Food & Beverage CEOs ‘Pitch’ Their Companies to the Financial Community
Every February, the CEOs and CFOs of some of the largest publicly held food & beverage companies address the investment community via the four-day Consumer Analyst Group of New York annual meeting. They report financials, reveal plans and explain strategies, all in an effort to "sell" their companies to the hundreds of assembled Wall Streeters.
Their experiences and reports are as diverse as the companies themselves, but there were some generalities. With the exceptions of Coca-Cola and Celsius, all are coming off a tough year (and Coke’s sales were up only 2%). Nearly all the CEOs mentioned “the financially stressed consumer.” While all were have been struggling with volume in recent years and still are, most reported at least minimal increases.
Below, in highly subjective groupings are their reports. After each brief report, there is a link to the longer story we carried immediately after each company presented to CAGNY.
Continued success stories
Coca-Cola Co. has had a great couple of years; hopefully that success will continue under incoming CEO Henrique Braun. “We’ve accomplished a lot, had a great run,” Braun said in his first time presenting to CAGNY. The executive vice president and chief operating officer will take over as CEO on March 31 from James Quincey, who will transition to executive chairman after serving as CEO for nine years.
Maybe because he’s new, maybe following the “if it ain’t broke …” philosophy, Braun offered no major changes to the world’s biggest drink company. He bragged about the company’s ability to cultivate billion-dollar brands; there are now 32 of them. Two of them are new, acquisitions over the past year: English juicer Innocent and Mexican dairy brand Santa Clara. 15 of the company’s billion-dollar brands were originally created, five were bought as billion-dollar brands and 12 grew into big brands after being acquired.
See Coca-Cola Co.: Still on a Roll | Food Processing
McCormick & Co. endured tariffs and other 2025 headwinds to finish its fiscal 2025 on Nov. 30 with a 2% increase in sales (to $6.84 billion) and net income flat at $789 million. Brendan Foley, chairman and CEO, told the Consumer Analyst Group of New York meeting Feb. 17 the company expects similarly steady performance in the new year with a big sales jump, thanks to its acquisition of a controlling interest in McCormick de Mexico, which just closed on Jan. 2.
With that acquisition in the fold and continued growth in other products and categories, executives are forecasting 13-17% sales growth (almost all of that resulting from the acquisition); otherwise, organic sales growth should be 1-3%. Adjusted operating income should rise 16-20% and earnings per share up 2-5%.
See Despite Tariffs, McCormick & Co. Finishes 2025 up 2% | Food Processing
Bolstered by its distribution partnership with PepsiCo and given a boost by acquisitions of Alani Nu and Rockstar in 2025, Celsius is working to grow quickly but deliberately in the fast-growing energy product space. John Fieldly, chairman and CEO, said the company’s portfolio has about 20% share of the 2025 energy drink market. The company reported $5.2 billion in U.S. retail sales.
Its three brands have a similar strategy but are targeted at three distinct areas. The Celsius brand is sought out by males and females alike and is centered on focus, workouts and lifestyle. Alani Nu, also a lifestyle brand, has a strong connection with female consumers. Rockstar a male-centric, next-gen energy solution focused on core energy consumption, revolves around sports, music and gaming.
Fair to middlin’, and transforming
PepsiCo had a respectable but mixed 2025. Dollar sales increased but volume in all key categories was down. Management thinks it can return to growth with “surgical” price cuts on key brands. But none of that, nor talk of the pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, was mentioned at CAGNY.
Instead, “Two trends we plan to capture at scale are fiber and hydration,” said Ramon Laguarta, chairman and CEO. “We think we have a huge right to succeed with fiber, whether it’s with products like Sun Chips or by using whole grains in our large brands. And I think hydration is a big opportunity” – for which Propel and Gatorade are well positioned.
Laguarta did mention the ongoing replacements of synthetic colors and other questionable ingredients in some products, especially from Frito-Lay, but in the context of consumer demands, not regulatory ones.
See PepsiCo: Pursuing Fiber and Hydration | Food Processing
Despite challenges brought on by wild cocoa prices, Mondelez International closed 2025 with respectable but mixed results: sales up 6% to $38.5 billion, but net income halved to $2.45 billion. Dirk Van de Put, chairman and CEO, said the company plans marketing investments this year to battle the stable-to-shrinking retail basket size, and it has been working to optimize its supply chain and expand affordable product options for consumers concerned about prices.
In Europe, Mondelez’s chocolate business rules the roost, and that’s where the company has had to weather the recent ultrahigh cocoa prices. Mondelez will look to broaden offerings in its chocolate and choco-bakery businesses in the coming year, and also plans to “unleash Toblerone” to expand its premium chocolate lines.
See Mondelēz Works to Stabilize Cocoa Supply Impact, Plays the Long Game on Growth | Food Processing
Unilever is finding success as a smaller, more focused company, and that includes less reliance on foods. Not counting the divestitures, underlying sales growth in 2025 was up 3.5% although profit fell 1%. The company sold off a handful of small food brands last year and early this year, although the biggest subtraction was the December spinoff of its ice cream business into Magnum Ice Cream Co.
By the end of 2025, foods accounted for €12.9 billion in sales, down 3.2% from the prior year. “Food & Refreshment,” when that was a reporting segment, accounted for 38% of Unilever sales in 2021; it was 26% at the end of last year. In the future, foods and home care, another reporting segment that singly accounted for 23% of sales last year, together will amount to about a third of the company. Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care are the two segments the company appears to be focusing on.
