Snack World - November 2014 - 22

Wise Foods is adding new products tailored to today's changing
consumer trends

While change may be constant for every company,
at Wise Foods, two key factors that have been at the
core of the snack producer's success throughout its
history remain the same: the focus on teamwork and
on serving high-quality snacks, said Jolie Weber, Wise
Foods' CFO.
"With a workforce consisting of numerous secondand third-generation workers, along with many
husband-and-wife employees, teamwork has always
been a founding principle at Wise Foods," Ms. Weber
said. "Wise clearly recognizes the importance of people
working well together on common interests in order to
be successful in the marketplace. Additionally, as the
No. 1 employer in Berwick, Wise goes further and is active in support of the local community." Wise has about
1,000 employees.
Snacking behaviors have helped the company evolve,
Ms. Weber added. "In the past, the competitive set was
viewed mostly as other salty snacks," she said. "Today,
along with consumer wants and needs changing, nontraditional snack players have created more portable
and on-the-go options."
Wise has added numerous new snack products, such
as its new Grab & Snack Flavor Mix Variety Packs, which
includes several new bold chip flavors. Ms. Weber predicts additional new items tailored to today's changing
consumer are on the way.
"In the future, Wise will be working to expand its portfolio of offerings, especially in the immediate consumption segment," she explained. "We see this manifesting
in flavors, such as bolder, hotter offerings, as well as
more targeted products toward Hispanic consumers
and other demographic groups."
Wise is also working to make certain that distributors and retailers have a voice in its portfolio and are
part of the retail execution solution, according to
Angel Flores, Wise Foods vice president, direct-store
delivery (DSD) sales. He noted that Wise maintains an
open dialogue with its distributors and retail partners
to discuss ideas for new products and promotions to
drive mutual growth.
"We spend a great deal of time discussing service, an
important ingredient, especially in our DSD operation,"
he said. "Notably, at the end of 2013, Wise initiated a
change in our selling structure to place incremental
focus on retail execution and headquarter account selling. The point of view of the customer, considering the
shared interest of distributors, retailers and consumers
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Snack World

November 2014

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is central to all that we do at Wise Foods."
Wise services customers in the eastern US via its DSD
operations and uses a warehouse direct selling modeling for service beyond that region.
The relationship between Wise Foods and Arca Continental encompasses a family of trusted brands, including Coca Cola, Topo Chico, Bokados, Topitos, Tortolines
and more, Mr. Flores said.
"We are leveraging best practices from the Coca Cola
team in Mexico," he said, "and applying that at retail in
the US Arca Continental and their Coca Cola organization has been helpful in sharing some of the tools used
to optimize routes, improve retail coverage and increase
merchandising execution. Wise Foods will be going
deeper with those insights in 2015."
Mr. Bostock credits his company's longtime relationship with SFA as being important to its success.
"SFA has a very important role as the voice of the
industry in Washington and elsewhere in support
of regulatory and other affairs," he said, noting that
SFA provides training and serves as an information
resource, especially in health matters, employment
and transportation.
"SNAXPO is a good event to pull together the industry for a variety of reasons," he added, "and 2014 was the
best event in the past several years. The Wise team is
very happy with the SFA team."
Through all of this change, Mr. Bostock is emphatic that the company remains committed to classic
snack foods, twists on old favorites and introductions of new flavors, all made with care from the
highest quality ingredients.
"It all comes back to the potato chip," he said. "That's
why Wise will stick with what has always worked -
making real snacks for real people, made to be enjoyed
with family and friends."
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Snack World - November 2014

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