Gourmet News

Cal-Maine Promotes Walters to COO, Whiteman to VP, Operations

Published March 27, 2023

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has promoted Todd Walters to chief operating officer and Matt Whiteman to vice president, operations.

Walters joined Cal-Maine Foods in 1997. Since 2011, he has served as V\vice president of operations for the company’s operations in South Texas, as well as our subsidiary Wharton County Foods, LLC’s facility in Boling, Texas. He previously served in management positions at other locations of the Company in Mississippi, Kansas, New Mexico, and Ohio.

Walters has served on the Board of The Ohio Poultry Association and The Texas Poultry Federation, where he is an ex-officio member. He is also an active member of the United Egg Producers. Walters is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture with a major in poultry science.

Whiteman has been employed with Cal-Maine Foods since 2011. He most recently served as general manager of the Waelder, Texas, operations. Prior to this, he served in management positions at various locations including Edwards, Miss.; Bremen, Ky.; Guthrie, Ky.; and Boling, Texas.

Whiteman is active in the Texas poultry industry and is currently the President of the Texas Egg Council, along with serving as a Board Member of the Texas Poultry Federation. Whiteman is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in poultry science.

Sherman Miller, president and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., said, “We are pleased to announce these important new leadership changes. Todd Walters is well qualified to assume this role, having extensive experience with the various aspects of our operations across different locations and market regions. He has done an exceptional job at every stage of his 26-year career with Cal-Maine Foods. He is also a recognized leader outside the company as an active member of industry associations. We will continue to benefit from his valuable insight and experience as we pursue our goal to be an efficient and sustainable producer.

“Matt Whiteman brings over 12 years of dedicated service to the company and has played an important role in managing our Texas operations. His previous experience working at our other locations and knowledge of other markets bring an added perspective to this leadership role. We welcome him to our operations management team, and we look forward to working with Matt as we continue to serve our valued customers in the Texas markets,” Miller said.

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. is primarily engaged in the production, grading, packing, marketing and sale of fresh shell eggs, including conventional, cage-free, organic, pasture-raised, free-range and nutritionally enhanced eggs. The company, which is headquartered in Ridgeland, Miss., is the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the United States and sells the majority of its shell eggs in states across the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

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Torani Urges Rinse Water Savings, Announces Internal Program

Published March 24, 2023

In celebration of World Water Day, March 22, Torani, the nearly 100-year-old flavor company, announced its Rinse Water Savings Project, which has saved more than 25 percent on daily water usage. Since implementing its Rinse Water Savings Project in September 2022, Torani has saved over 3.5 million gallons of water in its manufacturing processes and expects to save a total of six million gallons in the first 12 months.

As a Certified B-Corp, Torani believes business can and should be a force for good that directly impacts its people, their community, and the planet.

With an ever-expanding line of over 150 flavored syrups and sauces in which water is a key ingredient, Torani is dependent on a steady supply of clean water and is committed to scaling its water savings initiative to make an even bigger impact in 2023 and beyond.

“At Torani, we’re committed to creating impactful work and meaningful learning, growth, and development opportunities for every team member,” said Melanie Dulbecco, CEO. “When we put our people first and give them the chance to shape their work, they can address big problems and make a real impact.”

The company’s engineering team has extensively reviewed Torani’s water consumption processes over the past two years at its “Flavor Factory” headquarters in San Leandro, Calif., and identified several different ways to reduce water usage every day.

“Our team came together and set an ambitious water savings goal; this became our north star and guides all of our decisions,” said Kimberly Ear, reliability engineer. “Our Rinse Water Savings Project has proven to have a positive impact on the environment, and we’re excited that it will be a launchpad for even greater water savings in the future.”

Ear leads the Rinse Water Savings Project team, made up of 11 team members from across the company. This aspiration for implementing water savings was driven by a team of seasoned engineers who have built beverage plants in all corners of the world.

“As one of the few remaining food and beverage manufacturers in the Bay Area, we push ourselves to be even more creative and use technology to solve big challenges,” said Dulbecco. “This project is just another example of how our team members can create opportunities for themselves while impacting our community and planet.”

Water sustainability was top of mind when Torani relocated from South San Francisco to its expansive new Flavor Factory headquarters in early 2020. Since the company “soft launched” the Rinse Water Savings Project in 2022, Torani has successfully replenished over 20,000 gallons of water every day, amounting to an estimated 25 percent savings in daily water usage.

The Rinse Water Savings Project captures and reuses rinse water, utilizing it as the first rinse when cleaning tanks before the manufacturing team begins making a new syrup. In addition, Ear and the team worked to remove redundant rinses, including scaling back on double rinses while ensuring the results exceeded industry standards. Through these new rinse water processes, Torani expects to reduce the amount of water used by over six million gallons annually.

In the coming years, Torani plans to widen its sustainability efforts as it works toward becoming more energy efficient. By the end of 2023, Torani’s Flavor Factory will have a solar-powered roof that will power the entire plant’s operations. Torani will also reoptimize its lighting system and investigate additional water-saving initiatives for its wastewater.

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UNFI Promotes Horvath to COO, Martin to Wholesale President

Published March 24, 2023

United Natural Foods, Inc. has promoted two senior leaders to better align leadership teams and resources to drive its customer-centric strategy and transformation agenda. This agenda is aimed at enhancing shareholder value creation by improving the company’s customer and supplier experience and increasing operating efficiency. Erin Horvath has been appointed to the position of chief operating officer and Louis Martin has been named president of wholesale.

UNFI recently outlined the core tenets of its four-part transformation program. Key initiatives of the plan will include network automation and optimization, commercial value creation, digital offering enhancement, and infrastructure unification and modernization.

Horvath and Martin will join company president, Chris Testa, who oversees UNFI’s Services platform, to leverage the combined knowledge of industry veterans and new leaders, and together form a team of operators with considerable experience with these types of capability improvement programs.

“This operational leadership team, made up of UNFI veterans and new leaders, is equipped to help us accelerate improvement in our customer and supplier experience, our operating efficiency, and digital and physical infrastructure,” said UNFI CEO Sandy Douglas. “With our transformation plan nearly complete and the realignment of our leadership teams in place, we are well positioned to become a unique value creator for our customers, suppliers, associates, and shareholders.”

Horvath will be responsible for driving project management underpinning the improvement plan, enhancing UNFI’s legacy integration and physical infrastructure, as well as ensuring successful implementation of the digital, technology, and automation initiatives. Chief supply chain officer, Mark Bushway, will report to Horvath and partner with her to drive improved process and standardization across the supply chain.

Horvath joined UNFI in October 2022 after more than 17 years in senior leadership roles with AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a global pharmaceutical wholesale company. She brings deep expertise in driving transformation initiatives in large scale wholesale distribution systems.

Martin joined UNFI in March 2022 and has been a key leader in the development of UNFI’s strategy and transformation agenda, as well as in spearheading the creation and early-stage development of the Company’s digital roadmap. Steve Dietz, chief customer officer, will report to Martin and continue to lead UNFI’s field sales and merchandising organizations with a renewed focus on UNFI’s growing regional and independently owned customers.

Before joining UNFI, Martin served for 15 years in a variety of senior leadership positions with The Coca-Cola Company, including overseeing the Global Walmart Customer team, where he built leading customer service capabilities. Martin is a seasoned leader who, as president of wholesale, will lead the evolution of UNFI’s customer-centric strategy by integrating national and regional customer organizations, revenue growth management, and the commercial planning teams.

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