Performance Food Group (PFG) appointed Warren M. Thompson to the Board of Directors. He will serve as an independent director, expanding the PFG Board to a total of 11 directors. Thompson will join the PFG Audit and Technology Committees, effective immediately.
2021 is shaping up to be a different year at Heineken as James Thompson takes over for Jan Derck van Karnebeek in the chief commercial officer role in the early part of next year. Karnebeek has given notice and will be leaving the brewer to pursue other interests effective March 1.
US Foods hired Bill Hancock as the new EVP and chief supply chain officer. Hancock will be responsible for warehousing, transportation, and supply chain strategy and operations effective November 9, announced the company. He will also head up safety, labor relations and continuous improvement initiatives in the warehouses.
The Just Eat Takeaway.com merger with Grubhub received a boost today with the release of a favorable presentation by a majority shareholder, Cat Rock Capital Management LP. The Greenwich, Conn.-based investment firm owns approximately 4.5 percent of Just Eat Takeway.com’s outstanding shares. The analysis presents the case that Just Eat and Grubhub will be more strongly-positioned after the merger, also projecting a bright future for Grubhub in the US market.
US Foods announced it had launched US Foods Ghost Kitchens for restaurants, a training and preparatory support program. The company—a top US foodservice distributor—said that the solution would help clients unleash additional top-line growth. Included in the ghost kitchen solution are resources and marketing support, as well as webinars and consultants that can provide one-on-one advice to restaurants.
Impossible Foods—the maker of Impossible Burger and Impossible Sausage—raised an additional $200M to expand research and development and quicken the pace of its growth, closing its latest funding round. The Series G raise was led by Coatue, supported by existing investors, Mirae Asset Global Investments and Temasek, and included XN—a new investor. A previous Series F round raised $500M.
Plant-based food producer Eat Just, Inc. (Just) and and a subsidiary of Post Holdings have signed a distribution agreement that will accelerate and amplify Just Egg’s distribution. Michael Foods, which is a processor of value-added eggs, becomes the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of Just Egg within the foodservice and food ingredient space. The once-unlikely partnership shows how plant-based foods are permeating the mainstream food landscape.
As food banks across the country are challenged to meet the growing demand of households facing food insecurity, US Foods hit a new milestone. Since March, the third-largest U.S. broadline foodservice distributor by revenue has donated $10M in food and supplies to charitable organizations and food banks. By partnering with Feeding America, Rosemont, Ill.-based US Foods donates product to these community organizations, which have increasing needs due the COVID-19 impact, across the United States.
Investment firm KKR returned to its relationship with US Foods. CD&R and KKR are the private equity firms that purchased US Foods from Royal Ahold, N.V. in 2007 for approximately $7.1B, and later took it public. Now in 2020, KKR will invest $500M in US Foods and receive newly-issued convertible preferred stock in the company.
Panera launched Panera Grocery, making some inroads into the food retailer category. At a time when nearly all on-premises dining is closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, restaurants are turning to pantry items, specialty foods, butcher meats, family kits and many other types of market items to draw in additional business. According to the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant industry lost $25B in sales during the first three weeks of March. And foodservice consultancy Technomic projects the foodservice industry this year could tally as little as 73 percent of the sales it posted in 2019.
