Hollywood-based Starco Brands Inc. has expanded into baked goods with its July acquisition of Santa Fe Springs-based Custom Foods, doing business as Custom Bakehouse.
Financed by Pasadena Private Lending Inc., the deal includes $8 million in closing cash and up to $2.5 million of earn-out consideration tied to 2027 revenue. The acquisition was Starco’s latest effort to diversify its portfolio of consumer brands. That includes Soylent, Art of Sport, Skylar, Winona Pure and rapper Cardi B’s Whipshots.Â
Tapped to serve as the foundation for Starco Manufacturing – a newly founded subsidiary – the deal would give the consumer conglomerate a hand in “controlling the consumer value chain” in the form of powdered foods, drinks, baking mixes, dry seasonings and private-label manufacturing, according to a statement.
It would also expand the company’s line of powder-based products. The subsidiary is expected to incorporate Starco’s other manufacturing assets in the future, such as
The Starco Group.
“Custom Bakehouse has spent more than three decades earning a reputation for deep formulation and manufacturing excellence,
and that is exactly the kind of scale and capability we look for,” Ross Sklar, chairman and chief executive of Starco, said in the statement. “Bringing Custom Bakehouse into Starco gives us direct control of more of the value chain, IP creation, manufacturing and distribution, and allows the Company to move fast across our portfolio.”
Starco, which reported a $40.5 million net revenue for 2025 – a 31% decline from the year before, when it earned $58.7 million – has leaned into online distribution to boost sales.
