B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) announced today the formation of
four business units and senior leadership appointments to establish
clear focus and expectations and drive organic and acquisition
growth. The four newly created business units are:
- Spices & Seasonings — representing approximately 18%
of B&G Foods’ net sales, Spices & Seasonings will include,
among others, the Dash, Weber, Spice Islands, Tone’s, Ac’cent,
Trappey’s, Durkee and Wright’s brands.
- Meals — representing approximately 22% of B&G Foods’
net sales, Meals will include, among others, the Ortega, Maple
Grove Farms, Cream of Wheat, Victoria, Las Palmas, Mama Mary’s,
Spring Tree, McCann’s, Carey’s and Vermont Maid brands.
- Frozen & Vegetables — representing approximately 27%
of B&G Foods’ net sales, Frozen & Vegetables will include
the Green Giant frozen, Green Giant shelf stable and Le Sueur
brands.
- Specialty — representing approximately 33% of B&G
Foods’ net sales, Specialty will include, among others, the Crisco,
Clabber Girl, Back to Nature, Bear Creek, Polaner, Underwood,
B&G, Grandma’s, New York Style, B&M, TrueNorth, Don Pepino,
Sclafani, Baker’s Joy, Regina, Emeril’s, SugarTwin and Brer Rabbit
brands.
Commenting on today’s announcement and the transition from a
function-based organization structure to a business unit structure,
Casey Keller, President and Chief Executive Officer of B&G
Foods, stated, “We are reorganizing our company into four business
units—establishing clear focus and expectations within the B&G
Foods portfolio. These units will define the categories and brands
that we will resource and grow, the platforms for future
acquisitions, the brands that will run for efficiency and cash
flow, and the businesses we may exit over time. The business unit
structure will also push accountability and multi-function
responsibility down to more closely managed parts of the complex
B&G Foods portfolio—improving the speed and clarity of
decision-making to deliver growth and financial performance.
Following today’s announcement and leadership appointments, which
will take effect on August 1, 2022, we expect to complete these
organizational changes during the next several months and to set
performance expectations for the business units by the end of the
year.”
Mr. Keller continued, “Our priorities and goals remain
consistent and will be enabled by the business unit structure:
- foremost, managing B&G Foods effectively through the
current inflationary, pricing and supply environment—which means
pricing as quickly as possible to recover higher input costs, and
increasing production and critical supply to improve service levels
above 95%;
- improving organic growth performance beyond COVID-19 recovery
to 1% to 2% growth, capitalizing on the post-pandemic trends of
remote working from home and a renewed interest in cooking and
baking;
- focusing on brands and categories where B&G Foods has the
capabilities, scale and ability to win—in terms of resources,
investment and structure;
- making disciplined acquisitions that are accretive to our
portfolio and cash flows, and fit with our core expertise in center
store, dry distribution; and
- accelerating cost savings and productivity efforts to eliminate
non-value-added costs, offset inflation and strengthen margins and
cash flows longer term.”
Business Unit President Appointments Jordan Greenberg,
currently our Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial
Officer, will transition to President of Spices & Seasonings,
and remain an Executive Vice President of B&G Foods. Mr.
Greenberg joined B&G Foods in 1999 and has served in roles of
increasing responsibility over that time, including as Vice
President of Marketing, Vice President and General Manager – Green
Giant and his current position. Prior to joining B&G Foods, Mr.
Greenberg served in the marketing departments of Land O’Lakes and
Alpine Lace.
Ellen Schum, currently our Executive Vice President and Chief
Customer Officer, will transition to President of Specialty, and
remain an Executive Vice President of B&G Foods. Ms. Schum
joined B&G Foods in 2018 and has served in roles of increasing
responsibility over that time, including as Vice President of U.S.
Retail Sales and her current position. Prior to that, Ms. Schum
served as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing and then
Chief Operating Officer of Schuman Cheese. Ms. Schum started her
career in finance at Nabisco and spent 24 years at Nabisco and
Kraft Foods in leadership roles of increasing responsibility, first
in finance for 5 years, then in sales for 19 years, most recently
serving as Area Vice President – East.
