Bruce Peterson is Naturipe President and CEO

Wal-Mart may be struggling, but Bruce Peterson is doing just fine. Here is the news release announcing Peterson's new position at Naturipe Farms:

Naturipe Farms Announces Bruce Peterson As Its New President and CEO

August 16, 2007, Naples Florida – Edmundo Ruiz, Chairman of the Board of Naturipe Farms LLC, announced today that Bruce Peterson has joined the company as President and Chief Executive Officer. Peterson is a 37 year veteran of the produce industry, most recently president of Peterson Insights, Inc. Prior to that, Peterson spent fifteen years at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. where he successfully launched and built the perishable foods division. When he retired from Wal-Mart in March 2007, Bruce held the position of Senior Vice President of Perishables.

“The Board of Directors and principals of Naturipe Farms are excited that Bruce has joined our company. He brings a unique perspective to our organization, and will help us move the company to the next level of our development,” said Mr. Ruiz.

“I am thrilled to be joining Naturipe Farms. They have built a very special organization that has some unique characteristics to it. I believe there is a tremendous opportunity to expand their business model to other applications, and I look forward to helping develop the company to realize its full potential,” stated Bruce Peterson.

John Shelford, president of Naturipe Farms LLC since the partnership was formed in 2000, will be stepping away from the company. Shelford commented “I have been honored and proud to be associated with such a progressive company and an exciting industry. I am pleased and support Bruce as he takes the leadership of Naturipe Farms.” Edmundo Ruiz commented that John Shelford has been a key asset for Naturipe Farms, helping the company to become a leader in the berry category.



TK: The Packer will no doubt have a chance to cover this story in detail this week, but I recall one conversation with Bruce Peterson in Kansas City in January 2006 (link here is excerpt from interview with Peterson with Beth Ashby and myself) where he specifically mentioned how he successfully challenged Wal-Mart stores to raise the bar for berry sales in a particular year. Peterson knows what it takes to deliver the goods to a retailer, whether that retailer is big box or small town. We look forward to hearing more about Peterson's vision for Naturipe and also are keenly interested in the plans John Shelford has. Shelford's enthusiasm for the industry and upbeat leadership style will serve him well for his next challenge. Here are a couple of previous posts about Bruce Peterson,

http://freshtalk.blogspot.com/2007/04/weekend-rewind-peterson-reflects.html
http://freshtalk.blogspot.com/2007/02/bruce-peterson-resigned.html

Wal-Mart's Midlife Crisis

The Business Week article on ""Wal-Mart's Midlife Crisis" is an interesting read, pointing out the mega-retailers struggles with out of stock/out of style merchandise, sagging same store sales and an under performing stock - not to mention getting handily beat in same store growth by Target, Kroger and others.

Here is an excerpt:

If Wal-Mart seems short of answers at the moment, it might well be because there aren't any good ones. Increasingly, it appears that America's largest corporation has steered itself into a slow-growth cul de sac from which there is no escape. "There are a lot of issues here, but what they add up to is the end of the age of Wal-Mart," contends Richard Hastings, a senior analyst for the retail rating agency Bernard Sands. "The glory days are over."

Here is the always instructive last graph of the story:

The odds are that Scott, or his successor, will have to choose between continuing to disappoint Wall Street or milking the U.S. operation for profits better reinvested overseas. Only by hitting the business development equivalent of the lottery in countries like China, India, or Brazil can the world's largest retailer hope to restore the robust growth that once seemed like a birthright.


TK: As critics say Wal-Mart needs to restyle and reinvigorate existing stories, the writer points out that the expansion impulse is "deeply encoded in Wal-Mart's DNA." Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott Jr. wants to open a new store at the pace of one a day for the next five years. In fact, he believes that Wal-Mart can add 4,000 Supercenters to the 2,000 that now exist. Currently,AC Nielsen reports Wal-Mart controls 20% of dry grocery, 29% of nonfood grocery, 17% of perishables and 45% of general merchandise sales. As Bruce Peterson said when he left Wal-Mart, there will never again be another chain that grows its food business like Wal-Mart did in the past 15 years. That truism may now apply to Wal-Mart as well. Speaking of Bruce, I spoke with him briefly today. Sounds like he may be giving a speech at CPMA.

