Baton Rouge-based D’Agostino Italian Specialties, known for its air-dried hand-made pasta (read a behind-the-scenes look at its process here), has been acquired by L.H. Hayward & Co, the nearly century-old New Orleans company that packages Camelia Brand red beans, peas and lentils.
The deal closed in late September for an undisclosed price. But L.H. Hayward’s fourth-generation owner and CEO Vince Hayward says D’Agostino’s will remain intact as a wholly-owned entity and will continue to make its pasta and small-batch sauces at the Drusilla Shopping Center in Baton Rouge, where D’Agostino’s has its manufacturing facility and a retail storefront.
Existing employees will transition to L.H. Hayward.
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L.H. Hayward, the largest red beans company in the U.S., bought the company from Charlie D’Agostino and his partners—son, Robert D’Agostino, and Daniel Thompson—who had acquired it in 2013 from its longtime owners, the Fresina family. In 2015, the D’Agostinos and Thompson changed the company name from Fresina Pasta Co. to D’Agostino Italian Specialties.
“It’s a great story and a great brand, and the idea of combining the family element, the history with the Fresina family, it’s something I can be proud of and attach my name to,” Hayward says. “Those are things that align with our core values as an organization.”
Read on for the full story, which appeared in the Oct. 14 edition of Daily Report.