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It looks like 2023 was a pretty good year for the top firms in the food & beverage industry. 42 of the Top 100© firms reported sales increases of at least 3%, and only 18 had declines of that much. Net income was more of a mixed bag: 22 recorded profit increases while 21 saw income erode a bit. Nine reported net losses – exactly the same number as last year -- and half of those were the same names: Maple Leaf Foods, B&G Foods, Utz Foods and Monogram Foods.
That’s the broadest summary when one tries to compare the 2023 financial performance of these 100 disparate companies. When grouping them into product categories, some generalities appear:
- Meat companies, especially those in poultry, had an awful year, led by Tyson’s $561 million decline in sales and $649 million net loss for the year (which, for Tyson, ended Oct. 2, 2023). JBS USA reported a small sales increase but Brazilian parent JBS SA recorded a $132 million loss. There also were sales declines at Smithfield, Pilgrim’s Pride, Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Seaboard, Triumph, Case Foods and Hormel.
- Soft drink bottlers had a great year, as evidenced by the $3 billion sales leap at PepsiCo and handsome gains at Coca-Cola Co. (+$1 billion) and Keurig Dr Pepper (+$668 million). Even tiny National Beverage was up $35 million.
- Part of PepsiCo’s gain was due to its Frito-Lay division (itself up $937 million), as the snack category also performed well. Mondelez added $1.4 billion in sales. The Kellogg’s snack spinoff Kellanova grew by $254 million (based on a pro forma 2022 sales figure). Nearly half of Campbell Soup’s revenue is now from snacks ($4.45 billion, up $495 million). Hershey’s more modest investment in salty snacks is now $1.093 billion in sales, having grown 6%. While Utz recorded a net loss (-$40 million), its snack sales were up 2%.
JBS’ Global CEO Gilberto Tomazoni, in his letter to investors, explained the importance of being a global competitor, not dependent upon one market. “In the face of challenging conditions like those we encountered in 2023, this [global] platform has proven its strength … despite the persistent negative effects of the cattle cycle in the United States.” And later in the letter, “The chicken and pork businesses faced persistent pressure on production costs throughout 2023 but are already benefiting from the normalization of grain prices, as evidenced by the results of Pilgrim's and USA Pork. The recovery of margins in these businesses also reflects a better balance of supply and demand.”
Winners and losers
PepsiCo remains the No. 1 company on our chart, as it has been for eight years – despite Nestle being a bigger global food company. Which makes this a good time to explain our ranking and our figures, which you won’t find anywhere else.
Most of this analysis will focus on the first two columns of the table on pages 22-23. Those columns represent only the sales of value-added/consumer-ready foods and beverages produced in U.S. and Canadian factories. Total, global sales of these companies are in column three. Most of the figures are from calendar year 2023, but a few companies have different fiscal years, as noted.
PepsiCo had a great year, recording the biggest sales increase in our table. Nestle was no laggard, upping its revenue by $2.9 billion. As mentioned before, Coca-Cola and Mondelez were also members of the billion-dollar-sales-gain club.
So was Post Holdings. Most of its $1.072 billion sales increase can be attributed to its April 2023 acquisition of J.M. Smucker’s pet food business, including brands such as Rachael Ray Nutrish, Nature’s Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles ’n Bits and Gravy Train, plus some private label pet food business. But the purchase cut net income by more than half, to $301 million.
Although not public, Schwan’s Co. tells us sales rose by $900 million. Its 2019 acquisition by Korea’s CJ CheilJedang enables it not only to promote its legacy brands of Red Baron Pizza and Mrs. Smith’s pies, but it now offers a portfolio of Asian/Korean foods, in both retail and foodservice.
Ferrara Candy Co’s sales rose by $235 million, aided partially by late-year acquisitions of Dori Alimentos and Jelly Belly Candy Co. More of their contributions will show up next year. Sales of sister company Ferrero North America were included in Ferrara’s figure last year, but now we separate them, especially since Ferrero swelled with the acquisition of ice cream manufacturer Wells Enterprises.
It was a tough year for some of the marquee names. General Mills, which has been slowly reshaping its portfolio, saw sales dip 1% and net income drop by 3.5%. “As we move into fiscal 2025, our top priority is to accelerate our organic net sales growth, and specifically our volume growth, by delivering remarkable experiences across our portfolio of leading brands,” said Chairman & CEO Jeff Harmening.
For Conagra, price hikes during the past year only caused volume declines for most of the company’s reporting segments. Total company sales for its 2024 fiscal year ending this May 26 year slid 1.8% to $12.051 billion and net income was nearly halved, to $347 million.
