But beyond the purchase price, executives involved in buying and running supplement companies are weighing what new owners can contribute to a business and whether they can preserve what made it successful.
Those questions were featured in a panel at the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s (CRN) Convergence 2026 conference, where Harvey Kamil, vice chairman of Piping Rock Health Products, questioned the long-term investment priorities of some private equity firms.
David T. Thibodeau, managing director of Wellvest Capital, argued that growth-focused investors could provide smaller companies with capital and management expertise. Katie Butler, head of US Zarbee’s and dietary supplements at Kenvue, discussed the importance of retaining an acquired brand’s knowledge and capabilities.
The discussion on private equity and consumer packaged goods (CPG) buyouts was moderated by CRN president and CEO Steve Mister.
What buyers look for
Rapid sales growth was not necessarily enough to make a supplement business an attractive acquisition, Thibodeau said, particularly when that growth depended on social media trends.
“The most difficult part is the recurring sale. It’s developing a company with real staying power,” he said.
He questioned whether a brand that had grown rapidly through TikTok could command an attractive valuation without evidence of repeat purchases.
“A company that’s born on TikTok, shoots up, and is trying to sell at that height will not sell,” Thibodeau said.
Butler drew a distinction between a successful product and a recognizable brand.
“But there’s a big difference between building product equity and building brand equity,” she said.
She said emerging businesses sometimes pursued popular products without developing a coherent identity that consumers could recognize across categories.
Kamil raised customer concentration as another consideration for potential buyers, noting the risks for companies heavily dependent on one or two major retailers or wholesalers.
What investors bring to the business
The executives differed over the benefits of private equity ownership.
Kamil questioned whether firms planning to sell their holdings within five years would commit to expensive, long-term investments such as manufacturing facilities, particularly when acquisitions were financed with substantial debt.
“They want to buy the company and their time frame is five, maximum five years,” Kamil said.
Thibodeau said that criticism applied to some large leveraged-buyout firms but overlooked growth-capital investors that provided smaller companies with funding and management expertise.
“There is a real need for that type of private equity player and there are quite a few of those,” Thibodeau said.
He cited Designs for Health as an example, saying private equity backing had supported facility expansion, regulatory compliance and management development.
“That transaction was a very positive transaction for the company because it allows financial liquidity for the founder. But it also brought in expertise,” he said.
Thibodeau added that a company’s financing and management needs changed as it grew. Taking a business from $50 million to $200 million in revenue, he said, required different capabilities from expanding one from $200 million to $750 million.
Keeping the business intact
The panelists also discussed the challenges facing buyers after an acquisition.
Kamil said supplement businesses could be difficult for large CPG companies to manage because of their extensive product ranges, pricing structures and operational complexity.
Thibodeau warned that acquirers sometimes disrupted the practices that had contributed to a brand’s success.
“We’ve seen example after example of a larger strategic purchasing a company and they lose what we call the soul of the brand,” he said.
Butler said the operations team responsible for Zarbee’s before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson remained with the business and continued to provide expertise.
“Sometimes these small businesses know how to go to market very differently, and a big conglomerate CPG may go to market in a different way,” Butler said.
She said that knowledge could also benefit other brands within an acquirer’s portfolio.
Kamil noted that retailers could become concerned when a supplier changed ownership, particularly if they feared cost-cutting would affect inventory, staffing or deliveries.
Regulatory compliance was another consideration for buyers, Thibodeau said.
“If you don’t have your regulatory house in order, your deal will not get done with private equity or with the strategic,” he said.
