This category covers all aspects of the processed and packaged food industry, including ready-to-eat meals, snacks, beverages, frozen foods, and other value-added products.
SOLON, OHIO — Nestle USA plans to lay off 77 employees at its facility in Solon, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed Oct. 31 with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
“As we set ourselves up to best serve our consumers now and for the future, we must stay ahead of the changing market and consumer trends,” Nestle said. “We are making changes to some of our Solon teams, which unfortunately results in the elimination of certain positions. We are committed to supporting all people impacted throughout this transition. Solon continues to be an important hub for many of our US businesses.”
The layoffs are expected to begin on Dec. 31 and continue through Aug. 2, 2024, the company said.
Post Holdings will acquire Bob Evans for in a transaction valued at approximately $1.5 billion.
ST. LOUIS — Post Holdings, Inc. said it will acquire Bob Evans Farms, Inc. for $77 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $1.5 billion. The combination is expected to expand Post’s presence in higher-growth packaged foods categories.
Based in New Albany, Ohio, Bob Evans is a producer and distributor of refrigerated potato, pasta and vegetable side dishes, pork sausage, and refrigerated and frozen products under the Bob Evans, Owens, Country Creek and Pineland Farms brands. The company also has a growing food service business that represents approximately 35 percent of volume.
Earlier this year, Bob Evans Farms sold its restaurant business to Golden Gate Capital following mounting investor pressure.
The addition of Bob Evans is expected to strengthen Post’s footprint in food service and is highly complementary to its portfolio of ready-to-eat cereal brands, including Pebbles, Honey Bunches of Oats, Malt-O-Meal and Weetabix; active nutrition brands, including PowerBar, Premier Protein and Dymatize; and value-add egg, potato and cheese brands, including Crystal Farms, Better’n Eggs, Simply Potatoes and All Whites.
Rob Vitale, president and CEO of Post Holdings
“We have enormous respect for Bob Evans’ success and are excited about the growth opportunities this combination will create,” said Rob Vitale, president and CEO of Post Holdings. “Combining with Bob Evans expands our portfolio of top brands and gives Post a leading position in the perimeter of the store. We look forward to welcoming the talented Bob Evans team to Post and working to create a successful future together.”
The transaction was approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to be completed early next year. Upon closing of the deal, Post plans to combine its existing Michael Foods Group refrigerated egg, potato and cheese business with Bob Evans to establish a refrigerated retail business within the company under the leadership of Mike Townsley, Bob Evans’ current president and CEO Jim Dwyer who will remain in his current role as president and CEO of the Michael Foods Group, managing the commercial food service egg, potato and pasta businesses, which will include the Bob Evans food service business.
The purchase price represents a 15 percent premium on the 30-day volume weighted average of Bob Evans shares. Post management expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to Post’s top-line growth.
Mike Townsley, Bob Evans’ president and CEO
“We are pleased to join the Post family, combining our complementary portfolios to the benefit of all of our stakeholders,” Townsley said. “This transaction creates enhanced and certain value for our stockholders, while providing further resources and reach to deliver the Bob Evans experience to a broader audience of consumers and retailers. We are very proud of our 70-year history as a beloved brand and eager to begin this next chapter of growth.”
CAMDEN, NJ. — Campbell Soup Co. expects to complete its acquisition of Sovos Brands Inc. in March, which bodes well for future quarterly financial results.
In the second quarter ended Jan. 28, Campbell Soup had net earnings of $203 million, equal to 68¢ per share on the common stock, which marked a 12% decrease from $232 million, or 78¢ per share, in the previous year’s second quarter.
Net sales fell 1% to $2.46 billion from $2.49 billion. Organic sales also were down 1%. Volume/mix decreased 2%, which offset a net price realization benefit of 1%.
“While it is true that category trends have slowed over the last year, I’m encouraged by a variety of stabilizing consumer indicators like consumer sentiment, household penetration and average categories purchased,” said Mark A. Clouse, president and chief executive officer, in a March 6 earnings call. “However, we are also continuing to see economic pressure impacting select categories and certain consumer demographics. While we expect these trends to improve over time, we’re certainly not there yet.”
Campbell Soup reaffirmed its full-year outlook of net sales in a range of down 0.5% to up 1.5% when compared to fiscal 2023. The outlook did not include the pending acquisition of Sovos Brands.
“We are eagerly anticipating the closing of the Sovos Brands acquisition in the coming week, adding the best volume-driven growth story in food to our portfolio,” Clouse said.
Plans were announced in August 2023 to acquire Sovos Brands, which manufactures sauces, yogurts and frozen prepared foods marketed under brands such as Rao’s, noosa and Michael Angelo’s. The US Federal Trade Commission in late October sent a second letter to Campbell Soup Co. asking for additional information on the transaction. Both companies have complied with the second request, Clouse said March 6.