Kristen Thompson, currently Director of Marketing for Green
Giant, has been promoted to President of Frozen & Vegetables,
and has been appointed as a Senior Vice President of B&G Foods.
Ms. Thompson joined B&G Foods in June 2019 as a Director of
Marketing for Ortega. Most recently before joining B&G Foods,
Ms. Thompson served as Marketing Director of Birds Eye Vegetables
at Conagra Brands and Pinnacle Foods.
B&G Foods has initiated an external search for the President
of Meals and expects to announce that appointment by the end of
August.
Other Senior Leadership Promotions Gary Benedict,
currently Vice President of Revenue Growth Management, will be
promoted to Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations. Mr.
Benedict joined B&G Foods in 2019. Most recently before joining
B&G Foods, Mr. Benedict served in sales management roles at
Campbell Soup Company and WhiteWave Foods. Mr. Benedict has also
served in sales management roles at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and
Johnson & Johnson.
Rick Drummond, currently Vice President of Quality Assurance and
Research & Development, will be promoted to Senior Vice
President of Quality Assurance and Research & Development. Mr.
Drummond, who has more than 30 years of consumer packaged goods
experience, focusing on quality and R&D, joined B&G Foods
in March 2016. Before joining B&G Foods, Mr. Drummond served in
management level positions at Pepperidge Farm, Pinnacle Foods,
Mondelēz, Kraft Foods and Nabisco.
Tessie Gallagher, currently Vice President of Sales, will be
promoted to Senior Vice President of Field Sales. Ms. Gallagher
joined B&G Foods in 2017. Ms. Gallagher has more than 25 years
of sales management experience at companies including, Primzie
Crispbreads, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo-Frito Lay, and PepsiCo-Quaker
Oats.
Marty Schoch, currently Vice President of Procurement, will be
promoted to Senior Vice President of Supply Chain. Mr. Schoch
joined B&G Foods in 2008. Prior to B&G Foods, Mr. Schoch
worked at The Manischewitz Company in various supply chain roles
with increasing responsibility.
Bruce Wacha, Executive Vice President of Finance and Chief
Financial Officer; Eric Hart, Executive Vice President of Human
Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer; and Scott Lerner,
Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Chief
Compliance Officer, will each continue to serve in their current
roles.
Senior Leadership Retirement B&G Foods also announced
that Erich Fritz, Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain
Officer has chosen to retire from the Company effective October 1,
2022.
Commenting on Mr. Fritz’s retirement, Mr. Keller said, “On
behalf of our entire company, I want to thank Erich for his
contributions to B&G Foods’ success over the past three years
as our Chief Supply Chain Officer. Erich did an admirable job
leading our supply chain efforts despite the unprecedented
challenges facing our industry during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
and ensuing industry-wide supply chain challenges and input cost
inflation. Most importantly, Erich was instrumental in our efforts
to keep our dedicated employees safe and healthy. All of us at
B&G Foods wish Erich the best in his retirement.”
