Conagra Brands, Inc. has announced plans to lay off approximately 100 employees at its Pinnacle Foods, Inc. office in Boulder as part of planned shutdown of the facility.
“In October, Conagra Brands acquired Pinnacle Foods, and as a part of that transaction, committed to undergoing a thorough evaluation process of the Boulder Brands business,” said Michael Cummins, vice-president of communications at Conagra. “Conagra recently completed a data-based analysis based on capabilities and determined it was best to integrate and build the Boulder-based brands into Conagra the way of innovation, development, brand building and business process. This requires everyone being in the same location so teams can work fast and efficiently, share ideas for innovation in real-time and build our brands with each other. As a result, the Boulder office location will close by the end of 2019, though many employees will be offered jobs in other Conagra locations.”
Mr. Cummins said employees will receive severance pay and outplacement support.
In December, Sean M. Connolly, president and chief executive officer of Conagra, said “subpar innovation and executional missteps” led to “highly disappointing” results in the Pinnacle Foods business.
“We need to bring our executional capabilities to the Pinnacle business now,” Mr. Connolly said. “We now have a clear understanding of the source of the weakness in the business, and we’ve started to take action.”
The acquisition of Pinnacle Foods was expected to strengthen Conagra’s position in the frozen food market. Pinnacle Foods owns such brands as Birds Eye, Mrs. Paul’s and Hungry-Man. Pinnacle Foods also has a strong presence in the center of the retail store and in the market for gluten-free products.
By Eric Schroeder
Source: Food Business News
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