Canadian dairy processor Saputo saw sales decline 2.3% and profits drop 57% to $196 million.
That’s worthy of another footnote: Unless the companies report their figures in U.S. dollars, we convert Canadian dollars, euros, Swiss francs, etc., to American dollars at the currency exchange rate at end of the company’s fiscal year.
Then there’s Anheuser-Busch. Long a solid contributor to parent AB InBev, the backlash that resulted from its partnership with a transgender social media influencer caused Bud Light, the biggest selling beer in America for 22 years, to drop to second and, more recently to third place (Modelo is now No. 1 and AB brand Michelob Ultra squeaked into second). American sales were off nearly $1.5 billion dollars, although global sales for AB InBev were up $1.6 billion and net increased 71% to nearly $10.8 billion.
Other notable changes
On October 2, 2023, Kellogg Co. split into two new names on our list. The North American cereal business became WK Kellogg Co and the global snacks business is now Kellanova. Both had reasonably good freshman years, in both sales growth and income gains.
News Flash: After this report was published, Mars announced it's acquiring Kellanova; read the story here.
Beam Suntory has been on our list since the U.S. liquor company was acquired by the Japanese one in 2014. But this April it rebranded to Suntory Global Spirits, “reflecting the company’s evolution into a truly global leader across categories in spirits and ready-to-drink co*cktails.”
Two names are gone entirely. Hostess was bought last year by J.M. Smucker. And Sovos Brands was acquired by Campbell Soup. SunOpta has dropped off the list, having sold its frozen fruit business.
Similar to the Kellogg situation, Maple Leaf Foods will be splitting sometime this year. According to company estimates for the 12 months ending March 31, the new pork company would have racked up about $1.65 billion in sales (Canadian dollars), while the continuing Maple Leaf Foods business would have tallied approximately $3.55 billion (Canadian) in sales.
Next year, we assume we’ll have to include the sales of La Colombe Coffee Roasters and Anchor Brewing in Chobani’s sales, the former a late-2023 acquisition, the latter from this year. But those sales are not included yet.
Where We Get Our Numbers
The Food Processing Top 100© is based on numbers you won't find anywhere else. We rank companies based on value-added/consumer-ready (but not necessarily branded or in final form) foods and beverages that were manufactured in U.S. and Canadian plants. That’s why No. 1 PepsiCo’s figure is $52 billion, not the $86 billion the company has in global sales. Cargill appears as a $15 billion meatpacker, not a $165 billion owner of ships, trains and iron ore mines around the globe. ADM is not on the chart at all. Monster Beverage Corp., even at $4 billion or so in sales, is not on this list (the company manufactures none of its own beverages, all are done by co-packers).
It's tough enough to figure out the sales of value-added, consumer-ready, U.S. and Canadian self-manufactured foods and beverages for the public companies; for the private companies, we rely on their statements to us and other public reports about their finances or the general health of their business and category. We use the most recent fiscal year available; if not marked, that's calendar 2022.
FOR SALE: Oscar Mayer, Yoplait North America, B&G's Vegetables
Three iconic, market-leading brands reportedly are on the selling block. Any takers?
As part of a disappointing first-quarter financial report, B&G Foods announced it may divest its frozen vegetables and the rest of its canned vegetables business. And although not official, General Mills reportedly is exploring a sale of its North America yogurt business. Ditto for Kraft-Heinz and its Oscar Mayer brand.
For B&G, “Green Giant remains a strong brand with broad awareness and distribution, and the frozen vegetables category is on trend with health and dietary trends,” said Casey Keller, president/CEO. “However, I believe the frozen vegetable business may not be the right fit with B&G Foods’ focus and capabilities, particularly since we have no plans to add more assets in the frozen portfolio given the opportunities in our core shelf-stable businesses and overall capital constraints.”
The company sold the Green Giant U.S. canned vegetable business in November 2023 to Seneca Foods. Remaining veggie brands include B&G, B&M, Joan of Arc and LeSueur.
Over at General Mills, “people familiar with the matter” told Reuters news service the company is feeling around for interest from potential buyers that could include rival snack food makers and private equity firms. Brands include Yoplait, Liberte and Oui. In 2021, the company said they accounted for $1.4 billion in sales. Reuters said the price could be more than $2 billion.
Once an integral part of the Minneapolis company, Yoplait's European operations were sold in 2021 by General Mills back to Sodiaal, the current name for the group of French dairy farmers who started Yoplait in 1964.
Also just a rumor at this point, the Wall Street Journal reported Kraft Heinz Co. is shopping the iconic Oscar Mayer business, a brand long associated with hot dogs, bacon and lunch meats. The Journal speculated the business could fetch $3-5 billion.
