Beer Marketer's Insights
Campbell Soup’s Bolthouse Farms nightmare has finally drawn to a close, with CPG giant saying it’s closed on sale to affiliate of LA-based PE shop Butterfly Equity for $510 mil. That unwinds experiment in establishing Campbell Fresh unit that also included Garden Fresh Gourmet and refrigerated soups, both already divested. As reported, CPB suffered perfect storm of adversity in trying to operate Bolthouse Farms, from protein shake recall to quality issues on carrots, and miscues ultimately cost ceo Denise Morrison her job.
BEVNET LIVE: Showdown Finalists Included Cloud Water, Petal, Proposition, Sunwink, Lattea
Signature event of BevNet Live, the Showdown brand competition, yielded robust crop of entries capped by grand winner Cann (BBI, Jun 13). Here’s rundown of the other 5 finalists to make the cut from 12 first-round competitors who pitched to judges’ panel, conference attendees and online viewers. Note that in keeping with the times, 3 of final 6 were CBD plays, including the winner.
Cloud Water CBD Play Recruits Dollard, Galindez to Help with Buildout Alluringly packaged sparkling brand called Cloud Water offers 25 mg of hemp-derived CBD, raw honey as sweetener and comes in at 40 calories per 12-oz bottle, in initial flavor lineup of Blood Orange & Coconut and Grapefruit & Mint & Basil, with Blackberry Lemon Rosemary due imminently. “Hydrate. Elevate. Motivate,” is brand slogan. Cofounder/ceo Mark Siden said he was coaxed into launch by cofounder Barry Kaufman, whose sister runs flavor lab in NJ. They recruited team of bev experts and scientists to conjure up premium, transparently labeled line in sinuous aluminum bottle that’s undergone “controlled rollout” in NY to get feedback. So far, that’s amounted to 100 retail doors and newly launched home-delivery option.
Partners found ally in David Linker at Hillside Beverage, who waived minimum run quantities for product, and have recruited former Glaceau exec Carol Dollard to help scale brand and former BluePrint and Runa chief Alex Galindez to help create go-to-market strategy. Siden claims that by producing its own CBD in lab, Cloud Water has created more stable ingredient at lower cost than what’s available in market. In gesture of transparency, co posted CannaSafe lab analysis on website at CloudWaterBrands.com.
From consumers, Cloud Water team has learned that it’s less about chill and more about active recovery. Brand started with DTC effort to foment feedback loop with customers, then added on-premise for differentiation and margin and now is talking to major distributors about supporting broader retail push. Among feedback: tapered bottle is “amazing,” but won’t work for scaling up brand, so switch is imminent to straightwall aluminum bottle. Asked about fluid regulatory environment, Sider responded: “I don’t have a contingency plan, I believe in this.”
Judges were supportive, but urged greater clarity in what product is. “Is it a sparkling water?” Bill Ford of Coca-Cola’s VEB incubation unit wanted to know, noting that callout on bottle isn’t clear on first glance. “Cloud water: what is it?” BevNet cmo Mike Schneider asked. “Mystery water.”
Petal Sparkling Botanicals Expands Beyond Rosewater, Closes in on Seed Round “Born in South Africa, raised in Chicago,” is history of Petal Sparkling Botanicals in a nutshell. Founder Candice Crane began project 2 years ago by making her own rosewater tea in Chicago as her South African grandmothers used to do, then came to see it as perfect vehicle for organic-certified functional bev brand dedicated to sparkling botanicals. Launched last year in Chicago with assistance of Beyond Brands, Petal is offered in Original, Mint Rose and Lychee Rose flavors, sweetened with organic agave and coming in at 10-15 calories per 12-oz slim can. SRP is $2.99. The line has moved beyond rosewater to add Peach Marigold with a Hint of Basil, Elderflower White Tea Flower and Lemongrass Dandelion with a Hint of Strawberry. Striking can graphics offer intricate line renderings of key ingredients. “I think I found my tattoo,” joked BevNet cmo Mike Schneider, adding that item is “very unique, and the liquid inside is good too.” But Whole Foods dir of dairy & bev Lee Robinson said, “I’m a little lost on exactly what this brand stands for,” with functionality not clearly expressed on package. That “would leave us a little lost as to where to merchandise this.”