Within the company’s Meals & Beverages business, second-quarter sales of $1.38 billion were down 2% from $1.41 billion. Gains in Canada and foodservice partially offset declines in US retail products, primarily in US soup, beverages and Pace Mexican sauces.
Sovos Brands would become part of the Meals & Beverages business.
“When paired with our Meals & Beverages iconic category-leading brands and our distinctive fast-growing Pacific Foods brand, the Sovos Brands portfolio will strengthen the division for years to come,” Clouse said. “In fact, although not an apples-to-apples comparison, if we were to simply overlay Sovos results in the last quarter with our Meals & Beverages results, we would have gained approximately four points of organic top-line growth.”
Within Snacks, sales of $1.07 billion were flat compared to $1.08 billion in the previous year’s second quarter. Excluding the impact from the divestiture of the Emerald nuts business, organic net sales rose 1%, driven by increases in cookies and crackers, primarily Goldfish crackers and Lance sandwich crackers, and in salty snacks. Within salty snacks, sales increases in Kettle Brand and Cape Cod potato chips more than offset declines in Pop Secret popcorn and Late July snacks.
In the six months ended Jan. 28 companywide, net earnings of $437 million, or $1.47 per share on the common stock, were down 17% from $529 million, or $1.77 per share, in the same time of the previous year. Net sales declined 2% to $4.97 billion from $5.06 billion.
Bob Evans is the leading producer of refrigerated side dishes.
ST. LOUIS — The pending acquisition of Bob Evans Farms expands Post Holdings’ presence in the perimeter of the grocery store, where more consumers are shopping in pursuit of perceived fresher fare. Bob Evans is the leading producer of refrigerated side dishes, a high-growth category, said Robert V. Vitale, president and CEO of Post Holdings.
Post Holdings on Sept. 19 announced plans to acquire Bob Evans Farms for $77 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $1.5 billion. The deal is expected to close early next year.
Robert Vitale, president and CEO of Post Holdings
“Bob Evans’ portfolio is aligned with key themes in food, both heat and eat and convenience,” Vitale said during a Sept. 19 conference call with securities analysts. “It increases our exposure to the attractive high-growth perimeter of the store, which is on trend with secular consumer trends. We anticipate Bob Evans will form the foundation of our refrigerated retail platform, and we see further growth opportunities and expansion across the perimeter of the store.”
Much of Post’s portfolio is focused on the slower-growth center-store categories, with more than a third of sales in ready-to-eat cereal. Another piece of Post’s business is private label peanut butter and granola, and protein bars, powders and shakes.
That leaves the Michael Foods Group unit, which includes value-added egg, potato and cheese products under the Crystal Farms, Better’n Eggs, Simply Potatoes and All Whites brands. Post acquired Michael Foods Group in 2014 for $2.45 billion, which at the time marked its largest transaction to date. But the business has remained challenged by the aftereffects of an avian influenza outbreak that devastated the egg market in 2015. The addition of Bob Evans’ portfolio, which includes refrigerated potato, pasta and vegetable side dishes and pork sausage, is expected to strengthen that business.
Post plans to combine the refigerated retail businesses of Michael Foods Group and Bob Evans.
Once the acquisition of Bob Evans is finalized, Post plans to combine the refrigerated retail businesses of Michael Foods Group and Bob Evans under the leadership of Mike Townsley, Bob Evans’ current president and CEO. The commercial food service businesses of Bob Evans and Michael Foods will be combined and led by Jim Dwyer, current president and CEO of the Michael Foods Group.
“We believe this organizational structure will facilitate growth and synergy realization and allow each business to focus on their respective strength and capabilities,” Vitale said.
Bob Evans Farms, which earlier this year sold its restaurant business to a private equity firm, has a growing food service business that represents approximately 35 percent of volume. Post sees opportunities to expand Bob Evans’ food service business, Vitale said.
Bob Evans Farms has a growing food service business that represents approximately 35 percent of volume.
“I think they had had some opportunities inhibited by the perception that they had a kind of a channel conflict being a restaurant operator,” he said. “So we think that some of that will naturally open up and some of it will open up by virtue of us having broader scale.”
He added, “…when we bought Michael, what we saw was a tremendously valuable food service franchise and an interesting and growing retail business. With this transaction, what we do is take that interesting retail business and really turn it into a competitively advantaged refrigerated retail platform. And that option was created by the Michael acquisition and realized with the Bob acquisition.”
