November 02, 1999 -
AURORA FOODS FIRST DAY OF
LENDER'S OWNERSHIP
At the Aurora
Foods frozen food division headquarters in St. Louis on Monday, employees received
complimentary Lender's bagels from the back of a vintage 1927 Lender's
truck.
At the Lender's bagel factory in Mattoon, employees received
44 goodie
bags" with product samples from other Aurora Foods divisions that include established
brands such as Aunt Jemima, Duncan Hines and Mrs. Butterworth's. That was a way of welcoming
the Lender's line to Aurora's family of products. At a luncheon meeting at Lake Land College's workforce
development center, Aurora officials met with local officials and the media to
discuss their first day of ownership of Lender's and its Mattoon and New York
state production plants.
Aurora, a four-year-old
company that owns some 100-year-old brands,
announced in September an agreement to purchase Lender's bagels from Kellogg
Corp. for $275 million. Officials finalized the details of that agreement over the last six weeks.
Our history has been buying brands that for some reason don't
fit with the companies that own them," Doug Sherman, Aurora's vice president of operations, told I local
officials at the luncheon. "We really think this is a great fit for
us."
The Mattoon bagel plant is the
largest in the world, and the Lender's bagel line goes back to 1927.
"Lender's means bagels, and Lender's bagels means the Mattoon
factory" Sherman said.
He said the plant's production is
one of the most efficient I've seen. The transition for the plant employees should be fairly
seamless. They
need to keep doing what; they're doing, and let us sell more' bagels."
Sherman pledged the corporate office will continue to support Mattoon's
Bagel fest celebration and: said he's looking forward to attending the event
next July.
Most of the changes will be outside Mattoon. Aurora plans to use its own
sales force to promote the: bagel line, and plans to develop new, products
through its research and development department, with the first products
likely to hit the street in six to nine months.
Those could include things such as a bagel that doesn't need to be cut
open, and/or bagels that need no cream cheese or other toppings.
The sessions on Monday were designed as introductory
meetings for the
employees and the community. Sherman and Larry Smith, Aurora's corporate
personnel manager, met with employee groups, answered questions and provided
the gift bags.
"We are very, very happy to be here," said Sherman, who was a
plant manager of the Mattoon facility in the 1980s when Kraft owned the plant.
Plant manager Jim Cudahy said Aurora also bought a lot of
community support, which will be an asset for the new ownership. "They bought a
community commitment along with it," Cudahy said,
noting many people made calls of support when the announcement came in September.
At the end of the day, I think we're all very excited
about it (the ownership change)." Cudahy said Aurora has a record that of taking established brands
that are, experiencing no growth or limited growth, and building to double
digit growth.
If an expansion becomes necessary, Sherman said the Mattoon plant has unused
floor space that could be used. He said there are no concrete plans, but it
makes sense to use space in existing facilities before investing money in new
buildings.