After starting in Chicago, Petal moved to World Finer Foods (Liberty Richter), then KeHe and UNFI by fall, and now can be found in 500 locations including Fairway in NY and Sprout’s in California. Now it’s about to close its first seed raise that includes World Finer Foods among investors.
Proposition Cocktail Rides CBD, No-Alc Waves Riding both the alcohol-avoidance and cannabis trends, Proposition Cocktail Co bills itself as offering world’s first CBD cocktail and mixer, “zero-proof adaptogenic cocktails” using fruits and herbs and coming in at just 26 calories per 6.7-oz flask-shaped glass bottle, in Turmeric Ginger Mule and Smokey Margarita flavors. Ingredients include 15 mg of whole hemp extract with broad spectrum, making it compliant across state lines, said prexy/ceo John Korkidis. Among shelf-stable brand’s advantages, he argued, it requires no change in natural social behavior, and is “multifunctional,” meaning it works over ice, with soda water or mixed with alcohol, yielding benefits like stress relief and clean energy. To exploit on-premise opportunities, John said he’s exploring partnerships with Barney’s and Playboy Hotel and also finding a role in coffee shops that are looking to extend their hours deeper into the evening.
“A lot of good stuff here,” assessed BevNet founder John Craven. “Packaging is catchy.” But he thought the CBD seemed like a distraction from what otherwise is a “pretty solid mixer product.” High Brew Coffee’s Mari Johnson commended superpremium positioning, consistency and outstanding liquid.
Sunwink Sparkling Herbal Tonic Draws on Woman Healer Tradition Diagnosed with autoimmune disease, Eliza Timpson found road back to health with help from regimen of herbs like lemon balm and dandelion root. Originally devised in kitchen of dorm at Harvard Business School, SF-based Sunwink Sparkling Herbal Tonic is outgrowth of that experience, attempt to offer accessible entry point for consumers. One key differentiator: it’s got rich taste associated with sparkling juice, but all the flavor actually derives from the herbs. Herbalist-crafted line is claimed to contain at least 1,000 mg of herbal extracts, 4-8X the herb content of herbal tea, but only 4-11 g of sugar, in flavors like Detox Ginger, Immunity Berry and Lemon Rose Uplift. With brand intended to draw on tradition of women healers, each flavor is inspired by herbs employed by a woman Timpson admires, with 1% of net sales going to charity of that woman’s choosing. Brand’s most striking feature may be wrapped glass pack that resembles blue ceramic bottle. (Judges had amusing debate on whether color qualifies as periwinkle or not.) SRP is $4.99 but Timpson is gunning for $3.99 next year. Consumer feedback steered founder/ceo Timpson away from using stevia and monk fruit to reduce calories further, she indicated. Today, brand is in 150 doors in Northern Calif home base, including Molly Stones, Erewhon, Jimbo, Safeway and, in Sep, Whole Foods. Co has forged partnership with Bi-Rite Foodservice distribution arm.
“This is a different package, the periwinkle was very inviting to me,” said High Brew Coffee’s Mari Johnson. “I like the proposition, the founder’s story, the functional message is absolutely there, it’s inviting.” Added Bill Ford of Coca-Cola’s VEB incubation unit: “I thought it actually tasted fantastic, the next iteration of sparkling water.” “Feels like a chillwave brand more than a beverage to me,” said BevNet cmo Mike Schneider. Tho the packaging is “a huge driving factor,” PowerPlant Ventures’ Dan Gluck worried that it undersells the functional ingredients. “At a premium price point, you’ve got to sell the premium ingredients a little better,” he offered.
