030743 Smithfield Chef M.J. Brando's Culinary Solutions

Smithfield, VA - Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced the acquisition of Global Culinary Solutions, Inc. and the formation of the Smithfield Innovation Group to develop new products for customers in retail, club store, and food service channels. Global Culinary Solutions is an integrated food product development, manufacturing, and marketing company headed by Michael J. Brando, a certified master chef with over 30 years of experience in culinary arts. Chef Brando will assume the role of president of the Smithfield Innovation Group.

Smithfield retained Chef Brando's company last year to assist in new product development. "We saw so much creativity and such immediate benefit to our business, that we decided to acquire the company and bring the operation in-house," said C. Larry Pope, Smithfield's president and chief operating officer. "While Smithfield Foods has made tremendous progress in ramping up our efforts in the value-added foods category in general and pre-cooked entrees in particular, we have only scratched the surface," added Mr. Pope. "We are creating the Smithfield Innovation Group to take our value-added business to a new level of creativity, volume growth, and margin expansion."

Chef Brando's group will strive to leverage Smithfield company assets while developing innovative new food products. "The new venture will utilize the production facilities of the various Smithfield companies and have access to Smithfield's superior raw materials," said Bob Slavik, Smithfield Foods corporate vice president of sales and marketing. "We now have the added resources to provide unique and innovative new products to our customers to drive sales. Growth through innovation will be our primary goal."

In the last twelve years, Chef Brando and his team have developed and launched several hundred new food products for the retail and foodservice markets. "In Chef Brando we are partnering with a product innovator who has a highly successful track record in the industry," remarked Mr. Slavik. Chef Brando's new group will include a team of five chefs with over 100 years of combined product development and culinary arts experience. "The measure of a successful food product development team is the number of products that ultimately reach and remain in the marketplace," noted Chef Brando.

Chef Brando recently announced the completion of his new product development center. "We have simulated the operations of a full-service restaurant in our new test kitchen, so that when we present new products to customers we are able to demonstrate how the products will perform in their respective environments," remarked Chef Brando. "Our product development is driven around the kitchen because that is where food products are ultimately prepared." In addition to foodservice and retail product development, the new culinary facilities will provide a resource for sales training, marketing support, and customer presentations.

Offices and test kitchen for Smithfield Innovation Group are in Buffalo Grove, IL. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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