Weekend rewind: Peterson reflects

I talked to Bruce Peterson on Feb. 2, the day he announced he was leaving Wal-Mart. In this audio excerpt of the interview, Peterson talks about the growth of Wal-Mart. Never before has an organization grown their grocery business like Wal-Mart did, and Peterson gives large credit to suppliers.

Peterson to FMI and CPMA

I had yesterday asked Bruce Peterson in an email whether I could air the audio of an interview I did with him right after he announced he was leaving Wal-Mart. Today he responded with an email. In other news, he said he has managed to keep his Harley upright in his recent free time. Peterson did say he will be at FMI and CPMA this year, but no news yet on where he will land in the industry.

Where's Bruce?

Bruce Peterson announced his resignation from Wal-Mart Feb. 2 and that same day I had a chance to talk to retail consultant and industry giant Dick Spezzano about Bruce's legacy. I don't know where Bruce will land in produce next - perhaps he is riding his Harley in the Arkansas hills as I write this with no thoughts of produce - but I thought I would let you hear a rewind of Dick's take on Bruce. Here it is.

Building to scale

Bruce Peterson built it and they came. While Wal-Mart may be trying to find its way past flat same-store sales, retail consultant Dick Spezzano told me today that Bruce Peterson's plan for Wal-Mart's growth in produce retailing over the past 15 years worked amazingly well.
"Bruce is one of the visionaries," Spezzano said. "He took them from six supercenters to 2,300," he said. And one distribution center to 38 DCS. Peterson's plan to dial up produce volume meant getting commitments from increasing number of suppliers.
Even with the buzz of growth, Spezzano pointed out that Peterson was very accessible to many commodity associations and industry groups through the years. He said his efforts to expand use of RPCs and RFID were broad-based and inclusive.
"Wal-Mart was Bruce Peterson," he said.

After Peterson's resignation from Wal-Mart today, Spezzano said that Peterson will be attractive to any one of a number of high profile produce companies.

Biggest impact

Bryan Silbermann of PMA and I have been on the phone several times of late about various and sundry issues including the Farm Bill and Packer 25 candidates, and the resignation of Bruce Peterson afforded me another chance for a friendly talk. Of course, Silbermann has plenty to say about Peterson's 16 year run at Wal-Mart and his long service to PMA and the industry.
This statement is worth noting in this space:

"He has literally grown (Wal-Mart's) produce and other fresh foods from scratch," Silbermann said. "You would be hard pressed to find anybody else in the produce industry who has had a greater impact in the past decade and a half as he has," Silbermann added.

That about says it all. While Peterson's importance to the industry wouldn't have been the same if he had stayed with the 10-store Nebraska supermarket chain he worked at when Silbermann met him in early 1991,Silbermann correctly observes he was the right man at the right time for Wal-Mart.

Bruce Peterson resigns!

Arguably the biggest gun in the produce buying world has resigned. Bruce Peterson tendered his resignation this morning in Bentonville, he told me a few minutes ago.

“We just literally finished announcing that to the officers and to my group; now it is official,” said Peterson, who has served as, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of perishables for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, Bentonville, Ark.

Peterson said he would defer comment about his future plans until later in the day when Wal-Mart public relations will issue a statement, but did say he will be with the company until the end of February.

“The company has treated me great – it’s all good,” he said. No other announcements have been made about who will fill Peterson's position or other moves that would affect perishables, he said.

After he addressed the hot news of his resignation, Bruce gave me some much appreciated insight on a few of our Packer 25 leadership candidates. Fittingly, here is Peterson's own Packer 25 profile, penned by Bryan Scribner in March 2005:

