Food Business News - January 15, 2013 - 13

Butterball acquires Illinois
pork processor
GARNER, N.C. — Butterball,
L.L.C. has acquired Gusto Packing
Co., Montgomery, Ill., a
family-owned pork processor
with six product lines, including
hickory and apple wood smoked
bacon, bone-in smoked pork and
turkey products, smoked boneless
hams, cooked hams, pork
and turkey deli meat s, and spiral
sliced hams. Terms of the agreement
were not disclosed.
While retaining a focus on its
core product of turkey, Butterball looks to add
approximately 325 million lbs
of processing capacity to its
operations with the acquisition.
“This additional capacity allows
us to support Butterball
branded geographic expansion
and achieve greater account
penetration within current markets,”
said Rod Brenneman,
chief executive offi cer of Butterball.
“It also affords us the
ability to develop and manufacture
innovative products for the
Butterball brand.” FBN
Hillshire Brands
hires corporate
strategy leader
Inventure to produce Vidalia branded snacks
PHOENIX — Inventure Foods has added a new
layer to its brand portfolio with Vidalia Brands,
Inc., Glennville, Ga., to develop a sweet onion
snack line.
First out will be Vidalia Sweet Onion Petals,
made with sweet onion puree and baked into
sticks that have a crunchy texture. The snack will
be available in vending machines, supermarkets
and convenience stores in the fi rst quarter of 2013.
Vidalia, known for its sweet onion-fl avored
sauces and seasonings, joins a growing list of
Inventure-licensed brands, including Jamba,
T.G.I. Friday’s and Nathan’s Famous.
“We have a successful track record of taking
consumer brands into the prepackaged,
ready-to-eat space,” said Steve Sklar, senior
vice-president of marketing for Inventure
Foods. “With Vidalia Brands, we are combining
powerful brand recognition with the latest
in snack trends to introduce a product line
that will certainly taste great, but will also feel
immediately familiar to consumers.”
CHICAGO – Brian Davison has been
named senior vice-president of corporate
strategy and development at
The Hillshire Brands Co. Mr. Davison
will lead Hillshire’s acquisition,
merger and divestiture activities,
strategic planning and the implementation
of what the company
calls “high-impact projects.”
“Brian has deep food industry and
consumer knowledge that he uses to
create high impact strategic and operational
plans,” said Sean Connolly,
chief executive offi cer of Hillshire.
“His addition to our manage ment
team will help focus our business development
activities and build additional
momentum for companywide
operational improvement priorities.”
Mr. Davison was previously vicepresident
of strategic planning at Kraft
Foods Inc. He has a bachelor’s degree
in chemical engineering from the University
of Illinois and a master’s degree
in business administration from the
University of Chicago. FBN
Acquisition expands
Agropur’s ingredient
portfolio
At 130 calories per serving, Vidalia Sweet
Onion Petals will be sold in 2.25-oz and 3.5-oz
bags with a suggested retail price of $1.99 and
$2.49, respectively. FBN
LONGUEUIL, QUE. — The dairy cooperative
Agropur has acquired the
dry ingredients blending business
of Foremost Farms USA, Baraboo,
Wis. Foremost’s dry blending business
includes brands such as ReddiSponge,
PZ-44, Econo Bake, Dairy
Bake, Nutrimix and Baker’s Special.
Terms of the agreement were not
disclosed.
Target takes aim at groceries in new national ad campaign
MINNEAPOLIS — The Target Corp. is showcasing
its grocery offerings in a new national
advertising campaign. “The Everyday Collection”
campaign highlight s the retailer’s
grocery selection in what it calls a humorous
style.
Since 2009, Target has remodeled more than
1,100 stores to its PFresh format and it includes
a larger food selection, including perishables.
The retailer widened its focus beyond home
goods and clothing in response to research
January 15, 2013
indicating consumers would shop more often
at Target if more food items were available,
said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and
chief executive offi cer of Target.
“The addition of a deeper food assortment
gave us the opportunity to completely reinvent
our general merchandise format, transforming
categories throughout the store in a visually
compelling environment,” he said in a November
conference call with fi nancial analysts to
discuss the company’s third-quarter results. FBN
“The ingredients business is an
important sector for the future
growth of our organization in the
U.S., and this investment, which
is in keeping with Agropur’s strategies,
will allow us to grow in the
baking and blending industry,” said
Robert Coallier, chief executive offi
cer of Agropur.
The newly acquired brands will
become a part of Agropur’s Main
Street Ingredients business unit.
With sales of $3.6 billion annually,
Agropur processes approximately
7 billion lbs of milk per year in 25
plants across Canada and the United
States. FBN
FOODBUSINESSNEWS
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Food Business News - January 15, 2013

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