Lattea Offers HPPed Milk Tea Founder Sheng Xu is melding Asian, Mongolian and British tea culture with milk tea line called Lattea that’s packed in straightwall plastic bottle and offers strong caffeine hit. The Wharton MBA started by using offerings in popup shop to analyze most popular taste profiles, moving on to employ HPP process to combine tea and milk for clean-label product. “Coffee latte is really crowded but this is differentiated from that,” offered BevNet Live judge BF, who also complimented founder on hitting right sweetness level (at 60 calories). “I like the proposition but you’re definitely going to need to do some education,” advised High Brew Coffee cmo Mari Johnson. And BevNet founder John Craven offered sobering words: “The 30-day shelf life is a non-starter.” Further, he figures it’s too dairy-forward for an item sold as a tea.
Banker who’s deeply embedded in deal flow offered his BevNet Live audience last week an alternative to classic bev landgrab, counseling that he’s seeing more successful outcomes for bevcos that travel down what he called “Path 2” by seeking to own their chosen niche and building their gross margin story.
In wide-ranging presentation last Thurs, Nick McCoy of Whipstitch Capital depicted landscape where major players have come to recognition that their brand-building machines function best with innovation brands that have attained a certain degree of scale. That’s led to fewer deals for cos in $100-300 mil revenue range, aside from those, like KeVita before Pepsi deal, that were enjoying truly explosive growth. So bev deals have been getting larger and more frequent, as with Bai and Core compared to KeVita and Voss in earlier years. As for brands in that mid-sized gap, “If we can figure out a way for the strategics to make those profitable, we will see a large increase in M&A,” Nick believes. “It’s an intriguing topic to which nobody has the answer.” Nick can be presumed to know whereof he speaks, having been involved in scores of food and bev deals of all sizes over the years, first with Silverwood Partners and then at Whipstitch, which he opened with his former Silverwood colleague Mike Burgmaier. Going back to 2004, that duo has facilitated over 100 deals including such familiar exits as KeVita/PepsiCo, Core/KDP, Zola/KarpReilly, Uncle Matt’s/Dean Foods and Runa/Vita Coco, as well as many capital rounds.
Historically, innovation brands have taken Path 1, raising a ton of $$, growing as quickly as they can via frenzied ACV grab so that they could win an exit multiple based on their size and growth. (In BBI we call that landgrab strategy.) But McCoy is starting to see more food and bevcos taking Path 2, striving to attain high gross margin and reach profitability earlier, status that is of great appeal not just to strategics but to PE firms too. Having $10 mil of EBITDA (earnings before income tax, depreciation & amortization) “brings a tremendous amount of interest because it de-risks things tremendously,” he said. So he’s begun to see more bevcos following lead of food cos and seeking to grow in a niche rather than doing whatever it takes to get to $300 mil revenue mark.
Of course, even for disciplined cos it’s not necessarily a clear glide path. In q&a with BevNet editor Jeff Klineman following presentation, Nick observed that while “gross margin is kind of the real revenue” as gauge of promise a brand holds, its growth is likely to be interrupted once brand moves into DSD distribution, which exacts a hit to cost structure. That’s a special burden that bevcos must carry in contrast to food cos for which distribution is not such an expensive hurdle.
McCoy pointed to another gap: at small end of spectrum. But as more investors move into bev space, McCoy said that could ease crunch for small brands in $1-5 mil space. “It’s nice to see some expertise and liquidity coming in,” he said. But he had word of warning: Some founders have tendency to fall in love with first investor who comes along, tho they’re better off playing the field. After all, “once you have a large investor in your cap table, you can't get rid of them – you can actually get rid of your spouse easier,” he quipped.
