• 🥫 Campbell Soup Optimizes Supply Chain
• 🤖 The Robots March Ahead
• 🏭 1440 Foods' New Production Facility
• 🔄 People Moves: SkinnyDipped Appoints R&D Director and More
• 🛒 Talking Shop With Insiders From Walmart, Sprouts & Gelson’s

Mondelēz will pay a $365.74 million (€337.5 million) fine to the European Commission due to its “historical” engagement in anti-competitive practices that limited competition and barred parallel trade activities in several E.U. member states. 

• The Oreo, Toblerone, Cadbury and Ritz maker entered into 22 agreements that limited the territories wholesale traders could resell its chocolates, biscuits and coffee, in turn driving up prices, reducing competition and limiting consumer choice, the announcement said. 
• The fine is a result of a 2019 probe into anticompetitive practices in the E.U., and Mondelēz acknowledged the possibility of the repercussions in an SEC filing in February 2023.
• The fine is for activities that occurred between 2006 and 2020 and was reduced by 15% due to the company’s cooperation with the investigation and acknowledgement it was liable for infringement. 
• Mondelēz added that the fine was a result of a settlement reached with the commission and relates to isolated incidents that have since been remedied.

Nevertheless, the news comes at an interesting moment in time for big CPGs. For starters, the price of chocolate, a key component of many Mondelēz products, has reached an all-time high, and the ingredient is facing an uncertain future as supply runs short with no clear remedy in sight. 

Additionally, while food inflation has begun to subside in the U.S., other markets, including the E.U., are still feeling a strong squeeze. Remember earlier this year when France-based grocer Carrefour banned PepsiCo products due to its shrinkflation practices? Well, that move only came after the French government had rounded up reps from big food companies months before in hopes of finding a way to moderate grocery prices (and ultimately didn’t reach a resolution).

And while his jurisdiction doesn’t extend across the pond, President Biden has also recently taken a strong stance against the pricing practices of big CPG here in the U.S.… a position that has been broadened to become part of his 2024 campaign platform. All in all, it appears the year ahead could see more big government interventions in the world of big food and beverage as new tactics to bring down food prices are rolled out in the face of lingering price pressures. 

What will they try next? And will it work? We will be watching. 

Go Deeper: What’s in Store for CPG Amid Rising Cocoa Prices?

A supply chain transformation is underway at Campbell Soup Company. The Camden, N.J.-based company today announced several key changes to its manufacturing footprint to enhance efficiency including:

• Ceasing operations at its Pacific Foods plant in Tualatin, Ore., by July 2026 and transitioning production to other Campbell’s plants and co-mans, eliminating 330 jobs. 
• Reducing the size of a Jefferson, Ind., snack facility by shifting kettle potato chip production to other Campbell’s plants, eliminating 85 jobs.
• Investing approximately $230 million through fiscal 2026 (including $80 million spent to date) to add capacity to plants in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, creating a total of 210 new roles.
• Expanding production of Goldfish crackers at its Richmond, Utah, plant, adding approximately 80 new roles at the site.

As A.I. makes good on its promise to be a disruptive force throughout the business world, the food and beverage industry is continuing to see more companies adopt these new technologies. Here’s a sample of the latest updates:

🛒 From the labor side, Erewhon has partnered with workforce management solutions firm Legion Technologies to adopt A.I.-powered automated scheduling and demand forecasting. The retailer intends to use the software to “maximize labor efficiency,” which includes the “InstantPay” app that offers “gig-like flexibility.” 

📈 GlobalData found this month that A.I. was the “second most common theme” in global M&A activity in Q1 2024 across industries, second only to supply-chain disruption but ahead of shale oil, digital banking and ESG. 

🥤 Just Drinks, a subsidiary of GlobalData, reported that U.S.-based beverage businesses led the world in placing A.I.-related job listings last year, with 1,315 listings as of January 2023. Beer giants were eager to add to their A.I. divisions, as Anheuser-Busch InBev had 125 A.I.-related jobs posted in that time while Heineken had 104.

🧑🏽‍💻 A Jefferies Equity Research report this week called it “Early AI-nnings” for beverage and household products, and analysts believe PepsiCo and Colgate PalmOlive have had the biggest head start on the competition. Pepsi’s Pep Worx platform – which helps it ID target audiences for new innovations – was used in preparation for the launch of Quaker Overnight Oats, for example. 

1440 Foods, the maker of MET-Rx, Pure Protein and Body Fortress, is renovating a 200,000 sq. ft. office and manufacturing space to meet the “growing demand for healthy, on-the-go snacking options,” according to a release. 

💲 The new Jefferson, Ind., production facility garnered over $60 million in total investment and is supported by $3.7 million in incentive-based tax credits through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Construction is expected to be completed by 2025.

🤝 1440 Foods is jointly owned by 4x4 Capital and Bain Capital Private Equity, which purchased The Bountiful Company’s former sports and active nutrition business from prior owners, KKR and The Carlyle Group, in October 2021.

☕ Coffee and tea roaster, wholesaler, and distributor Farmer Brothers has hired Vance Fisher as its CFO; Fisher hails from Nothing Bundt Cakes.

🍫 Kirsten Sutaria has joined SkinnyDipped as its new director of R&D and innovation and will draw from over 16 years of experience “to create new indulgent, better-for-you snacks that fans will love.”

🐮 Cultivated meat company Meatable has appointed Jeff Tripician, the former president of Perdue Premium Meat Company, as its new CEO; he will lead the company’s U.S. market expansion. 

👀 Flour milling and ingredient company Ardent Mills has appointed Sheryl Wallace as its new CEO, effective July 8; Wallace succeeds Dan Dye, who announced his retirement earlier this month.

🌱 Hain Celestial has named Chris Jenkins as its global head of impact. Jenkins will oversee Hain’s global impact strategy to grow purpose-driven brands across its portfolio while executing other sustainability and wellbeing initiatives.

If you’ve ever wanted to get inside the mind of a retail buyer or merchandiser, this episode, in which we sit down with key executives representing mass, specialty and natural grocery retail chains, is required listening.

Check it out now.