Coca-Cola Co. shifts innovation in 2021 to favor ‘big bets,’ while saving space for experimentation While Coca-Cola Co. is eager to restart innovation in 2021 after pulling back in 2020 to accommodate supply-constraints and heightened retailer demand for best-sellers, it is doing so with a shorter leash on experimentation and higher bar for financial impact, executives told investment analysts last week.
Noting a planned 40% increase in innovation projects in 2021 versus 2020,
“which was heavily impacted by our response to the pandemic,” to drive 20% incremental gross profits, CEO James Quincey told attendees at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York’s virtual 2021 meeting on Feb. 19 that
Less than a year after taking the helm at Clif Bar & Co., new CEO Sally Grimes is spearheading the company’s first transformation in 30 years with an ambitious goal to double its business to $2 billion and double its positive impact on the world.
To do this the company is embracing a new structure that will allow it to more quickly identify and meet the evolving needs of consumers and appeal to a broader shopper base with timely, innovative launches in new categories for more eating occasions, Grimes told FoodNavigator-USA.
The company also will adopt a more balanced marketing mix to build brand awareness beyond its loyal core consumers of athletes and weekend warriors who rely on its energy bars to fuel their active lifestyles, Grimes added.
New US Department of Agriculture leadership optimistically is committed to launching a “a new era of climate smart practices” and “equity and fairness” in food and ag that will remove barriers, rebuild rural America, tackle climate change and control the pandemic.
Founders of Harmless Harvest, Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud, are aiming to take the success and consumer demand they built for sustainable and ethically-produced coconut water, and apply it to the salty snacks category with a brand of upcycled, crispy wild salmon skins called Goodfish.
Guilbert and Riboud always had the ambition of creating a consumable product using a sustainable seafood source but had Harmless Harvest – a brand of coconut water which to this day is growing at double digits in a category that has slowed down, said Guilbert – to keep them busy for the past decade. We actually came up with the name
Subscribe
General Mills bets on cereal, ice cream, snack bars & Mexican food as it deploys 4-prong growth strategy By Elizabeth Crawford At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York 2021 conference yesterday, General Mills unveiled a four-prong strategy to “accelerate” its net organic sales growth 2-3%, expand mid-single-digit margins and deliver mid- to high-single-digit constant currency growth “over the long term” despite an industry-wide slowdown in consumer spending on food at home compared to the start of the pandemic.
“Before the pandemic, we aligned on a new strategic framework to drive the next chapter of growth for General Mills. This plan, which we call Accelerate, sets clear priorities for where we play, how we win and how we’ll drive superior returns for our shareholders over the long term,” CEO Jeff Harmening said.