Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2015 - (Page 8)

Company Overview Editorial With growth elusive, its pursuit only intensifies A review of the range of developments within and initiatives taken by food processing and beverage companies over the past year reveals a degree of dynamism and activity unmatched in the sector's long and rich history. On so many fronts and in so many different ways, food company executives are taking bold steps to reposition themselves in a marketplace that has proven increasingly prickly for traditional consumer packaged foods companies. On this page in 2014, it was noted that several years had passed since solid year-to-year growth was the norm for companies in the food processing and beverage markets. Instead, most companies have been struggling to regain their footing in an industry that for so long had been known and admired for predictable, even dull, but moderate growth. Conditions did not improve over the past year. The food or beverage company chief executive officer expressing pride or even satisfaction with his/her company's performance over the past year was the exception rather than the rule. Still, to whatever degree one could expect the industry's persistent challenges to be reflected in weariness or a sense of surrender in c-suites, the reality could hardly be more different. Consider the following sampling of activity: Merger and Acquisition activity: Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V. acquired Saputo Bakery in Canada on the heels of its Canada Bread acquisition in 2014. Later in 2015, the company acquired Italian Home Bakery, an artisan baker in Canada. Hershey moved afield from its traditional product portfolio with the acquisition of Krave Pure Foods, a maker of premium meat snacks. Post Holdings Inc. paid $1.15 billion to acquire MOM Brands, adding brands that include Malt-O-Meal. In September, the company said it was acquiring Willamette Egg Farms, L.L.C., a producer, processor and wholesale distributor of eggs and egg products. Hormel Foods Corp. for $775 million acquired Applegate Farms, a maker of natural branded chicken and turkey products. ConAgra acquired Blake's All Natural Foods, a maker of natural and organic frozen meals. The largest transaction during the year was the merger of Kraft Foods Group with H.J. Heinz Co. Not far behind was a deal, yet to be consummated, under which the coffee businesses of Mondelez International, Inc. and D.E Master Blenders 1753 B.V. would be combined to create Jacobs Douwe Egberts. New products: Hostess Brands, L.L.C. , a snack cake producer, entered the bread market in 2015 with a quiet launch 8 \ October 2015 of Hostess bread and buns, formulated for long shelf life and offered principally in convenience stores. The lineup of introductions at Kellogg Co. included overnight mueslis, glutenfree frozen waffles, organic chewy granola and seed bars and sprouted grain cereal. General Mills, Inc. launched The New Table, dinner kits featuring gourmet-style sauce and crust mixes for chicken and fish. New products at PepsiCo, Inc. that reached or are on pace to reach annual sales of $100 million or more include Tostitos Cantina, Mountain Dew Kickstart, Doritos Cheetos Fun Multipack, Gatorade Fierce Blue Cherry and Frost Glacier Cherry. Clean labels: Efforts to clean up labels are nearly universal this year, so much so that a special report on the topic has been included in this issue, beginning on Page 64. For example, Flowers Foods, Inc. reformulated its flagship Nature's Own line of bread and buns, cutting the ingredient list by half. The Hershey Co. plans to remove lactose, vanillin, artificial flavors and polyglycerol polyricinoleate from its milk chocolate bars and Kisses this year. It will share information on manufacturing, labeling, sourcing and ingredients with consumers. Nestle USA will remove artificial flavors from its Hot Pockets and Tombstone, DiGiorno, Jack's and California Pizza Kitchen line of frozen pizzas. For its chocolates, the company is planning to eliminate artificial colors and flavors. Divestitures/Product portfolios: ConAgra Foods, Inc. is divesting the private label assets acquired from Ralcorp Holdings in January 2013 for $6.8 billion. General Mills sold its Giant and Le Seueur brands for $765 million. Starbucks decided to close all 23 of its La Boulange retail bakeries and two manufacturing plants that support the retail locations. Restructuring: While many companies in 2015 were in the midst of multi-year restructuring programs, new programs included one by the Kraft Heinz Co., which will include the layoff of 2,500 employees; a plan by General Mills to close four different plants and cut 700 jobs as part of Project Compass; and an early October announcement by ConAgra Foods that it would lay off 1,500 office-based employees around the world and would relocate its headquarters from its longtime base in Omaha, Neb., to Chicago. This heavy load of activity follows several years in which could be characterized as anything but inert. While it's difficult to identify even a handful of companies that have identified a formula for success, it's clear that no food is standing by idly, hoping for business to improve on its own. CP Milling & Baking News * Food Business News * Baking & Snack * Meat+Poultry Corporate Profiles

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2015

Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2015
Table of Contents
Editorial - With growth elusive, its pursuit only intensifies
Industry Review: Grain-based Foods
Industry Review: Packaged Foods
Can K-Cups kick-start soup?
Industry Review: Beverages
Industry Review: Meat and Poultry
Industry Review: Dairy
Industry Review: Confectionery
Industry Review: Food Service
Industry Review: Clean Label
Company Overview - Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. de C.V.
Company Overview - Campbell Soup Co.
Company Overview - Coca-Cola Co.
Company Overview - ConAgra Foods, Inc.
Company Overview - Flowers Foods, Inc.
Company Overview - General Mills, Inc.
Company Overview - The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.
Company Overview - The Hershey Co.

Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2015