See Unilever: Less Reliance on Foods, More on Personal Care | Food Processing
The fact that Hormel Foods has an interim CEO – longtime former CEO and chairman Jeff Ettinger – indicates the company is in a state of flux. There have been numerous executive changes recently. But Ettinger said he and President John Ghingo have “leaned into being the protein company everyone wants to be.”
Because Hormel was announcing its earnings the following week, there was little financial detail to the company’s presentation. But Ettinger admitted that, although the company saw top-line growth in 2025, earnings were challenged due to headwinds in raw materials, a product recall and a fire at one of its facilities. In some ways, Hormel used 2025 to reset its foundation a bit, sharpening its focus, moving further toward centralization of its various businesses and investing and adjusting its efforts to get 2026 off to a solid start.
See Hormel Foods: Popularity of Protein Has It Confident About Growth Potential | Food Processing
Like Hormel, J.M. Smucker Co. recently made a number of leadership changes, including eliminating the COO position. While there are headwinds – especially green coffee prices and stubbornly disappointing results in its Hostess acquisition – Chairman and CEO Mark Smucker claims fiscal 2026, which ends on April 30, will be the seventh straight year of topline growth for the company, excluding sales from the divested pet food co-manufacturing business.
Green coffee futures are moderating, and the push is on to make Cafe Bustelo as big as the Folgers and Dunkin brands. The closing of Hostess’ Indianapolis plant should help the sweet baked goods business. Uncrustables continues to grow to an anticipated $1 billion in net sales for fiscal 2026. Uncrustables has expanded to the morning/breakfast daypart and will launch a third, blueberry-flavored, variety there this year, and the company continues to push the product in convenience channels.
Utz Brands was a first-time CAGNY presenter, but CEO Howard Friedman’s overall pitch was that the company – with a 105-year legacy but only five years in the public market – merits the same consideration from the financial community as, say, PepsiCo.
The key for Utz is geographic expansion. Currently in only 17 states and heavily concentrated on the upper East Coast, that leaves 33 states for penetration. At the end of last year, Utz bought the California direct store delivery assets of Insignia International, and the company is excited to roll out its products in this country’s most populous state.
See Utz Brands: Wants To Play in the Big Leagues | Food Processing
Worse before they get better
General Mills has had a rough couple of years, and apparently things will get worse before they get better. Financial guidance for its fiscal 2026, which concludes at the end of May, predicts sales are now expected to be down 1.5-2%, compared to the previous range of -1% to +1%, and adjusted operating profit and adjusted diluted earnings per share will be down 16-20%, compared to the previous range of down 10-15%.
“We know we are not where we need to be today,” Jeff Harmening, chairman and CEO, told the analysts. But the company’s Accelerate strategy is beginning to turn things around, he claimed.
See General Mills: Difficult Times Will Continue | Food Processing
Conagra also has had it tough, and reported continuing sales declines and a $499 million net loss for its first half of its 2026 fiscal year (its year ends on or around May 25). CEO Sean Connolly reaffirmed its essentially net-zero 2026 guidance but said the company in recent weeks is seeing growth in both volume and dollar sales. He and Bob Nolan, senior vice president of growth science, talked of differentiated marketing for classes and generations.
The middle class continues to shrink, Nolan said, being replaced in the market by both lower income shoppers (think young adults just getting started and retired adults) and upper income shoppers. Generationally speaking, Gen Z shoppers, Millennials with families, and aging adults all are driving changes – in different ways – in product development and sales. They claim Conagra pulled in more than $300 million in sales from innovations launched in fiscal 2025 alone.
See Conagra on the Rebound, Looks to Push Innovation Harder | Food Processing
Molson Coors was introduced at the Feb. 18 meeting as a company that’s undergone transformation and is “now into the next leg of its journey, growth.” Rahul Goyal, who’s been president/CEO of Molson Coors since Oct. 1, said, “We must find a way to get this category [beer] healthy again. We’re doing our part.”
The overall beer category reportedly declined 4-6% in the past year, assailed by both drinkers turning to other forms of alcoholic drinks and people avoiding alcohol altogether. And Molson Coors sales, volume and revenue were down similarly. But it also has been building its “beyond beer” portfolio, which includes such brands as Simply Spiked, Topo Chico Hard, Fever-Tree drink mixes, Zoa energy drinks and Aspall, a European hard cider.
See Molson Coors Sees Beer Declines, Grows Non-Beer Offerings | Food Processing
Something went right in Canada for Kraft Heinz that makes Steve Cahillane believe the rest of the company can resume growth instead of being split in two. After opening with a collection of nostalgic commercials for Oscar Mayer, Maxwell House and Kool-Aid, the new chairman and CEO called the brands “iconic, so special, so well known. But unfortunately for too long we have been relying too much on only that.”
“That” being a decades-old product look and marketing approach plus static product development, all done by an organization that’s seen too much churn and not enough investment. But he pointed out success stories in Canada, the UK and China that encouraged him to call off the company split and to try to turn around the whole company, especially U.S. sales. He’s pledged a $600 million investment across marketing, sales and R&D for that effort.
Cahillane made it sound like the Heinz brand has the most potential Already, Heinz pasta sauces are gaining market share in Europe; the brand is on mustard, mayonnaise varieties and other condiments; and it’s become a favorite ingredient within scrambled eggs, which apparently are wildly popular in China.
See Kraft Heinz: Replicating Successes and Scaling | Food Processing
About the Author
Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.
Andy Hanacek
Senior Editor
Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.