Milling & Baking News - December 15, 2020 - 10

Business

Aryzta reshaping structure through
sell-offs, management makeover
earlier this year he was named president
and chief commercial officer of North
America. Prior to joining Aryzta he was
chief development officer at daa plc,
founder and CEO of Clearpower and
AER, acquisitions manager and development director at Boundary Capital Ltd.,
engagement manager at McKinsey & Co.,
trade marketing manager at Tomkins PLC,
and business analyst at McKinsey & Co.
Mr. Murphy joined Aryzta in November
2017 as chief people officer, where he was
responsible for working with the company's operating regions to establish a strong,
focused and centralized human resource
function that supports the group's people,
stabilization and strategic growth objectives. Prior to Aryzta Mr. Murphy held a
number of senior HR roles with Diageo,
Cadbury, Kraft Foods and Mondelez.
Aryzta said it will not replace Mr. Heffernan or Mr. Murphy.
" The board would like to express its
gratitude to both Tony and John for their
contribution to Aryzta over the past three
years, " Aryzta said.
The departure of Mr. Heffernan and

Mr. Murphy comes a week after the
board of directors of Aryzta AG named
Marcus Opitz as its new chief restructuring officer and Armin Bieri as its chief

ARYZTA AMERICAS

Continued from Page 1

The disposal of its North American take-andbake pizza line marks the first steps in Aryzta's reshaping of its portfolio.

transformation officer. The company also
recently welcomed Urs Jordi as chairman and interim chief executive officer

Former Aryzta pizza business to become
Great Kitchens Food Company, Inc.
GREENWICH, CONN. - A newly-formed portfolio company of Greenwich-based private equity firm
Brynwood Partners VIII LP, Great Kitchens Food Company, Inc. immediately becomes a leader in the
private label take-and-bake pizza market, operating a 165,000-square-foot crust manufacturing plant
in Chicago Heights, Ill., and a 155,000-square-foot topping plant in Romeoville, Ill. The two plants
employ approximately 700. The company's headquarters will be in Romeoville.
Admir Basic has been named president and chief commercial officer of Great Kitchens, while Bill
Steckel will join Great Kitchens as its chief financial officer.
Mr. Basic has been with Aryzta for nearly 10 years, most recently as senior vice president of retail. He also has worked as vice president of customer development and vice president of category
management for the Americas. He began his tenure at Aryzta as commercial finance and strategy
manager. Prior to Aryzta, he held several roles at Solo Cup Co., including sales planning and strategy
manager and supervisor of pricing analytics.
" We are thrilled to announce the creation of Great Kitchens, " said Henk Hartong III, chairman and
chief executive officer of Brynwood Partners. " We are excited to return to the private label pizza
space with this new investment. Our prior investment in the private label frozen pizza space with
Richelieu Foods, Inc. was very successful, and we are confident in the prospects for Great Kitchens.
We look forward to bringing a significant level of investment in new products and recipe innovations
to our retail partners through our best-in-class facilities. "
Brynwood acquired a majority ownership in Braintree, Mass.-based Richelieu Foods, Inc. in April 2005
from the domestic and overseas private equity funds of Weiss, Peck & Greer Investments, an affiliate of
Robeco USA. The investment in Richelieu Foods was sold to Centerview Partners Holdings LLC in 2010.
" On behalf of Brynwood Partners, I would like to sincerely thank the Aryzta team for being such
great partners on this carve-out, " said Ian MacTaggart, president, chief operating officer and CFO.
" This is the first deal we have done together, and we look forward to continuing our relationship. "
With the acquisition, Brynwood Partners has now acquired 56 brands from 21 different corporate
sellers. Founded in 1984, Brynwood Partners makes control investments in North American-based
lower middle market companies. The firm targets non-core brands or companies operating exclusively in the consumer sector. The company's current portfolio includes Buitoni Food Co., Hometown
Food Co., Carolina Beverage Group LLC and Harvest Hill Beverage Co. MBN
10 / December 15, 2020

Milling & Baking News

and Jonathan Solesbury as interim chief
financial officer.
The changes at Aryzta come against
a backdrop of continuing financial challenges. Total revenues at Aryzta AG fell
20.3% to €672.6 million ($808.2 million) during the first quarter ended Oct. 31, dragged
down by coronavirus-related declines in
the company's foodservice operations, the
company noted in a Dec. 1 trading update. Aryzta said the declines outweighed
improvements recorded in the company's
quick-service restaurant and retail channels.
" The Q1 results were broadly in line
despite the significant COVID-19 related disruptions and associated higher
costs and suboptimal capacity utilization
rates, " Mr. Jordi said.
Aryzta North America sustained an
organic revenue decline of 16.2%, which
included a volume decline of 15.7% with
a price/mix effect of 0.5%.
" COVID-19 cases continued to climb
across the US and the Canadian metro
areas, and more restrictions are expected
albeit not on a national level, " Aryzta
said. " QSR was adversely affected by the
closure of restaurants and public places,
but key customers have been able to
partly mitigate this by stronger take-out
and drive-thru services and an improved
digital offering. Foodservice continued to
lag due to the wide-spread restrictions on
in-restaurant dining, working from home
and other restrictions stemming from the
COVID-19 pandemic. The retail channel
remained relatively stable in this period. "
In Europe, Aryzta reported an organic
revenue decline of 15.7%, comprising a
0.1% price/mix decline and a volume decrease of 15.6%. Aryzta said most countries in Europe recently have experienced
an uptick of COVID-19 cases, and additional restrictions or lockdowns were imposed by governments.
" Large retail remained relatively robust even though revenue was impacted
by social distancing regulations and ongoing changes in customer behavior to
packaged goods, " the company said.
" QSR performed comparatively well despite restrictions to indoor dining. Foodservice is still significantly impacted by
COVID-19 restrictions. "
Elsewhere, Aryzta said its Rest of World
operations sustained an organic revenue
decline of 9.9% in the quarter. Foodservice
and QSR have been affected by a second
wave of restrictions in several countries
in Asia Pacific, Aryzta said, while certain
countries, such as Japan, have been impacted by a lack of tourism. Meanwhile,
demand in the QSR channel has held up
relatively well, compared to other markets, due to drive-thru and delivery services remaining open, Aryzta said. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com
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Milling & Baking News - December 15, 2020

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