+

Expanding Our Market to Organic Foods Why Green Giant should merge Amy’s Kitchen

+About Us

With over 100 years of experience, we still have fourth generation farmers picking each crop at the peak of perfection and freezing it fast to lock in freshness[1].

We make our vegetables unforgettable [1].

Our products [2]. Boxed frozen vegetables Canned vegetables Tortilla chip snacks

+The Wellness Food Sector

Def: Foods that are perceived as having a beneficial impact on consumer’s health and wellbeing

Produced without conventional pesticides and fertilizers Niche market few years ago that is now trending across the

U.S. Natural and organic foods retailing is fastest growing segment

in U.S. grocery business [3]

78% of U.S. families buy organic foods because of health benefits [4]

Currently, we do not have organic food products- because so many households buy organic food, we need to enter this food sector

+Categories of Organic Food

In terms of organic food, there are many tiers of being USDA certified. We should strive to include a project under one of these three categories.

2002 National Organic Standards set product labeling standards for organic food in 3 categories:

1.) 100% organic: products made with 100% organic ingredients [5]

2.) Organic: products made with at least 95% organic ingredients with restrictions on remaining 5% (no GMOs) [5]

3.) Made with organic ingredients: minimum of 70% organic ingredients with restrictions on remaining 30% (no GMOs) [5]

+Organic Food Growth in U.S.

+Why Organic Foods?

Organic food sales have… Quintupled since 1997 [10]

More than doubled in past seven years from $11 billion to $25 billion [11]

A Continuous growth rate at 9% per year [12]

US Federal Government is putting emphasis on organic farming with… Healthy initiatives including: Farm to School, Healthier

School Day , HealthierUS School Challenge [13]

Expenditure to transition to organic farming- $5.5 billion spent [14]

+Why buy now?

Demand is larger than supply- must merge with an organic supplier now before competitor does [10]

Won’t effect future organic food production- Organic Valley Cooperative (CROPPS) have initiative to increase supply

+Other Companies have had Success… General Mills - acquired Small

Planet Foods 19% net sales increase in sector [6]

Kellogg’s- acquired Kashi revenue increase of $600 million in

one year Kellogg stocks rose 21% last year [7]

Danone – acquired Happy Family Happy Family revenue increased

from $13.3 million in 2010 to $60 million in 2013 [8]

+About Amy’s Kitchen

Leader in natural frozen foods Line of vegetarian food products

for busy families 88 frozen meals, soups, beans,

chili, pasta sauces, salsa Packages organic food

Healthier than typical convenient, frozen, packaged foods

Currently independent, family run business

Made of organic ingredients [9]

+Amy’s Kitchen Sales Potential

Amy’s Kitchen current sales revenue is $350 million [15]

Growth has increased 10% annually [15]

We have more extensive supply chain and market presence We can enter more markets than currently exist for Amy’s Mutually beneficial if merge

+Conclusion

The organic food industry is a huge trend right now If we don’t enter now, we may lose our chance in extreme

profitability Hard to create our own line of organic food because lack of

farming supply and costly to create new product line

Other companies have had success when acquiring/merging other organic food companies Leads to higher sales than the organic food company alone and

industrial manufacturing company alone

Amy’s Kitchen has same product offering of frozen foods We have the supply channels to make merger transition

smoothly

+References 1

[1] Green Giant (n.p) Our Story. Green Giant: http://www.greengiant.com/our-story [2]Green Giant (n.p) Our Products. Green Giant:

http://www.greengiant.com/pages/ProductsSnacks.aspx [3] United States Department of Agriculture (2002, April) Organic Food Standards and Labels:

The Facts: www.ams.usda.gov/nop/Consumers/brochure.html [4] Haumann, Barbara. (2011). U.S. Families' Organic Attitudes and Beliefs Study. The Organic

Trade Association: http://www.organicnewsroom.com/2011/11/seventyeight_percent_of_us_fam.html

[5] The Hale Group (2003, November). The Natural and Organic Foodservice Marketplace Report, Spins / The Hale Group

[6] General Mills Annual Report (2011) [7] Clothier, Mark (2010, Feb). Kellogg Says Kashi May Grow to $1 Billion in 5 Years. Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aCkra8wAv6CQ [8] Krasny, Jill (2013, May). Danone Acquires Happy Family. Inc.com:

http://www.inc.com/jill-krasny/happy-family-danone-acquisition.html [9] Amy’s Kitchen (n.p.) Amy’s Kitchen: http://www.amys.com/

+References 2

[10] B., McBride, W., Oberholtzer, L., & Smith, T. (2009, June). Emerging Issues in the U.S. Organic Industry. Retrieved July 20, 2013, from Economic Research Services, USDA : http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib-economic-information-bulletin/eib55.aspx#.UerW8I3FWAg

[11] Greene, C., Dimitri, C. (2009, November). Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S Organic Foods Market. Economic Research Services, USDA: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib-agricultural-information-bulletin/aib777.aspx#.UerWEo3FWAi

[12] Laux, Marsha. (2013). “Organic Food Trends Profile” Agricultural Marketing Resource Center: http://www.agmrc.org/markets__industries/food/organic-food-trends-profile/

[13] United States Department of Agriculture. (n.p.) Child Nutrition Programs. The United States Department of Agriculture: http://www.fns.usda.gov/child-nutrition-programs

[14] Osteen, C., Gottlieb, J., Vasavada, U., (2012, August). Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2012 Edition. Economic Research Services, USDA: http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/874175/eib98.pdf

[15]Cyrpress Realty Advisors (n.p.) Case Study: Amy’s Kitchen, 2002 – Present. Cypress Realty Advisors: http://cypressrea.com/casestudy/amyskitchen-2002

+Context Memo

In business organizations regardless of the industry, a large part of communication is done through presentations. Ideas, proposals, and updates are presented in a meeting format. Through my co-op experience, I learned the importance of PowerPoint and presenting materials effectively.

This PowerPoint is a theoretical situation of how a business proposal would be presented in a meeting. For this presentation, I portrayed the role of an employee for the frozen vegetable manufacturer Green Giant. My proposal is for the organization to merge with the existing organic food company, Amy’s Kitchen because both companies focus on selling lines of frozen and boxed foods. Green Giant is not an organic manufacturer and Amy’s Kitchen is. By merging the two companies, they would be expanding their product line to appeal to a larger target audience.

This presentation targets to persuade the audience of the benefits of entering to organic food industry as well as presenting other situations where acquiring a small organic foods company was successful. The language is clear, concise, and includes professional business language that would be presented in an actual presentation.

+Reflective Note

The audience members of this PowerPoint presentation are executives of Green Giant. I designed a scenario where Green Giant is looking for ways to increase revenue. As an employee of Green Giant, my suggestion is to merge with Amy’s Kitchen because the existing line is currently successful and not aligned with a larger industrialized food manufacturer.

This document is the most effective way to present the business proposal because it is clear, concise, and uses various slides to suggests reasons why acquiring this company would be beneficial.

This sort of document would be presented in a meeting with an audience to explain the benefits and answer any questions the audience might have. Often times, with presentations loaded with information such as this one, the PowerPoint deck would then be emailed to those members of the organization to whom it is relevant.

This sort of presentation is for internal use only. If a competitor got a hold of this information, they may attempt to merge with Amy’s Kitchen before we have the opportunity.

+Word Count

849