The man behind the vision

Who is Hein Deprez, the CEO and founder of UniVeg? And what does he want with Ready Pac?

I visited this morning Mayda Sotomayor of Seald Sweet and Bruce McEvoy, director of global affairs for Belgium’s UniVeg Group, owner of Vero Beach, Fla.-based Seald Sweet LLC. Mayda had just returned from a trip to South Africa were Hein Deprez was present. She said Hein - whom she describes as a low key personality with tremendous vision for the industry - had been looking to make another investment in North America for a while.

McEvoy said UniVeg is involved with fresh cut processing companies that feature the kind of innovation that Ready Pac is known for in the U.S. As I was looking at the links in the UniVeg Web site, I noticed one UniVeg company in Sweden, Hot Cuisine, specializes in ready to eat meals. Its expertise is in applying three technologies to fresh and frozen ingredients:

Sous-vide cooking (in pouches)
Steam pasteurisation (in trays)
M.A.P. (Modified Atmosphere Packaging)

TK: With access to all the fresh cut technology in the U.S. and ready to eat meal technology in Europe, this UniVeg investment in Ready Pac looks to fit the classic ideal of "cross-fertilization." Perhaps fresh cut citrus may be a future side benefit as well for Seald Sweet.

All about peppers

The USDA has unleashed a gaggle of spreadsheets about bell pepper and chile pepper production, and you can find them all here. However, the most important spreadsheet of the bunch is published here. The USDA reports that the percentage of U.S. consumption of bell peppers that is imported has risen from about 22% in 2000 to nearly 30% in 2006. Per capita consumption of bell peppers is 7.6 pounds in 2006, the highest reported usage ever in the U.S. and up from 7.1 pounds in 2005.

Whole Foods plus Wild Oats

Hold on to your granola bar - Whole Foods Inc. said it will buy Wild Oats for $565 million.
This story by The Packer's Pamela Riemenschneider illuminates:

The companies announced Feb. 21 they had signed a definitive merger agreement under which the Austin, Texas-based retailer will purchase Wild Oats’ common stock for approximately $565 million. Whole Foods also will assume Wild Oats’ existing net debt, estimated at $106 million.“Our companies have similar missions and core values, and we believe the synergies gained from this combination will create long-term value for our customers, vendors and shareholders as well as exciting opportunities for our new existing team members,” John Mackey, Whole Foods co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
Mackey said it could take up to two years to fold Wild Oats’ operations into Whole Foods, which is similar to other acquisitions made by the natural foods retailer.“We expect this acquisition to be similar and that over time we will recognize significant synergies through G&A cost reductions, greater purchasing power and increased utilization of facilities,” he said. “We are particularly excited to gain many talented team members who will provide valuable support in reaching our growth goal of $12 billion in sales in 2010.”According to the companies, Wild Oats’ largest stakeholder, the Yucaipa Cos., which bought about 18% of Wild Oats’ shares in 2005, has committed to the sale.

TK: The market likes the fact that Whole Foods absorbed a competitor, but I wonder if organic growth is such that another Whole Foods-like retailer will spring up to present a fresh challenge.

Carbon footprint backlash

It's a strange term and a weird expression - a carbon footprint backlash - but of course we know exactly what it means. People that ship fresh produce from afar to distant markets - such as Africa to the U.K. - are worried. Here is a report from the BBC about how Kenyan vegetable exporters are puzzled about why they are the bad guys in the environmental campaign against food miles.

Rutgers professor William Hallman said yesterday that E. coli tainted spinach and lettuce becomes the point of reference in every foodborne illness story, and I see that truth everyday in various stories. Here is a column from a West Virginia paper about peanut butter that makes the obligatory reference.
From the column:

Now, it seems folks are getting sick — including a few locally — after eating peanut butter possibly linked to a national salmonella scare. This comes on the heels of the spinach, green onion and lettuce scares last year.


Here is another story from The Salt Lake Tribune about E. coli and lettuce, quoting sources from Natural Selections and Fresh Express.


TK: It should be noted that peanut butter, chicken breasts and pasta sauces had foodborne illness outbreaks linked to those products this week. But, for now, at least, it all ties back to fresh produce.

Krafty

With the recent travails fresh produce has endured - the bright light of media inquiry, the FDA statements about E. coli linked to spinach and lettuce - it is easy to forget that fruits and vegetables still have a lot going for them. Note the news on The Packer's Web site that Univeg has signed a letter of intent to invest in Ready Pac. Also, I was visiting this week with a leader in the industry who was gave me some background on private equity interest in fresh produce companies.

Now this morning I found this story on Kraft Foods at MediaPost's Marketing Daily.
From the Feb. 21 story:

A comment made by Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld at yesterday's presentation to analysts had some observers wondering if the giant food products maker is working out a way to give on-the-go consumers both the convenience and healthy food they demand.
"We also have some innovative ideas about how to optimize the supply chain by partnering with providers of fresh produce," said Rosenfeld. "The result--branded, prepared salads that offer a whole new level of convenience, freshness and quality." A Kraft spokesperson said later the company would not amplify.
Kraft is working on using its proprietary technologies in concert with its trusted brands, Rosenfeld said, to build complete meal solutions as it does with Oscar Mayer Deli Creations, which are just launching.
Rosenfeld has talked of focusing more effort on higher-margin, ready-meal offerings as well as brands such as its "Back to Nature" lineup, which tap into rising demand for healthier foods.
The long-awaited reorganization will include increased marketing spending and a refocus of its product lineup in a bid to boost organic sales growth to 3 to 4% next year.

TK: The path from the drawing board to the supermarket is sometimes too far to bridge, but let's hope Rosenfeld's lofty dreams of using fresh produce in prepared salads is the start of something big for this food marketing giant.