About B&G Foods, Inc. Based in Parsippany, New
Jersey, B&G Foods and its subsidiaries manufacture, sell and
distribute high-quality, branded shelf-stable and frozen foods
across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. With B&G
Foods’ diverse portfolio of more than 50 brands you know and love,
including Back to Nature, B&G, B&M, Bear Creek, Cream of
Wheat, Crisco, Dash, Green Giant, Las Palmas, Le Sueur, Mama
Mary’s, Maple Grove Farms, New York Style, Ortega, Polaner, Spice
Islands and Victoria, there’s a little something for everyone. For
more information about B&G Foods and its brands, please visit
www.bgfoods.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press
release that are not statements of historical or current fact
constitute “forward-looking statements.” The forward-looking
statements contained in this press release include, without
limitation, statements related to the expected impact of the
formation of business units and the senior leadership appointments,
the timing and expected completion date of the organizational
changes, the timing of the selection and appointment of the
President of Meals, and our priorities and goals. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual
results of B&G Foods to be materially different from the
historical results or from any future results expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that
explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged
to consider statements labeled with the terms “believes,” “belief,”
“expects,” “projects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “assumes,”
“could,” “should,” “estimates,” “potential,” “seek,” “predict,”
“may,” “will” or “plans” and similar references to future periods
to be uncertain and forward-looking. Factors that may affect actual
results include, without limitation: the continuing impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s business, including, without
limitation, the ability of the Company and its supply chain
partners to continue to operate manufacturing facilities,
distribution centers and other work locations without material
disruption, and to procure ingredients, packaging and other raw
materials when needed despite disruption in the supply chain or
labor shortages, the duration of social distancing and stay-at-home
and work-from-home policies and recommendations, and whether, and
the extent to which, additional waves or variants of COVID-19 will
affect the United States and the rest of North America, and the
extent to which macroeconomic conditions resulting from the
pandemic and the pace of the subsequent recovery may impact
consumer eating and shopping habits; the Company’s substantial
leverage; the effects of rising costs for the Company’s
commodities, ingredients, packaging, other raw materials,
distribution and labor; crude oil prices and their impact on
distribution, packaging and energy costs; the Company’s ability to
successfully implement sales price increases and cost saving
measures to offset any cost increases; intense competition, changes
in consumer preferences, demand for the Company’s products and
local economic and market conditions; the Company’s continued
ability to promote brand equity successfully, to anticipate and
respond to new consumer trends, to develop new products and
markets, to broaden brand portfolios in order to compete
effectively with lower priced products and in markets that are
consolidating at the retail and manufacturing levels and to improve
productivity; the Company’s ability to recruit and retain senior
management and a highly skilled and diverse workforce at the
Company’s corporate offices, manufacturing facilities and other
locations despite a very tight labor market and changing employee
expectations as to fair compensation, an inclusive and diverse
workplace, flexible working and other matters; the risks associated
with the expansion of the Company’s business; the Company’s
possible inability to identify new acquisitions or to integrate
recent or future acquisitions or the Company’s failure to realize
anticipated revenue enhancements, cost savings or other synergies
from recent or future acquisitions; the Company’s ability to
successfully complete the integration of recent or future
acquisitions into the Company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system; tax reform and legislation, including the effects of the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
and the U.S. CARES Act, and future tax reform or legislation; the
Company’s ability to access the credit markets and the Company’s
borrowing costs and credit ratings, which may be influenced by
credit markets generally and the credit ratings of the Company’s
competitors; unanticipated expenses, including, without limitation,
litigation or legal settlement expenses; the effects of currency
movements of the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso as compared
to the U.S. dollar; the effects of international trade disputes,
tariffs, quotas, and other import or export restrictions on the
Company’s international procurement, sales and operations; future
impairments of the Company’s goodwill and intangible assets; the
Company’s ability to protect information systems against, or
effectively respond to, a cybersecurity incident or other
disruption; the Company’s sustainability initiatives and changes to
environmental laws and regulations; the Company’s ability to
successfully transition the operations of the Portland, Maine
manufacturing facility to third-party co-manufacturing facilities
and existing Company manufacturing facilities without significant
disruption in production or customer service, and the Company’s
ability to achieve anticipated productivity improvements and cost
savings; and other factors that affect the food industry generally.
The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject
generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from
time to time in B&G Foods’ filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including under Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in the
Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in its
subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8‑K. Investors are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date they are made. B&G Foods
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220616005897/en/
Investor Relations: ICR, Inc. Dara Dierks 866.211.8151 Media
Relations: ICR, Inc. Matt Lindberg 203.682.8214
B and G Foods (NYSE:BGS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
B and G Foods (NYSE:BGS)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024