Pinnacle Foods consolidating R.&D. efforts
The Birds Eye frozen products R.&D. team, which is currently based in Green Bay, Wis., is moving…The Birds Eye frozen products R.&D. team, which is currently based in Green Bay, Wis., is moving to Pinnacle’s headquarters.
“Similar to the success we’ve had with the co-location of our grocery R.&D. team, we expect this move to allow for seamless collaboration between our frozen marketing, sales, procurement and R.&D. teams that will drive superior brand innovation and productivity as we move forward,” said Bob Gamgort, chief executive officer of Pinnacle Foods Finance L.L.C., in a conference call with securities analysts on Aug. 9 to discuss the company’s second-quarter results.
Mr. Gamgort described the move as an “effectiveness change” effort and not a “productivity move.”
“We did that previously with our dry organization, which was based about two hours away in Cherry Hill (N.J.),” he said. “We had such a great experience having all of our R.&D. and business teams sitting side-by-side that we recognize that the dial up innovation we would do the same on frozen. That’s actually an investment in the short term but the payback on that investment will come from higher innovation and higher growth, but it is by no means a productivity effort.”