Ex-Goya COO on the $1.4 Trillion Family Business Opportunity in Three Consumer Sectors | Andy Unanue

Unanue estimates that family-run businesses generate more than 70% of GDP, while describing family-owned food, beverage, pet, wellness, and co-manufacturing companies as a $1.3 trillion to $1.4 trillion market opportunity. He also views authenticity and family ownership as advantages that can help smaller brands attract consumers before larger CPG companies acquire them for distribution and marketing.

Unanue argues that reshoring food manufacturing could create cleaner, safer, more efficient, and less wasteful facilities, while operational changes at Ray Windows reduced minor safety events from one or two per month to roughly 680 days without an event at the peak. He also says living wages can strengthen workplace culture and reduce turnover and training costs, ultimately lowering product costs.

Improved liners, processing, and flash-freezing at the source can reduce the time between picking and freezing and improve the quality of canned and frozen foods. The broader opportunity described for food businesses combines manufacturing know-how with demand for high-protein, high-fiber, cleaner-label, lower-calorie products and smaller snack portions.

AUA uses moderate leverage averaging about three turns, versus the five- to eight-times levels Unanue says some firms use, allowing its businesses to tolerate one or two weak quarters and pivot without restructuring debt or facing lender pressure. Although lower-middle-market exits and transactions have slowed slightly, he says buyer capital remains available from larger sponsors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and strategic companies.

Unanue says smaller businesses can become more attractive to larger private-equity buyers by adding KPIs, appropriate systems, and reliable accounting and operating data. He also says the lower-middle-market offers multiple exit routes, making transaction readiness relevant even when market activity has slowed.

Unanue views pet spending as relatively resilient, citing studies that consumers cut spending on children more than on pets during the 2008 market dislocation as animals became more integrated into households. In contrast, he says many rapidly growing beverage brands fail, which is why AUA avoids direct brand risk and instead targets co-manufacturers that help upstarts formulate, source, and launch products.