Rao’s is split between two related but different things: the original New York restaurant and the Rao’s-branded sauces and packaged foods.

Quick Scoop: Who owns Rao’s?

  • The Rao’s restaurant in East Harlem (and its LA/Miami outposts) is still a family-run operation that traces ownership through the Rao and Pellegrino families, not a big public food conglomerate.
  • The Rao’s Homemade / Rao’s Specialty Foods brand (jarred pasta sauces, frozen meals, etc.) was built off the restaurant’s name but operates as a packaged-food business.
  • In 2017, that packaged-food business was acquired by Sovos Brands, a specialty food company that scaled Rao’s Homemade into a major grocery brand.
  • In 2023, Campbell Soup Company reached a deal to acquire Sovos Brands, meaning the Rao’s Homemade brand (sauces, soups, frozen meals) now sits under Campbell’s corporate umbrella.

So in plain terms:

  • Eat at the tiny legendary Rao’s restaurant in NYC? You’re in a family-owned, old-school Italian spot whose roots go back to Joshua/Charles/Vincent Rao and later the Pellegrino family.
  • Grab a jar of Rao’s sauce or a Rao’s frozen lasagna at the supermarket? That brand is now owned at the corporate level by Campbell Soup Company , via its acquisition of Sovos Brands.

TL;DR: The restaurant is still essentially family-controlled; the supermarket Rao’s products are owned by Campbell Soup through its purchase of Sovos Brands.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.