Dive Brief:
- Fortune included more than a dozen food and beverage manufacturers and another half a dozen food ingredient and production companies in its annual Fortune 500 list for 2016.
- Archer Daniels Midland (No. 41), PepsiCo (No. 44), Coca-Cola (No. 62), Tyson Foods (No. 66), and Mondelez (No. 94) made the top 100 spots.
- Kraft Heinz (No. 153), General Mills (No. 161), ConAgra Foods (No. 176), Kellogg (No. 207), Land O'Lakes (No. 215), and Leucadia National (No. 242, its diversified subsidiaries include National Beef) all generated more than $10 billion in annual revenues.
Dive Insight:
大多数的食品和饮料公司100强intained a fairly steady rank from last year, moving by fewer than three spots: PepsiCo (same rank at No. 44), Coca-Cola (up 1 from No. 63), and Mondelez (down 3 from No. 91), except for ADM (down 7 from 34) and Tyson (up 17 from 83).Snacks are a fast-growing industry(Mondelez, PepsiCo), whilesoda has slowed down(PepsiCo, Coca-Cola), but neither trend impacted these major companies' ranks significantly. In soda's case, it's possibly because of diversification efforts.
Tyson's jump in rank reflectsthe company's growth and shift in focusaway from commodities since acquiring Hillshire Brands in 2014. The companydescribes it as a "protein-centric" rather than meat-centric approach. Annual revenues grew 10.1%, and profits shot up 41.2%, including record earnings in Tyson's prepared foods and chicken segments in the previous fiscal year. Tyson is also embracing high-growth areas like protein snacks and e-commerce to extend pricing power and brand loyalty.
Kraft Heinz reported an even more significant jump (up 119 spots from Heinz's No. 272) after Kraft (No. 165 last year)merged with Heinz. The merged company is stillrealizing synergies and finalizing its combined portfolio, whilecoordinating product launches. Besides some reformulations, such as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and organic Capri Sun, Kraft Heinzhasn't been as focused on making its portfolio "better-for-you,"potentially playing on consumers' continued dedication topurchasing ultra-processed foods.
Constellation Brands (No. 429) rejoined the Fortune 500 list, its first appearance since its last inclusion at No. 459 in 2008 (last year, the company ranked No. 530). The company's own hundred-spot leap comes after a huge year for Constellation, which saw itsMexican beer brands, including Corona and Modelo, make sales gains in the U.S. Constellation also made thelargest craft beer acquisition to datewhen it purchased California's Ballast Point for $1 billion.Fiscal 2016 sales jumped 9%, 8% of which were organic sales, and the rest from acquisitions like Ballast Point and Meiomi luxury wine, offset by currency headwinds.
