President, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Treehouse Foods
Search every verified Steven Oakland interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Steven Oakland, President, CEO, and Chairman of TreeHouse Foods, appeared on CNBC's Mad Money in September 2016 and September 2017 to discuss the company's performance and strategy. In 2016, he addressed the acquisition of ConAgra's private label business for $2.7 billion, describing it as a "transformative event" that would double the company's size. He stated that TreeHouse focused solely on customer brands and custom products, and that the acquisition would yield economies of scale, address overengineering in packaging, and simplify operations—citing a reduction from 56 container types to four. He noted that the company was a "favored strategic buyer" in a competitive auction and that retailers had led the emergence of strong private label brands to differentiate themselves from competitors like Walmart and Amazon. In 2017, Oakland reported a quarterly earnings beat and strong full-year guidance, attributing momentum to a renewed focus after the ConAgra carve-out. He stated that private label penetration in the U.S. was 18%, half that of some Western European countries, indicating a "long runway" for growth. He said 20% of TreeHouse's legacy private label offerings were "better for you, natural or organic," growing at a 30% clip. Oakland argued that millennial consumers are "relatively brand agnostic" and have higher preferences for private label than their parents, driving demand for healthy, convenient products. He emphasized that TreeHouse had shifted its industrial base to anticipate market trends and work closely with retailers to develop brand architecture for younger consumers.
“We were overly focused on this corporate carve out from ConAgra; once we realized that was taking people away from their day jobs, we got that group back and in a fury they went about their business.”
“We've dedicated ourselves only to customer brands and having that sole focus is absolutely critical to succeeding here.”
“Private label penetration in the United States is 18 percent, that's half of some Western European countries, which means our stock has a very long runway ahead of it.”
“In our legacy business, 20% of our private label offerings are better for you, natural or organic, and they sell at a 10 percentage point gain over the average.”
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