway: “Take a legacy product, improve their branding, and target a missed market with modern marketing strategies”
Until next week,
AMAY
