Ex-Goya COO on the $1.4 Trillion Family Business Opportunity in Three Consumer Sectors | Andy Unanue

Our economy is driven by family run businesses. 70 plus percent of the GDP is generated through family run businesses. In the food, beverage, pet, wellness sector, it's a $1.31400000000000 dollar market opportunity, so it's a big market. I'm a

family business guy. I love businesses, and I love families. And every time we've sold a business, those families have become investors in our next fund. Welcome to other people's money. I'm your host, Max Sweetie, and I'm joined today by Andy Yunanwe, founder and managing partner at AUA Private Equity Partners, which focuses on lower middle market family run businesses and specifically on making operational improvements in their portfolio companies. Andy, thank you very much for coming on the show.

Thanks for having me, Max. Excited for the conversation.

Well, it's really hard to separate what you're doing now from your experience in your own family business. So for many years prior to starting AUA, you were the COO of Goya Foods. I'm sure many people know Goya Foods. It's one of the most successful Hispanic owned food companies in The US. Talk to me a little bit about your experience there and how it was really the genesis behind the strategy at AUA.

Look. I grew up in a family that had a family run business. So a lot of kids like me, you know, we worked every summer and holidays since I was in seventh grade, getting to know the business, getting to know the people in the, in the organization. You know, it was nice to spend time with my family on not just social level, but, a work level. And, you know, really seeing what my father and, was driving and later my brother and uncle and, but it was a great experience. You know, it drove home what hard work is, it does for a company, what treating people with respect, you know, understanding tha

Yeah. Well, family businesses in many ways that as the origin of industry here in The United States, Obviously, we've seen so much corporatization and and the growth of companies to some of the mega corporations that we have today, but smaller family owned businesses have also gotten very large. What is the market size like? And and help me understand, you know, what percentage of the The US economy still operates in a family owned business?

Our economy is driven by family run businesses. I know in the value chain that we invest in, so that's family owned businesses in the food, beverage, pet, wellness sector, it's a $1.31400000000000 dollar market opportunity. So it's a big market, But obviously the entire family business community is much larger than that. And again, I think 70 plus percent of the GDP is is generated through family run businesses. I'm not a 100% sure, but I think it's something like that.

So your specific segment, 1,300,000,000,000 in, you said it's food, pet, wellness. What what was the other one?

So it's food, beverage, pet, wellness, and co manufacturing within all those sectors. And that's in the size, right, we we invest in. Right? So that's, you know, kind of families and businesses doing 10,000,000 to $40,000,000 of of EBITDA or net cash flow.