Salad dressing makers, it turns out, benefited in the recession as diners restocked their refrigerators rather than going out to eat.
With the biggest companies in the industry scouting acquisitions, according to one market research firm, Paul Newman”™s handpicked man has this message: Newman”™s Own is not for sale.
Given the company”™s motto ”“ “Shameless exploitation in the pursuit of common good” ”“ Newman”™s Own occupies its own unique niche in the American consumer-product landscape as it readies to give out $30 million to charitable causes in its 30th year of operation. But it bears reminding that Unilever scooped up Ben & Jerry”™s, which itself had a singular corporate do-good ethic.
Only in 1999, the year before the Unilever-Ben & Jerry”™s deal, Newman had voiced concern about the increased competition from bigger competitors such as Kraft and Heinz, in a talk with Harvard University students.
“We need to stay alive,” Newman said. “We”™re on their radar now, so in order to survive with the bigger brands, we need to grow.”
With Newman”™s Own revenue now well in excess of $250 million, company President Tom Indoe notes the company is looming very large on the radar.
“We always feel like we”™re the ”¦ little company on the Post Road East, and we are competing with Nestle and Unilever,” Indoe said. “And they all notice us because we actually see some of their presentations to the retailer (industry), and they”™re talking about Newman”™s Own in there.
“We think its kind of fun to be this little guy,” Indoe said. “It”™s nice not to be selling just another truckload of shampoo or cereal ”“ you are working for a company that after the day is done the money is going to causes that are close to us.”
The memories of Newman, a certifiable foodie who kept a jug of homemade salad dressing ever at the ready, remains palpable four years after the icon”™s death. Indoe recalls vividly the first time he met Newman on his way to interview for the job.
“I pull in the parking lot here in Westport, and Paul gets out of his car ”¦ with a canning jar with coffee he”™s drinking out of, and I go, ”˜What the heck?”™” Indoe recalled. “I introduced myself and the topic quickly led to, ”˜What kind of car do you drive,”™ and ”˜How many horses it has”™ ”“ and that was the beginning, in the parking lot.”
Résumés continue to pour in today, but with a staff of just more than 30 people, Indoe said the focus is on staying lean.
He also said the company intends to stay put as well. If Westport suffered the exodus of one iconic brand in Martha Stewart, he says he cannot imagine Newman”™s Own being situated elsewhere, certainly not outside Connecticut. And he cannot stomach it becoming a side course to a food-industry giant via an acquisition.
“We get (offers) all the time,” Indoe said. “It”™s been Paul”™s wish that the company never get sold ”¦ so we don”™t entertain it ”¦ I would hate to see this company ever leave Westport.”
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