What will happen to Gaspari Nutrition in the aftermath?
News broke out on October 14th that Gaspari Nutrition had finally sold to investor Allegro Nutrition LLC, a part of Allegro Ltd., a major global marketing and sales distribution company based in Ireland. Not only has Gaspari been sold, but they also had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of the deal.
This is truly a surprising and sad time for the bodybuilding supplement world. Gaspari has been a brand and an iconic name for the past 18 years. This sale might trigger the end of an era. The press release tries to remain on the bright side of things – stating that this sale will help re-secure the foundation for the Gaspari Nutrition name.
Here’s a quick quote from the press release:
“’After careful consideration of our options, we believe that Chapter 11 is a necessary step to create a solid foundation for future growth and success of Gaspari Nutrition, Inc.,’ stated Rich Gaspari.”
But what happened that brought such a mighty brand into the situation? And what will happen moving forward? We only have limited information at the moment – but some things have slipped through the cracks. So let’s investigate.
NOTE: The following information was reported by Price Low – a source that claims to have seen the actual chapter 11 bankruptcy filing report. For that reason, we are considering this speculative information until it can be confirmed.
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The Current State of Gaspari Nutrition
Taking a look through some of the information that Price Low has leaked; it seems that 2014 was not a good year for Gaspari Nutrition. Perhaps this is a no brainer. They did file for bankruptcy after all. But when you look at the numbers it paints a better picture.
According to the report, Gaspari Nutrition made $60.7 million in annual sales for 2012. Compare that to 2014 YTD, with a weak $28.5 million in annual sales. Though the year is not over, that is just about half of their sales from just two years ago. Yikes.
Here’s another major note reported: apparently Gaspari Nutrition owed a lot of money to many, many people. This includes banks, suppliers, Arnold Amateur, Mr. Olympia, Bodybuilding.com, State governments, legal firms – even ex-employees due to litigation settlements. While they don’t disclose the numbers here – it certainly sounds like a lot.
Gaspari was in a financial situation where it was absolutely vital to sustain continued growth as a company. This didn’t happen (especially in 2014). So now they found themselves in trouble – thus the bankruptcy and sale.
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What Happens Next?
So what does the future look like for the great Gaspari Nutrition company? Will the consumer even notice a difference? Well, the first thing to note is, according to Price Low, Rich Gaspari owned 100% of the company. So the question still remains – will he own any part of it after the sale? And what will his involvement be?
Here’s a video published by Tiger Fitness where Gaspari speaks about the whole thing:
Rich doesn’t go into much detail at all. But he does claim two important things: 1. He is still in charge of the company and 2. new products are still going to come out in the future. Of course this is all talk. There’s a good chance we will never see these new products, but we certainly hope for the best. The most likely odds are that the world will stop seeing as much marketing and advertising for Gaspari Nutrition and it will become part of the fold of other fitness products that Allegro Nutrition LLC handle.
Whatever happens, we hope that Rich Gaspari and his team find the best answer for success in their futures. Only time will tell what the reality will be.
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How many of you guys use Gaspari Nutrition products? Let us know how you feel about this recent news in the comments section below. You can also give us a shout out on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
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Cover photo courtesy of Fitness Talk.