In addition to top-line growth opportunities, the deal brings cost synergies of approximately $25 million, which is expected to be realized by the third full fiscal year following the closing of the acquisition, Vitale said.
“First, synergies will result from elimination of duplicate public company costs,” he said. “We believe there are meaningful cost synergy opportunities through leveraging each other’s manufacturing and supply chains where we overlap, as well as combining our procurement purchases. Additional opportunities include eliminating redundant costs across support function capabilities.”
The Bob Evans acquisition is Post’s second major deal this year. In April, the company entered into an agreement to acquire the Weetabix Food Co., the United Kingdom-based manufacturer of cereals, mueslis, oat granolas, breakfast drinks and nutrition bars sold under such brands as Weetabix, Oatibix, Alpen and Barbara’s, for £1.4 billion ($1.77 billion).
Vitale said while Post isn’t actively seeking additional transactions in the near term, “I never want to say that we’re out of the market.”
“But our priority right now is to digest these two material acquisitions and consider what our next move is, not actively beating the bushes for new ones,” he said.
VEVEY, SWITZERLAND — Tombstone, a pizza brand of Nestle SA, is launching tavern-style pizza.
The new offering comes in two varieties: the Primo, which features pepperoni, sausage, banana peppers, red onion, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on top of thin crust; and Let’s Meat Up, which features pepperoni, pork belly crumble, tomato sauce, rich cheddar and mozzarella cheese on top of a thin crust.
The Tombstone tavern-style pizza will be available at select retailers starting in April and will expand availability in July for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $6.99.
NEW ALBANY, Ohio – Bob Evans Restaurants have an answer to the question, “What’s for Easter dinner?”.
Customers can enjoy a pre-made Easter Farmhouse Feast that will serve up to 10 people. The fully cooked, heat-and-serve meal retails for $109.99. The meal comes with hickory-smoked boneless ham and slow-roasted carved turkey, along with mashed potatoes with gravy, bread and celery dressing, macaroni and cheese, green beans with ham, buttered sweet corn, 12 dinner rolls, cranberry relish, banana nut bread, double-crust apple pie and lemon supreme pie (a limited-time offering).
Customers can order the Easter Farmhouse Feast at any Bob Evans Restaurant or online at www.bobevans.com and schedule their own pick-up date now through March 31.
“At Bob Evans, we understand the importance and special meaning of sharing a meal with friends and family on Easter,” Saed Mohseni, president and CEO of Bob Evans Restaurants, said in a statement. “Which is why we’re excited to offer families the Farmhouse Feast as a quick and easy solution that won’t break the bank and allows them more time to fully enjoy the holidays together.”
Bob Evans also will be open on Easter during normal business hours for customers looking to dine in – way from home – for Easter brunch or dinner.
CAMDEN, NJ. — The Campbell Soup Co. will invest approximately $230 million over the next three years to transform its supply chain and fuel business growth. As part of the effort, the company said it will invest in upgrading manufacturing sites, leverage its network of co-manufacturing partners, close inefficient plants and shift production to more modern and effective facilities.
The Camden-based company said it already has spent $80 million of the $230 million on the projects.
“To fuel growth and transform our manufacturing and distribution network, we must invest and further strengthen our supply chain,” said Dan Poland, chief supply chain officer, Campbell Soup Co. “By leveraging our best-in-class in-house capabilities combined with the expertise of trusted manufacturing partners, we will continue to make the highest quality products, with a more agile, flexible, and cost-effective manufacturing network. We continue to evaluate optimization opportunities across the network to build our supply chain of the future.”
Campbell Soup’s plans include the phased closing of the company’s plant in Tualatin, Ore. Campbell Soup acquired the plant as part of its purchase of Pacific Foods in 2017. The facility makes Pacific’s organic soup, broth and plant-based beverages. Campbell Soup said the first phase of the closing will begin in August and will impact 120 of the plant’s 330 employees, with operations expected to be completely halted by July 2026. Soup and broth production will be shifted to other thermal and aseptic plants in the company’s network, Campbell Soup said.
Meanwhile, Campbell Soup’s plant in Jeffersonville, Ind., will be reorganized to specialize in the production of Late July tortilla chips, with the facility’s production of kettle potato chips shifting to plants in Charlotte, NC, and Hanover, Pa. Regional snack brands will continue to be produced in Jeffersonville, the company said.
Included in Campbell Soup’s $230 million investment plans are projects in Maxton, NC; Hanover; and Franklin, Wis.
The company said it is investing $150 million in new aseptic soup production in Maxton. In Hanover, Campbell Soup will invest $72 million to add more potato chip kettles. In Franklin, the company has earmarked $8 million to expand capacity for tortilla chip production.