The Packer 25
Bruce Peterson - Wal-Mart
It's hard to tell whether Wal-Mart's Bruce Peterson creates or leads trends in the fresh produce industry.
On one hand, his efforts have fueled advancements that might not have otherwise come into fruition. On the other, his vision has helped develop ideas that have led to change.
But that's not the real issue.
Peterson, 51, is senior vice president and general merchandise manager of perishables for the world's largest retailer. When Peterson whispers, it's a shout, said Dick Spezzano, president of Spezzano Consulting Services, Monrovia, Calif.
And that's a distinction, Spezzano said, that Peterson has earned through charismatic leadership.
"He was being heard because he made good business sense," Spezzano said.
"When you say there's going to be a hall of fame for produce executives, Bruce will be in that hall of fame."
Wal-Mart, Peterson said, has allowed him to affect change in the produce industry -- including advancements in contract pricing, replenishment and returnable plastic containers.
Spezzano said Peterson drove the development of RPCs and the delay of country-of-origin labeling legislation. He also will be the force behind radio-frequency identification technologies, he said.
"He gets involved in the things that count -- the things that will mean something 10 years from now when he's out of the business, or 20 years from now when he's out of the business," said Spezzano, who met Peterson in the early ?90s.
Peterson is a visionary who has become a food expert, said Ron McCormick, Wal-Mart's vice president and divisional merchandise manager of produce and floral.
"He's put our company in leadership positions in things like returnable plastic containers that I think have caused a company that did not grow up in food to be a leader in food," McCormick said.
Wal-Mart reached more than $250 billion in sales in 2004, according to Austin, Texas-based research firm Hoover's Inc. A company that had only six supercenters when Peterson joined its ranks in 1991 now boasts more than 1,700.
However successful, Peterson said Wal-Mart was never satisfied.
"We never wake up in the morning and say, ?Look at us, we've arrived, we've got it all figured out now,'" he said. "If you were inside our organization, you would think that we were down to our last penny the way we approach things."
Part of that approach includes a commitment to availability.
Peterson travels 150 to 180 days a year. Much of that time is spent making speeches, honoring commitments with produce industry associations and meeting with produce industry interests and regulators.
He makes a conscious effort to put a face on Wal-Mart, but he also desires feedback.
"If you think we're being butt heads, I'm going to stand here right in front of you, and you can tell me that I'm a butt head," he said. "When you get in their environment, they're more free to do that."
On vacations, Peterson said he and his wife have come to an understanding -- he checks his e-mail only twice a day.
"I can't relax in my mind until I know that I've been responsible in communication with people," he said. "The bigger a company is, the more important accessibility is."
And as big as Wal-Mart is, it must set a good example, he said.
"People will tell you when Wal-Mart sneezes, the industry catches a cold," Peterson said. "But I would like to believe that we are very responsible with regard to what we do in the industry."
Wal-Mart, because of its size, has the ability to tie together the interests of government, trade associations, grower-shippers, suppliers and researchers, Peterson said. The retailer can then help spur solutions to industry problems.
When it comes to food safety, for example, Peterson said Wal-Mart doesn't want to be the retailer that provides traceability, while others don't.
Food safety and security, he said, should not create a competitive advantage. He said he doesn't want the consumer to think produce is safer at Wal-Mart than any other retailer.
"It may be better, cheaper, prettier, available all the time -- but not safer," he said. "The sanctity of the American food supply is something that's bigger than any individual retailer."
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Get to know ...
Bruce Peterson, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of perishables at Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
BIO
Peterson has been in the produce industry for 35 years. He started his career bagging groceries in Detroit when he was 16 years old.
In the late 1970s, he worked as a jobber, and he later joined retailers Tom Thumb Food & Drugs Inc., Dallas, and Meijer Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Peterson is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned a business degree. He joined Wal-Mart Inc. in 1991, and he became vice president of produce in 1996. He moved into perishables in 1998.
In 1997, Peterson was named The Packer's Produce Marketer of the Year.
Though he's responsible for more than produce -- meat, deli, bakery and other departments fall under his leadership -- Peterson said nothing compares to the produce industry.
"The industry transcends socioeconomic background. It transcends educational background," he said. "My very best friends and the people that I admire the most are almost without exception produce people."
LIFE
The oldest of seven children, Peterson grew up in Michigan. He's been married to his wife, Maggie, for 14 years. They have two children, Scott, 27; and Ryan, Peterson's stepson, 25. Peterson plays guitar and writes music. Other hobbies include boating, water-skiing, tennis, golf and reading science fiction.
INVOLVEMENT
Peterson was chairman in 2003 of the Newark, Del.-based Produce Marketing Association, a group he had been involved with for 14 years before his chairmanship. He also has devoted time to the Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association; Irvine, Calif.-based Western Growers; the Ottawa-based Canadian Produce Marketing Association; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's advisory committee. He's now on the Washington, D.C.-based Food Marketing Institute's board of directors.