Perhaps the idea of “business as usual” no longer exists in today’s economy. Even so, the nation’s largest dairy processor appears to be back on track.
Mixtures. Blends. It’s certainly not a new concept to any fresh-cut salad processor. Nor is it new to Fresh Express’ parent Chiquita Brands International Inc., Cincinnati, which reported mixed results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008.
Having posted a strong performance just a year before, the nation’s largest poultry, beef and pork processor, Tyson Foods Inc., ran into some fowl conditions in fiscal 2008.
Although the phrase, “burning the candle at both ends” has an unhealthy association, ConAgra Foods’ Lamb Weston frozen potato and appetizer business proves that a food processor can be equally busy at both ends of its business - from agriculture to insights research - while the company prospers.
Its global slogan reads, “Good Food. Good Life.” For that matter, CPG giant Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, could take it further and add “good year” to the list.
It may be the title of President Barack Obama’s best-selling biography, but “The Audacity of Hope,” also is a phrase that applies to the current state of affairs in the refrigerated and frozen food industry.
Perhaps the best word to describe Dean Foods Co.’s financial situation
is “fluid.” That is to say that the Dallas dairy giant’s fortunes have
been bleak - though officials expect that to improve during the second
half of this next fiscal calendar year.
You could say that
this was no time to be timid behind the wheel. As an industry leader,
Chiquita-Fresh Express recognized last year that it had to be active to
“drive recovery” in a value-added salads category still reeling
from the E.coli outbreak of fall 2006.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going . . . and continue growing. Actually, “continuing growth” was exactly how General Mills Inc., Minneapolis, summed up its fiscal 2007 performance.
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