OTG founder/ceo Rich Blatstein described operating successful restaurant and nightclub biz in Philadelphia before he got talked into getting into airport space 23 years ago, launching Cibo Express Gourmet Markets in part to service passengers who, at time, wouldn’t be able to get any food on their JetBlue flights. Inauspiciously, concept opened its doors during a blizzard. But things panned out, and by now OTG operates 350+ locations in 10 airports that host 313 mil passengers annually. Tho that # includes some fairly elaborate restaurants and food halls, it also includes 100+ Cibo Express units, most of them carrying 800-1,000 sku’s. And given Blatstein’s background, it’s no wonder he frequently used word “hospitality” to describe major priority. (In old days, BBI editor used to wonder whether airport restaurant operators hadn’t been recruited from places like radar tower and maintenance shed.)
Among key principles, OTG has upgraded airport offerings with fresher ingredients and charges prices closer to what brands command in the street. “Our food is real,” Blatstein said, noting that OTG operates smallest freezers in industry cuz it brings in food fresh every day. And OTG has been at front of technology wave, deploying about 15K iPads not just for cost and efficiency’s sake but so that crew members are freed up to spend all their time on hospitality. You can even use your accumulated airline miles to pay the tab.
At BevNet Live, Rich made case for why innovative new brands should have OTG on their radar. For new arrivals, the stores and food halls are “doorstep to the community,” seeming case for local brands to be represented. The food halls and kiosks also are great sampling opportunity, and staffers can be enthusiastic boosters as they seek to upsell their customers.
The Cibo Express markets make room for regionally focused brands, to enhance travelers’ sense of discovery as they arrive at new destination. No question, shelves are heavily laden with Coke and Pepsi items, but that’s because they sell. “But we love to grow brands, break new brands.” Blatstein cited a recent dinner with NY Times reporter who marveled at seeing items in Cibo stores that don’t turn up at her local Whole Foods for months. But OTG can do lots more than simply stock the shelves. It serves as “the most dynamic brand activation platform in the world,” with cos able to invest in ads on the iPads to point of doing complete digital takeovers, as well as on restaurant menus, flat screens and other vehicles. Cibo is happy to host sampling crews in its food halls that can lead to skyrocketing sales for good-tasting items. “If you want to break your brand in our airports, do it the old-fashioned way, have your people in there,” he urged. After all, “Who gets something for free in an airport?” So encountering a sampling team can be a nice surprise.
Given security apparatus at airports, distribution is famously challenging, and items reach OTG outlets via a variety of means, much via Sysco foodservice co, sometimes Hudson News, sometimes direct. Bev owners shouldn’t be too daunted, tho: if they’re willing to support brand and work with OTG staffers, “distribution we’ll figure out together, it’s not a problem.” As for pricing, he said that at NY airports, OTG typically might average prices of 3 top-selling accts in area and go with that, believing that if customers don’t feel ripped off they’ll ultimately spend more. Slotting? They don’t call it that at OTG, but it does execute promos that vendor pays for. Bottom line for those who hope to succeed at OTG locations: “It has to taste good, we have to believe in it and you have to support it.”
Pro Tip: Say ‘Cheebo’ “First 10 years I called it Seebo,” Blatstein confessed at one point, “until a buddy told me, ‘I can’t take it any more, it’s Cheebo.’”
Plant-based Rebbl brand has brought aboard Michele Kessler as its new ceo after its leader of past 4 years, Sheryl O’Loughlin, has exited to focus on volunteer work, per report in Food Biz News. Kessler most recently served as prexy of protein bar play ThinkThin after long run at major corps, including CPG giants P&G, Kraft Foods and Mars Inc, as well as brief stop at Univision. At ThinkThin, which she joined in 2013, she helped more than double sales while helping navigate $217 mil acquisition by Glanbia in 2015. “Sheryl has overseen the creation of one of the best management teams in the industry and established Rebbl as an industry leader in impact,” said co chmn Kim Perdikou.
Riding recently inked alliance as first outside bev brand to enter branded cannabis play Caliva, Mood33 cannabis-infused line is looking to broaden retail exposure, ride Caliva’s growing 1-hr delivery infrastructure and add refinements such as cooler programs and more aggressive pricing structure.
