Standing Room Only

Going public? A little creativity goes a long way.

There's more than one way to go public. Pasta company Annie's Homegrown Inc. proved that last October when it started slipping dollar-bill-sized inserts into its macaroni boxes announcing that the company intended to go public and inviting pasta eaters to send for a prospectus.

Co-owners Ann Withey and Andrew Martin decided to do a direct public offering and not use an underwriter because "we wanted our shareholders to be our customers," says Celinda Shannon, operations manager for the 15-employee Hampton, Connecticut-based company.

The company has already received 12,000 responses. And buying a box of Annie's upscale pasta products isn't the only way to find out how to buy stock. Annie's has a home page on the World Wide Web and has received 30 investments from Internet requests alone.

Already available in Safeway and Lucky grocery stores on the West Coast, Annie's is going public to buy shelf space in other major supermarkets across the country. With 1 million invitations to purchase stock in as many boxes of macaroni, Annie's shouldn't have any trouble rolling in the (pasta) dough.

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Standing Room Only.