In addition to those three investments, Campbell Soup Co. earlier detailed plans to expand production of Goldfish crackers at its plant in Richmond, Utah. The new site, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2024, will increase the plant’s output of Goldfish by 50% and will add approximately 80 new roles.
WASHINGTON – Bob Evans Farms Inc. launched a recall of 46,734 lbs. of pork sausage links that may be contaminated with clear hard plastic, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the US Dept. of Agriculture reported.
There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions or illness due to consumption of these products, FSIS noted.
The effected items were produced at a plant in Xenia, Ohio, on Aug. 31. The products bear establishment number “EST 6785” and include:
12-oz overwrap trays labeled “BOB EVANS MAPLE PORK SAUSAGE LINKS.” These products contain a Use by date of Oct. 16, 2018 or Oct. 19, 2018, and Lot Code of 8213.
12-oz overwrap trays labeled “BOB EVANS BROWN SUGAR & HONEY.” These products contain a Use by date of Oct. 16, 2018, and Lot Code of 8213.
12-oz overwrap trays labeled “FRESH FROM MEIJER MAPLE FLAVORED SAUSAGE LINKS.” These products contain a Use by date of Sept. 06, 2018, and Lot Code of 8213.
12-oz overwrap trays labeled “GIANT EAGLE MAPLE PORK BREAKFAST SAUSAGE LINKS CARAMEL COLOR ADDED.” These products contain a Use by date of Sept. 10, 2018, and Lot Code of 8213.
12-oz overwrap trays labeled “SCHNUCKS MAPLE RECIPE BREAKFAST SAUSAGE.” These products contain a Lot Code of 8213.
FSIS said consumers complained about extraneous material in the sausage links. The agency is concerned that products may be frozen and in consumers’ refrigerators. The sausages should be discarded or returned to the place of purchase, FSIS said.
MADISON, WIS. — Nestlé Purina PetCare is laying the groundwork for an expansion of its wet pet food manufacturing facility in Jefferson, Wis., according to an announcement from Governor Tony Evers on April 25. The company has invested $195 million to increase the site’s production capacity by almost 50%.
The expansion will add 35,000 square feet to the existing plant, which has been operating in Jefferson since 1910, according to Evers.
“We are thrilled that Nestlé Purina is moving forward with expanding its Jefferson facility and that we could be a partner in helping support this effort, which will bring roughly 100 new jobs to the community,” Evers said. “Nestlé Purina has a more than 100-year history in our state, and we are excited to celebrate this world-class brand’s commitment to seeing many more years of continued success and local economic development in Wisconsin.”
Purina produces its Pro Plan, Fancy Feast and Beneful Incredibites in Jefferson. The facility currently employs more than 250 people in the area.
“The expansion of Nestlé Purina’s facility is a testament to the strong relationship between our city and the business community,” added Jefferson Mayor Dale Oppermann. “We applaud Nestlé Purina for its continued investment in Jefferson, which will enhance our economic vitality and create a more promising future for all who call our city home.”
According to Purina, the Jefferson expansion is part of the company’s overarching strategy to fortify its manufacturing footprint. The company recently cut the ribbon at a pet food facility expansion in Eden, NC, and expects to complete a greenfield plant in Ohio within the next 12 months.
The company expects to spend $2 billion on capital expansion projects between 2020 and 2025.
“Investing in our Jefferson factory deepens our roots in the community while helping us provide pet owners across the northern part of the United States with the trusted, science-based pet foods their dogs and cats love,” said Nolan Terry, chief technical officer for Purina. “We remain focused on safety, quality and sustainability in our operations and appreciate the state and local partners who have supported our continued growth.”
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) has approved up to $1.7 million in tax credits for the company for the next five years, and the City of Jefferson is prepared to provide up to $2 million in financial assistance over the next 20 years to assist with project costs.
“Nestlé Purina is an iconic global brand whose continued investment in Wisconsin underscores our state’s ability to compete on the world stage,” said Missy Hughes, secretary and chief executive officer of the WEDC. “This is a huge win for our state and for the people of Jefferson and surrounding communities.”
WASHINGTON – The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Xenia, Ohio-based Bob Evans Farms Inc. recalled approximately 4,200 lbs of pork sausage product due to possible foreign matter contamination, specifically thin blue rubber.
The company produced the following recalled, raw, sausage product on Dec. 17, 2020.
1-lb chubs containing “Bob Evans Italian Sausage” with lot code 0352 and a “USE/FRZ BY” date of “JAN 31 21” represented on the label.
The recalled product bears establishment number “EST. 6785” printed directly above the “USE/FRZ BY” date. These items were shipped to retail locations in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The problem was discovered and reported to FSIS after Bob Evans received consumer complaints.