Recall that Mood33 predecessor was one of earliest players in THC biz when it launched under Loft brand name in NY back in 2014; ultimately, founder Michael Christopher relocated to LA and relaunched last year as Mood33 with natural foods vet Eric Schnell, who runs Beyond Brands incubator.
By now brand is in 65 Calif dispensaries, including all 11 MedMen stores acctg for nearly 70% of revenues, and it’s aiming to double that by year-end, cofounder Christopher told us in conversation at BevNet’s Cannabis Forum in NY today. It plans to enter DTC space for Calif customers by end of summer by tapping into Caliva infrastructure that by year-end will be able to promise consumers deliveries within an hour in 70% of state. Caliva is accomplishing that by recruiting 350 drivers, many Uber and Lyft drivers who’re lured by promise of actual employee status and benefits. Caliva delivers its own products biweekly to 275 Calif stores, so Mood33 will ride that reach to expand its own footprint as it drills down there before considering moves to outside states like Nev and Mass. Michael figures his effects-based brand should be good complement to Caliva bev portfolio that focuses on good-for-you or fun-for-you segments. Of course, Caliva’s recent acquisition of Zola gives it further expertise to build out bev portfolio, with Zola ceo Chris Cuvelier now serving as head of beverage there.
The partnership allows Mood33 to try to refine approach in channel that’s still in wild-west stage. For one, partners are developing cooler programs that might impose some order on bev sets that can be totally chaotic in dispensaries. And it’s finding that dramatic move down in price from $10+ commanded by many THC plays to $6 at its highest-volume Oakland store revved up biz enough to justify price point that’s more in synch with CBD-only bev prices these days. So it will expand that experiment. And to stimulate awareness and demand, last week it launched big marketing campaign via Leafly site, finally putting it in a position to tie its marketing investments to concrete ROI, area Christopher pursued as marketing exec before his move into cannabis.
It wasn’t so long ago that a bev entrepreneur talking about taking a “digital-first” sales strategy was presumed to be short of capital, sense of urgency or sheer common sense. In recent years that’s changed dramatically, with Soylent among the brands that’s helped pioneer notion that direct-to-consumer can be way not just to build awareness but to actually build meaningful top line. At BevNet Live, Vital Proteins founder/ceo Kurt Seidensticker offered deep dive into rationale and pragmatic details of how collagen-centered brand has ignited in a few years to exceed $100 mil in sales largely by focusing on digital channel in its first 3 years. He offered concrete examples of how approach yields valuable product development guidance, builds velocity story that sets foundation for retail launch and harnesses expanding network of micro-influencers to up engagement levels with targeted consumers. Even at this stage, where Vital is well-developed retail brand, new items aren’t released to retail until they prove out online. Co offers range of collagen-infused shots, bottled waters, lattes and tubs of Collagen Peptides.
Brand launched in 2013 claims to be first to develop therapeutic-grade collagen product, with view of developing digital-only relationship with consumers in early days that by by time it was ready for retail it could already boast meaningful velocity – “from day 1,” he said. These days, that’s not necessarily an inexpensive approach, with Vital consistently dedicating 15-20% of revenue to marketing out the gate. By last year, tho, it was boasting nearly $110 mil in sales, 35% of that still from DTC channel.
Vital Protein started as paleo brand, aligning with key paleo influencers and letting DTC sales drive what brand was, along way developing full digital program for ecommerce strategy. By 2014 Vital was doing 30-40-50 events a year for influencer marketing, starting with Whole30 founder Melissa Hartwig, first person Seidensticker met at trade show, who became unpaid unsolicited champion. While most new bev brands would rush out to hire a sales team, Vital instead focused on influencer base. By 2016 it had 16 staffers focused on digital but still no sales team. They were supporting 1,500+ influencers situated across the beauty, fitness and nutrition disciplines. By then, brand was deemed ready for retail push, and when Whole Foods took it on it quickly became major brand in Whole Body part of store.
