Last May, Fortune’s cover story on “Big Food” noted that “packaged-food companies lost $4 billion in market share alone last year, as shoppers swerved to fresh and organic alternatives.” Those companies are responding. Back in 2012, Campbell Soup Company paid $1.55 billion for California-based Bolthouse Farms, a small company known particularly for organic carrots. Campbell’s also acquired Bolthouse CEO Jeff Dunn, who’s had the right career path for his current job. Before joining Bolthouse in 2008, he held top executive roles at Coca-Cola and snack company Ubiquity. Now Dunn’s running the Campbell Fresh division, which includes Bolthouse products. One of his goals: “Democratize healthy eating.”
SKY: Why join a Big Food company after running Bolthouse Farms?
DUNN: Campbell’s really shared our values: how we thought about things, values around the consumer and supporting the shift we were trying to make to give fresher, healthier options to people at scale. They really saw us as a platform company that they could help with the greater resources of a big company so we could expand our ability to bring our products to a broader audience.
What are your plans for the company?
Our plans are to drive full-force growth from the perimeter of the grocery store. We’re in refrigerated products; we’re currently in produce. We made the acquisition of Garden Fresh Gourmet, which makes salsa and hummus. It’s about multiple brands taking advantage of beverages, healthy snacking and simple meals. We just launched a cold-press organic juice brand, 1915, that’s doing very well. And we’ve taken over the refrigerated fresh-soup business of Campbell’s. The next couple of years are going to be about driving innovation into those product categories.
How can Campbell Fresh boost margins without sacrificing Bolthouse Farms’ reputation for quality and freshness?
We’ve built a robust supply chain platform. As we make new acquisitions, we can leverage that supply chain. For example, with Garden Fresh, we’re going to leave their plants in Ferndale, Michigan, but we have distribution centers around the country. We can leverage the infrastructure we’ve built to continue to bolt on new businesses. But at this point, it’s less about margins per se and more about growth because we’re really one of the big growth drivers for Campbell’s.
Why did Campbell’s let you stay in California versus moving to its headquarters in New Jersey?
I felt that this was a group of people who understood that we had a slightly different orientation from them. We were a “fresh” business with different requirements, and they were willing to give us the corridor to do things our own way, supporting our entrepreneurial mindset.