Last year, employees at Orval Kent Food Co.’s Linares, Mexico, plant had a lot to celebrate. The 113,500-square-foot fruit processing facility marked its 20th anniversary and many of its workers have been with the company since it opened its doors.
At a time when consumers demand value, branded retail food companies no longer can afford a dysfunctional approach to R&D. Gone are the days of emphasizing development over consumer research.
What qualities does someone need to successfully lead a food company? That topic captivated me last September when Refrigerated & Frozen Foods profiled Nestlé Prepared Foods Co. and, in part, its President and CEO Angelo Iantosca.
“Reach for the brass ring.” The phrase may be somewhat dated - considering it originated from a carousel ride popular in the early 1900s. Yet it’s still frequently used to describe someone striving toward a reward.
Visit ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston in Pasco, Wash., and you’ll find the maxim also embodied there. Although, this is a different type of ring altogether.
ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston is a company for all seasons. In late October, for example, visitors at the company’s Pasco, Wash., french fry plant can see a receiving room full of potatoes - the last fall crop from fields throughout the Columbia Basin. Later, it will be time for Pasco and other potato operations to draw winter stocks from raw material storage houses.
It was back in the early '70s and most often, right after school. That's when every able-bodied kid in my block huddled together. Each one stuck a foot in the middle and then one kid (certainly a leader among us) used a mathematical process to determine who would be "it" in the next game of freeze tag.
They say that speed kills. Then again, I’m convinced that the pace of change in today’s food industry - driven by technology and consumer demographics - bodes well for new business opportunities. So, in my scenario: speed thrills.
Nestle Prepared Foods’ plant in Jonesboro, Ark., is one busy place. With nearly 600 employees working up to seven days a week, this 325,000-square-foot operation produces as many as 50 different frozen entrees.