One crucial point: it’s not all about the big influencers who boast social media followings of 3-4 mil but the relationships you develop with micro-influencers who might only have 2-5K Instagram followers but have way more clout because of engagement level of 25-40%. But model has been evolving, with Vital moving from setup where most influencers right up to Jennifer Aniston and Kourtney Kardashian were not paid to establishing an affiliate program where compensation is considered (15% commission, per website). Among current initiatives is devising proprietary platform that develops analytics on micro-influencers since it's so hard for staffers to manage thousands of relationships.
About 2-3 years in, co started harnessing data via providers like Google Analytics and Experian Analytics, finding that 80% of consumers were women, age 25-49 and with household incomes of $80K+. By talking directly to those consumers, Vital has garnered insights that have driven innovation: for instance, the recognition that 52% were adding collagen to their coffee in the morning led to launch of a creamer line. Formulations also were influenced by knowledge that many were allergic to soy and gluten.
First-party data has also been crucial, much of it garnered by way of field marketing events where contact info is collected as samples are handed out. Vital did over 200 events annually in 2017 and 2018; that will jump to closer to 750 this year. Vital also does 4-5K demos annually at Whole Foods.
Among other recent initiatives founder cited, Vital early this year took a page from Sephora and dropped free shipping, inaugurating a $50 order threshold to qualify. It found an uplift in sales, with no customer complaints. Vital also started a subscription program that now has grown to 42% of all website sales. Shoppers “love seeing the blue box arrive at the house on a regular basis,” he said. Also inaugurated has been a sampler program, where for every $50 spent, shoppers can pick 1 sample to be included in the shipment, move that adds almost nothing to co’s costs.
Vital counts Amazon as a key partner. “Very hard to outperform Amazon,” said Seidensticker. His main recommendation: don’t sell to people who sell on Amazon, but develop the capability yourself and put efforts into preventing other people from representing your brand. So Amazon generates double what comes in on co’s own website, “but it’s still our program.” Relationship is activated in a variety of ways – say, by retargeting ads featuring endorser Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls to viewers watching NBA game on Amazon Fire.
In the Northeast, the name Hudson News has increasingly been part of conversation among brand owners considering evolving mix of distribution options. At BevNet Live, the exec who began to bring aboard bev and snack brands to century-old distributor of newspapers and magazines outlined unusually flexible approach, at least at this stage, that welcomes brands that need only a single chain or narrow geographic area between DSD partners serviced. “We’re in the stores, we have the trucks and we have the warehouses,” said chief revenue officer Tom Dowdy, in conversation with BevNet’s Marty Caballero at BevNet Live conference in NY today.
Hudson News goes back a century and 3 generations of family ownership as magazine and newspaper distributor that along way opened stores in airports, unit spun off a decade ago as Hudson Group and IPOd. (It now operates about 1,000 travel center retail locations.) As print biz has continued to decline by 5-7% annually, co sought diversification that could continue to support massive infrastructure that includes 14 warehouses, distribution centers in NH, NJ and Penn and fleet of 400 trucks, along with team of 2K merchandisers. Service footprint extends from northern Virginia to Maine, from State College, Penn, east to coast. “Any place that sells People magazine in the Northeast, it comes from us,” Dowdy said. Since mag has one-week shelf life, that requires weekly visits to 15K stores with over 50K checkout stands. Customer base includes 2K Walgreens stores, similar # of CVS stores, 524 Walmarts, 325 Targets, and grocery chains like Wakefern, Shaws and Wegmans. All told, 80% of biz are national accts.
Dowdy was brought in 3 years ago to find ways to deploy that excess capacity via move into bevs and snacks, starting with La Croix sparkling water. Since then, Hudson has added likes of Nestle Waters brands, Polar Seltzer, Hint Water, Icelandic Glacial and most recently Illy RTD coffee. It’s signed a contract with New Age Beverages to service brands like Xing Tea and Marley in Northeast (BBI, Apr 4). More are on the way.
