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Who Will Smucker’s Big Heart Buy?

Jelly giant Smucker’s purchased Big Heart Brands pet foods in 2015 for $3.2 billion, but Kibbles ‘n Bits and Meow Mix sales are down 6 percent. The company is considering another pet food acquisition.

Jelly giant Smucker’s purchased Big Heart Brands pet foods in 2015 for $3.2 billion, but Kibbles ‘n Bits and Meow Mix sales are down 6 percent. The company is considering another pet food acquisition.

Reuters.com states Big Heart Brand pet foods make up “nearly a third of the company’s sales.” Reuters.com continues “Smucker’s limited presence in the premium pet-food category has also weighed on its sales as more pet owners spend extra dollars to feed their cats and dogs high quality food that contain organic ingredients or higher protein.”

Sales of Smucker’s pet food fell 6 percent in the quarter ended July 31.

And “The company is considering options such as acquisitions, licensing or launching one of its existing brands in the mass-premium segment, Barry Dunaway, head of Smucker’s pet-food business, said on a conference call.”

Smucker’s Big Heart Brands pet foods is the company that requested AAFCO define ‘meaty’ at the August 2016 meetings.

 

What is your guess? Who will Big Heart buy?

 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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22 Comments

22 Comments

  1. Kathryn S

    September 2, 2016 at 11:19 am

    maybe people are finally ‘wising’ up to trash food!

  2. Robin

    September 2, 2016 at 11:22 am

    Why do they need to acquire another company? Seems to me that with the lack of FDA ingredient oversight ( I mean, they’re still selling Kibbles & Death without repercussion) and because they think ( correctly) that consumers are seeking “higher protein” and “organic” ingredients in their premium pet foods,
    all Smucker’s needs to do is design a pretty label, toss in lots of key words like “More Protein”, “Organic!” “All Natural!” “Made in the USA” slap that fancy label on a bag with a massively inflated price, then grind up that spoiled batch of Kibbles & Death, add some extra dark brown coloring ( most over priced premium kibbles are the color of over roasted burnt coffee beans) re-extrude that nasty slurry, spray with some thick stinky used restaurant grease to make it
    more “palatable” to a dog, and KACHING!! They’re instantly in the premium pet food business. And until they kill some more pets, they will probably be very successful. Excuse me while I go puke….

  3. Jane Democracy

    September 2, 2016 at 11:31 am

    Hmmm, I’m betting they buy Champion Pet Foods. Champion has been a marketing machine over the last few years driving up the price of their food and company value.

  4. Tracey

    September 2, 2016 at 11:38 am

    Sales are down 6%! Yeh! The word is getting out! Now the scary part:.

    ” And “The company is considering options such as acquisitions, licensing or LAUNCHING one of its EXISTING brands in the mass-PREMIUM segment, Barry Dunaway, head of Smucker’s pet-food business, said on a conference call.””

    In other words… we’ll change the label + picture on the product (without changing anything else) and charge twice as much and the customer won’t know the difference.

    Except WE will and we’ll keep spreading the word! Thank you Susan!

  5. foodguy

    September 2, 2016 at 11:47 am

    Well, considering they have been negotiating with Honest Kitchen- that’s my guess.

  6. foodguy

    September 2, 2016 at 11:48 am

    Well, considering they have been talking with Honest Kitchen for a little while now- that’s my guess.

  7. Rebecca

    September 2, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    “foodguy” Can you tell me where you got that information, because it was apparently news to the folks at Honest Kitchen. I received a very nice response from them this morning stating plainly that they are not for sale. “Thank you for contacting us with your concern. I do want to put your mind at ease and let you know that we are not selling to Smuckers, or anyone.” If this is a rumor you heard “foodguy” best not to repeat it without verifying it.

    • Margarat

      September 5, 2016 at 4:33 pm

      Thank you Rebecca!

  8. Hailey

    September 2, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    I think California Natural and Evo because Mars isn’t happy with the growth and so smuckers could get into the “healthier” field..Or the other one I think might be Stella & Chewys just a feeling.

