Hormel Strengthens Grocery Business With Exec Appointments
Hormel Foods Corp. has made executive changes to accommodate one of its biggest acquisition deals. Jeff Frank will become VP of grocery products while Annemarie Vaupel will advance from director of marketing for the foodservice division to Frank’s former role as VP of marketing for foodservice business.
In Frank's new role, he will lead the strategic integration of the Planters and Corn Nuts brands into Hormel Foods. The $3.35 billion Planters and Corn Nuts acquisition from Kraft Heinz Co. was revealed on Feb. 11 and is expected to be completed by the summer. The acquisition includes the Planters, NUT-rition, Planters Cheez Balls and Corn Nuts brands, and three dedicated production facilities in California, Arkansas and Virginia.
"The Planters acquisition is the largest in the company's history and one that is going to require dedicated leadership and significant focus," said Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and CEO. "Jeff has broad experience within Hormel Foods and brings extensive retail, foodservice, operational and marketing experience to this new role within our grocery products business."
Meanwhile, as VP of marketing, Hormel Foodservice, Vaupel will be responsible for the overall development of marketing, brand strategy and financial performance for the foodservice business.
"Annemarie has significant knowledge and experience with Hormel Foods and in the broader foodservice industry," Snee said. "Annemarie will continue to provide leadership to our foodservice team through her innovation, marketing and sales acumen. She will also be a very strategic and important partner to our foodservice customers, as the foodservice industry continues to recover in 2021."
Frank, who was one of the speakers at Progressive Grocer’s Retail Foodservice Innovation Summit last year, began his career with Hormel Foods in 1998 in sales in San Francisco, and later moved to the company's Austin, Minnesota, global headquarters in product and brand management, overseeing brands such as Hormel Black Label bacon and Hormel Cure 81 ham. He went on to advance to leadership roles in retail marketing, returning to California and eventually leading the company's MegaMex Foods joint venture with Herdez del Fuerte S.A. de C.V (Mexico) as president and CEO, building a strong and growing business with brands such as Wholly Guacamole and Herdez salsa. He returned to the company's world headquarters in 2018, assuming his current role in the company's foodservice division.
Vaupel joined Hormel Foods in 2002. While she began in human resources, her love of food led her to the company's foodservice division where she has been an important leader in brand management, sales and innovation. She was a brand manager and national sales manager for the health care segment, and led the innovation efforts for the division. She assumed her current role as the director of marketing in 2018. Prior to starting her career with Hormel Foods, Vaupel held a variety of sales and management positions with Norwalk, Connecticut-based Xerox Corp.
Hormel Foods is a global branded food company with more than $9 billion in annual revenue across 80-plus countries worldwide. It reported record net sales of $2.5 billion for first quarter of fiscal 2021, up 3% for first quarter of fiscal 2020.
"Our balanced business model continues to perform well," Snee said. "We delivered extraordinary earnings growth from our grocery products and international segments this quarter as we continue to see elevated consumer demand for our center store retail products.
"I am increasingly optimistic about generating sales and earnings growth in fiscal 2021," he continued. "As such, we are setting our full -year earnings per share guidance at $1.70 to $1.82 per share, which does not include the expected impact from the acquisition of the Planters snack nuts business. The Planters acquisition is exciting and a perfect strategic fit for our company."
