Sargento’s Innovation Focuses on Big, Bold Flavors, Simple Ingredients

Rod Hogan details the development of Sargento's Natural American cheese slices product and talks about the company's "meaningful innovation" strategies.
Aug. 13, 2025

Rod Hogan, senior vice president of Innovation for Sargento, walks us through the development of the company’s new Natural American Cheese Slices product a journey through the product pipeline that demonstrated the company’s commitment to a long-term view of the business and the category overall.

Hogan also explains how Sargento continues to focus on big, bold flavors and meaningful innovation to draw more consumers, especially among the younger generations.

About the Author

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.

Sign up for our eNewsletters
Get the latest news and updates