Jennifer Garner-Backed Kids’ Food Brand Once Upon a Farm Pops 17% on IPO Day

Once Upon a Farm

Jennifer Garner’s Once Upon a Farm (OFRM) burst onto the New York Stock Exchange like a toddler discovering sugar for the first time, with shares leaping 16.9% in their Friday debut after pricing at $18 and closing around $21.05.

The organic kids’ food brand, co-founded by the actress who once charmed audiences as a spy mom, raised nearly $198 million in the IPO, valuing the company at roughly $845 million on its first day of trading.

The impact rippled through Wall Street’s quieter corners like a well-timed protein bar tossed into a room full of hangry investors. Amid a pickup in IPO activity—nine listings raised $2.6 billion in January alone—this debut proved that even baby food can flex some serious muscle when parents are obsessed with clean eating.

Suddenly, the stock market feels a little more wholesome, though shareholders might still check their portfolios more obsessively than a two-year-old checks for hidden veggies.

The company, started in 2015 by Cassandra Curtis, got its celebrity boost in 2017 when Jennifer Garner and industry veteran John Foraker signed on as co-founders.

Garner spotted a “tiny little company” making refrigerated, organic pouches she couldn’t find for her own kids—apparently the same struggle every mom faces when the grocery aisle starts looking like a science experiment.

Sales in the first half of 2025 reached $201.6 million, up a whopping 64.6% from 2018 levels, thanks to expanded products like oat bars, protein-packed puffs, melts, and those ever-popular refrigerated pouches aimed squarely at the two-to-five crowd.

Protein is the new black in parenting circles, with Garner noting the team is “raising our kids alongside our consumers,” so they know exactly which macronutrient keeps tiny humans from turning into tiny gremlins after snack time.

Most sales flow through heavy hitters like Target, Whole Foods, Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s—places where parents load carts while silently judging each other’s choices.

About 40% of ingredients come from abroad, but 98% of packaging stays domestic, and CEO Foraker shrugged off tariff worries with the calm of someone who’s seen worse in the organic trenches. He even hinted the company can pivot sourcing faster than a kid switches moods.

Foraker, no IPO rookie after taking Annie’s public in 2012, called this one a “much more mature company” with bigger growth ahead. The public markets, he told Yahoo Finance, offer a bigger stage to keep doing what works—feeding kids real food without the side of guilt.

The debut shared the spotlight with Bob’s Discount Furniture, proving 2026 is shaping up as the year everything from sofas to squeezable snacks goes public. Renaissance Capital called the market “reasonably steady,” which in Wall Street speak means “not completely terrifying yet.”

Investors clearly liked the story: a celebrity-backed brand turning parental anxiety into profits, one protein bar at a time. Who knew the path to riches ran through toddler-approved snacks?

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