Strategy required retraining process for route people and merchandisers who proved pleasantly surprised to find that, unlike print publications, where half the inventory goes back to publishers every week, there are no returns in bevs. (Hudson shreds 3 tractor-trailer loads of paper a day in Parsippany, NJ – so “that’s where magazines go to die,” Dowdy offered.) Drivers strictly make the deliveries and the merchandisers take it from there. But “we don’t participate in sell-in at the retail level” – rather, brands must leverage their own sales org or broker network for that, tho Hudson News intends to expand its sales dept to get there in future.
As Dowdy tries to build relationships both with bev brand owners and retail bev buyers, he’s been happy to far to accept new clients even for narrowly defined roles – whether just serving individual chain like Target or piece of geography that falls between significant DSD partners and creates void in servicing retail chains. That’s increasingly important as chains evolve hybrid DSD/warehouse program to DSD, as Target has done with all 320 stores in Northeast. Even limited roles are valuable for Hudson News because “our objective is to get a relationship with a brand and grow that relationship,” he said.
In soliciting new suppliers, Dowdy’s team expects to see promo plan for next 6 months, and monitors performance via its merchandisers’ handhelds and analytics dept “that does nothing but read scan data” from retailers like Target. “By 8 AM on Monday we know what weekend sales were at Target, and can adjust our coverage frequency to adjust out-of-stocks or measure how successful a Hint 10-for-$10 was.”
As Hudson News progresses with strategy, it’s recognized need to increase delivery frequency at times, while building in-store relationships with folks other than magazine guys at front end.
Most client brands have DTC element and that’s fine by Hudson News, which presumes that biz serves as “built-in sampling program.” But Dowdy wishes their social media efforts more often tied into retail tier, say, steering consumers to Target promo that could save them money. “I don’t see much of that at all and I think it’s a missed opportunity for brands to tie into what’s basically their advertising program,” as he put it. Meanwhile, ecommerce program at Hudson News makes it easy for indie stores to place orders via special portal, with deliveries shipped within 3 days, to minimize credit risk of that channel.
PepsiCo has promoted its leader in China to chief commercial officer. Ram Krishnan, ceo for Greater China, succeeds Laxman Narasimhan, who’s leaving to take ceo job at Reckitt Benckiser Group. Like many in PEP’s upper hierarchy, Krishnan did his time on Frito side, rising to cmo there, then ran Walmart Customer Team. He’s been running China biz for 2 years . . . More change at Keurig Dr Pepper: Meg Newman has resigned as chief human resources officer and been succeeded by Pinnacle Foods vet Mary Beth DeNooyerto. She had joined Pinnacle Foods in 2013 after its IPO and most recently served as chief HR officer there, after roles at Hillshire Brands, Sara Lee, Pepsi Bottling Group and General Mills. KDP ceo Bob Gamgort cited as relevant her HR experience at Pinnacle during time of rapid expansion fueled by acquisitions.
V8 got barely a minute of individual focus – and not a single investor question – during Campbell Soup Co’s 3-hr-long investor day at Camden, NJ, hq. No great detail shed yet on co’s plans going forward beyond leveraging benefits of single-serve cans. V8 “has not performed great over the last 52 weeks,” understated prexy/ceo Mark Clouse. “I would say down slightly, a little bit better lately, but more up and down,” he added. “Our opportunity here is to really focus on what’s been working, which is around single-serve.” He also said: “We have to work our way around some of the more disadvantaged parts of this portfolio, where the declines are happening,” without specifying which pkg size and sku’s he meant. It was reflection of bigger fish he has to fry as Campbell continues to integrate massive snack portfolio, seek cost savings and revive soup biz, with bev biz downsized to just V8 now that Bolthouse Farms refrigerated juice arm is being hived off to investor group. As reported, Meals & Bevs div in which V8 is housed just got a new leader (BBI, Jun 11).