    • foodguy

      September 2, 2016 at 1:14 pm

      Both are very good predictions. Both make sense as well. Cal Nat and Evo have been dormant for a while- with the right marketing they could be viable again in mass specialty.

  9. foodguy

    September 2, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    Rebecca- whether or not is is true, a representative would never admit it until the company announces it, most employees wouldn’t know about it until then anyway. I don’t know it for a fact, but that is what everyone is predicting. Makes sense for both companies- Smuckers needs more natural products, HK wants to grow- that’s why they took private equity money a few years back- to get bigger and better. Time will tell whether it happens or not. I like Honest Kitchen- I have fed it to my pets- I don’t know if this would hurt them or help them- but it would put them on a bigger national stage.

  10. Rebecca

    September 2, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    “I don’t know it for a fact, but that is what ‘everyone’ is predicting.” So actually less than a rumor. Because I did an online search for your opinion and the only reference I could find was your comment here.

  11. foodguy

    September 2, 2016 at 1:47 pm

    Clearly you have it all figured out. You googled it, and you know the industry now. The industry, and this specific thread, are all about speculation. I didn’t google it- these were through conversations of people in person- rumors and speculation nontheless- but no less relevant than if I were to post up an opinion online speculating it was going to happen- which you would have googled and then referenced. 🙂

    • Regina

      September 8, 2016 at 3:34 pm

      Rebecca is making an excellent point, foodguy. I had not heard anything about your purported talks between Honest Kitchen and Smuckers. Your claim about “everyone is predicting” does not include me!!!!!!

  12. Sheila Black

    September 2, 2016 at 2:33 pm

    Don’t give any of the pet food companies your money. Feed your cats and dog species appropriate raw food. Learn how at Catcentric.org – for raw fed cats and rawfeedingrebels.com for dogs. It is easier than you think and cheaper than you would think.

  13. Dianne & pets

    September 2, 2016 at 3:46 pm

    Shopping for anything is becoming a real chore these days. I need to read the label of everything I buy to make sure there have been no changes since my last purchase. Today I found out that vanilla flavoring made from genetically modified yeast may soon be on the market and it will be labelled as natural. We may soon have to have a legal definition for natural. I wonder what will happen to the spent yeast. A new dog food ingredient?

    • Jane Democracy

      September 2, 2016 at 6:35 pm

      FYI… Yeast and spent yeast (brewer’s yeast) are already dog food ingredients.

      • Dianne & pets

        September 13, 2016 at 2:30 pm

        True, but this yeast will also be genetically modified. Care to guess how much testing will be done to ensure that it is safe to feed animals.

  14. Pat P.

    September 2, 2016 at 4:06 pm

    Any pet food company that Smuckers acquired would depreciate IMO and in reality, no matter the quality initially. Although their size would increase, I can’t imagine that Honest Kitchen would ever consider the sale–esp. being the only official “human grade” pet food. I would no longer trust them, and I am sure that I am not alone.
    Stella and Chewy’s shouldn’t consider it, either.

    How many fairly decent small companies changed their recipes once purchased by a large corporation (even if slowly and surreptitiously), knowing little or caring about pet food quality?!
    It is tough competition for a small well-reputed company to hang on, especially raw ones that are victims of the FDA biased attacks!

  15. Marsha

    September 2, 2016 at 4:59 pm

    Champion is not being sold. they have changed to a place in Kentucky. She assured me that the only difference will be more protein. I will wait to see.they are not adding beet pulp or tomato pumice. If you use it keep a close watch on the ingredients. The bag will be different. they started with chicken first.

    • Jane Democracy

      September 2, 2016 at 8:41 pm

      They haven’t changed facilities, they will be producing from both the Canadian and the US facilities.

      • foodguy

        September 3, 2016 at 12:56 pm

        Jane- yes they are producing from both, but the US products will only be coming from the US facility- excluding Tundra which will still ship from Canada. I do doubt they will be sold considering the expense of opening a brand new state of the art facility.

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