Baking & Snack - March 2009 - 17

NEWS

ConAgra sees snacks as key growth area
While convenient meals and potatoes are
its two areas of greatest focus, ConAgra
Foods, Inc., Omaha,
NE, has identified
snacks as its third
strategic priority
heading into fiscal
2009 and beyond.
At the Consumer
Analyst Group of
New York Conference in Boca Raton,
FL, Andre Hawaux,
president of consumer foods for ConAgra, said that while the company's
primary focus in snacks is on popcorn,
seeds and meat sticks, the company also
has its eye on growing its grain bar and
fruit snack business.
"These brands are leaders in their categories, categories that are growing, and
we continue to gain share," Mr. Hawaux
said. "We believe that snacking is a core
and growing part of today's lifestyle and
our snacks provide a platform to expand

healthy, better-for-you offerings."
Looking specifically at popcorn, Mr.
Hawaux identified
Orville Redenbacher
as "a power brand"
with room for tremendous growth.
"We believe that
in this economy as
people stay home
more and movie
night becomes a
family magnet that
brings people together, Orville Redenbacher is well positioned for a strong
growth rate, both top and bottom line,"
he said. "When you think of how healthy
popcorn is and that for 75c a bowl you
can serve your family, it's a pretty compelling proposition in this economic
environment."
Mr. Hawaux also said ConAgra has
some breakthrough snack innovations
set to roll out, including some under the
Alexia brand.

Industry, Gates
Foundation support
cocoa, cashew
farmers
Food and beverage industry members
made $42 million in cash and in-kind contributions to go along with two partnerships and $48 million in grants from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that are
designed to help hundreds of thousands of
small cocoa and cashew farmers in Africa.
The Hershey Co., Kraft Foods, Inc. and
Mars, Inc. all made financial and in-kind
contributions as did cocoa processors
Archer Daniels Midland Co., Barry Callebaut, Blommer Chocolate Co. and Cargill.
Supply chain managers and allied industries
Armajaro, Ecom-Agrocacao, Olam International Ltd. and Starbucks Coffee Co. also
made financial and in-kind contributions.
One Gates Foundation grant of $23 million went to the World Cocoa Foundation
while the other grant of $25 million went
to the German development organization Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische
Zusaammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH.

NEWS IN BRIEF
Pamela's Products is celebrating 21 years in business. The
company, which specializes in gluten-free
foods, offers 30 nationally distributed
ready-to-eat cookies and baking mixes.

AACC International launched
the Cereal Science Knowledge
Database, an online technical resource
for scientists studying cereal grains and
their uses. The database is comprised of a
library of netcasts.

Rademaker USA is celebrating
its 25th year supporting the American
and Canadian market for industrial baking
and food processing equipment on behalf
of its parent company, Rademaker BV, The
Netherlands. Its 16,000-sq-ft facility at
Hudson, OH, houses all sales and service
functions for the American and Cana-

BAKING & SNACK / March 2009

dian market. It also includes a small pilot
line, an extensive offering of spare parts,
24-hour service and after-sales support
and five full-time field service technicians.

Flowers Foods declared a
quarterly dividend of 15c per
share, payable March 20 to shareholders

Recipes featuring Flowers
Foods' brands are included in
a new cookbook. "Back of the Box

Shearer's Foods, Inc. won the
Evolution of Manufacturing
Award for Sustainability at the

Cooking: 500 Delicious, Easy-to-Prepare
Recipes from America's Best-Loved
Brands" features Nature's Own, Cobblestone Mill, and Mi Casa brand breads, rolls
and tortillas.

Evolution of Manufacturing Conference
for its aggressive and comprehensive
energy management program

Interstate Bakeries Corp.
closed a production line in
Columbus, OH, cutting 38 of its
70 jobs at the plant. The cuts reflect the
plant's inability to make a new line of allnatural bread as well as the loss of some
private label business.

of record on March 6.

The Peanut Corp. of America
filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
protection in the US Bankruptcy Court in
the Western District of Virginia on Feb. 12.
The filing comes less than a month after
products manufactured at the company's
Blakely, GA, facility were linked to a foodborne illness outbreak that has led to the
largest food recall in US history.

Baking & Snack - March 2009

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