Steven Oakland on business growth
From TreeHouse Foods CEO: Hungry For Profits | Mad Money | CNBC · · CNBC
“We have 20% of our business growing at a 30% clip now, so private label has become the place where people looking for health and wellness can find products that offer them value without any compromise on food quality, safety, or convenience.”
On , Steven Oakland, President, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman at TREEHOUSE FOODS INC, spoke about business growth during TreeHouse Foods CEO: Hungry For Profits | Mad Money | CNBC on CNBC.
About Steven Oakland
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.