Ittella International and Forum Merger II merge to form Tattooed Chef

Plant-based food company Ittella International and Forum Merger II, a special purpose acquisition company, completed their business merger to form Tattooed Chef.

Ittella International offers a wide range of plant-based food products under private label and Tattooed Chef brand.

Tattooed Chef’s product portfolio includes ready-to-cook bowls, zucchini spirals, riced cauliflower, as well as acai and smoothie bowls and cauliflower pizza crusts.

The company said that all its products are available at major national retail food stores across the US.

Tattooed Chef president and CEO Sam Galletti said: “I am incredibly proud of our team’s hard work and dedication.

“We have significant growth opportunities and believe we are positioned to accelerate that growth. We will continue to build brand awareness, expand distribution with new and existing customers, continue to launch innovative products, and invest in our infrastructure to capitalize on the global plant-powered food market.”

Tattooed Chef will use the proceeds from the merger to fast-track its growth and for general corporate purposes.

With the completion of the merger, Tattooed Chef’s stakeholders will retain nearly 80% of the equity stake equivalent to 60% of ownership in the merged entity.

The existing management team of Tattooed Chef, which includes Sam Galletti, CFO Chuck Cargile, COO Stephanie Dieckmann, and creator and creative director Sarah Galletti, will continue to lead the brand.

Forum co-CEO and CFO David Boris said: “We are excited to complete this transaction and believe Tattooed Chef has a long runway for growth in the global plant-powered food market.

“Sam and his team have done an extraordinary job delivering operational and financial results and we look forward to partnering with management to help create value for our stockholders.”

Tattooed Chef will begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols ‘TTCF’.

For this merger deal, Harrison Co served as financial advisor and Rutan & Tucker acted as its legal counsel to Ittella International.

Jefferies served as sole mergers and acquisition advisor to Forum and EarlyBirdCapital acted as a financial advisor, with White & Case providing legal counsel to Forum.