General Mills is shutting three plants across Missouri as part of an $82 million restructuring. A pizza crust facility in St. Charles County closes at the end of June; two pet food plants in Joplin close by the end of July. That is the talent story I'm tracking hardest this week, and it's the kind of Big Food supply-chain rationalisation that puts a specific operating layer into the market on a specific date.
I'm also watching a Brew Dog CEO exit on the UK side, and The Hershey Company internal reshuffle putting confection, salty, and protein under a single portfolio leader effective this week.
Search desk this week is for CHROs at mid-cap US bakery, snack, pet food, and multi-category CPG operators watching the General Mills displacement: how do you land the specific plant manager, quality director, and site engineering leader before they take the first call from a competitor?
Three insights, one memo, five bench profiles below.
Industry insights
US: General Mills closes 3 Missouri plants. The ops layer is in the market now.
General Mills confirmed the closure of three Missouri manufacturing sites as part of an $82 million restructuring: a pizza crust facility in St. Charles County acquired in 2022, and two pet food plants in Joplin acquired via the 2024 Whitebridge Pet Brands purchase. The $82 million breaks down into $64 million of asset write-offs plus $18 million of severance and other costs.
The talent effect is asymmetric across the three sites. General Mills has said Whitebridge Joplin employees will be offered roles at the company's existing Joplin operations, which softens the pet food ops-layer displacement into a reshuffle rather than a market release. The St. Charles County pizza crust workforce is a different story: TNT Pizza Crust employees will be supported in pursuing roles at other company locations, which in practice means the site engineering, quality, plant management, and supply chain layer is in the market on a specific date at the end of June.
That is a small, addressable candidate pool: the operating layer of a single dough and pizza crust plant. Twenty to thirty operators between plant leadership, quality, EHS, and site engineering who worked together for years, know each other's calibre, and are all evaluating the next move in the same 90-day window.
The pattern across single-plant closures at Big Food I have watched: the strongest operators land inside 60 days, usually at adjacent bakery, dough, refrigerated dough, frozen prepared, or private label operators within the same commute band. The next tier lands in 90 to 120 days, often relocating to a different metro. The tail sits on the market past 180 days.
For CHROs at competing bakery, refrigerated dough, frozen prepared, and multi-category CPG operators in the Midwest, the St. Charles County operating layer is the highest-quality plant-level talent pool that will surface in the US in Q3. The window is open now and closes in about 60 days for the top tier.
UK: BrewDog CEO James Taylor steps down. The Scottish craft beer C-suite reshuffles.
On Wednesday July 2 BrewDog CEO James Taylor stepped down, opening the top seat at one of the UK's largest independent craft brewers. Taylor had led the business through a period of category consolidation and premiumisation, and his departure lands into a UK beer and wider premium beverage market that has spent the last 18 months rationalising SKUs, closing smaller sites, and re-underwriting brand portfolios.
The pattern across mid-cap beverage CEO exits in the UK I have watched: the incoming CEO's first 100 days force a review of the commercial, ops, and finance leadership, and the outgoing CEO's inner circle is often on the market inside 6 months. In BrewDog's case, watch specifically for the Commercial Director, Operations Director, and Finance Director layer to enter the courting window in Q3 to Q4.
For CHROs at UK craft beer, premium spirits, RTD, functional beverage, and adjacent premium F&B operators: the shortlist of operators who ran a fast-growth beverage P&L through the 2024-2026 category correction is short, and BrewDog's executive layer sits inside it.
US: Hershey's Heather Hoytink takes helm of confection, salty, and protein. Big Food consolidates portfolios again.
Effective this week, Heather Hoytink assumes leadership of Hershey's combined confection, salty, and protein portfolio, a portfolio consolidation that pulls three previously distinct P&Ls under one executive. Hoytink is an internal promotion, not an outside hire.
The pattern here is different from the outside-hire CEO wave I have written about in the last two issues. This is the next layer down: Big Food portfolio consolidation putting two or three previously separate category leaders under one seat. What that produces at the layer below is predictable: the SVP and VP leaders who used to run each category individually now report through, not to, the combined seat. Some accept the reduction in scope. Some do not.
The pattern across Big Food portfolio consolidations I have watched: 25 to 40% of the SVP and VP layer directly below the consolidation evaluates moves inside 12 months. Most relocate to competing Big Food, mid-cap CPG stepping up in category, or PE-backed platforms building out the same category from scratch.
For CHROs at competing confection, salty snack, and protein-bar operators watching the Hershey consolidation: the SVP and VP layer around Hoytink's new portfolio is the pool to build your Q3 shortlist from now.
This week's memo
How to hire the plant leadership team out of a Big Food closure
A single-plant closure at a major operator produces a rare recruitment opportunity: a pre-vetted group of operators who worked together, know each other's calibre, and are all evaluating the next move in the same window. The recruitment mistake most competing employers make is to pick off the plant manager first and then discover the rest of the top team has scattered.
Three questions I would put at the front of the next interview with a candidate coming out of a Big Food single-plant closure:
Who else on your closing plant's leadership team have you spoken with about their next move, and where is each of them looking.
Tests whether the candidate is the natural connector of the team, whether their departure will pull others with them, and whether the whole plant top-team can be reassembled at your site. The strongest plant managers know their people and where they are heading.Walk me through the last 90 days at the closing plant. What did you keep running at full performance, what did you let slip, and what did you make sure the receiving sites inherited cleanly.
Tests whether the candidate maintains operating discipline through closure, or checks out the day the announcement lands. Operators who maintained quality, safety, and service throughout the last 90 days are the ones you want.If I hire you plus two of your direct reports next month, what is the third hire from your closing plant that gives me a working plant leadership team on day 90.
Tests whether the candidate thinks in team composition, not individual seat. The strongest plant leaders can name the third hire in one sentence and defend it. The weak ones either name too many, or hedge.
These are how I screen every candidate coming out of a Big Food single-plant closure this quarter. The strongest plant managers answer all three without a pause.
On my bench this week
Twenty-five-year US food and confectionery manufacturing turnaround COO who has led $350M plus multi-plant cross-border US/Mexico operations through full operational and financial turnarounds
Lifted gross margin 8 points at a Mexican manufacturing operation over tenure · conceived and led installation of a $15M production line adding 40M plus lbs of annual capacity and $5M plus in annual contribution, financed by a co-manufacturing partner at zero interest
Led tea plant turnaround during COVID with an 8-point OEE lift and a $7M plant expansion while negotiating union contracts across two facilities
Led concept-through-implementation acquisition of a candy asset and subsequent sale to a PE firm
Achieved SQF Level III certification across all facilities and cut customer complaints below the industry benchmark while running 5 plants and a 1M plus sqft distribution center
Currently running a fractional COO and turnaround advisory practice. El Paso Texas base, open to US and LATAM.
Right fit for COO, VP Operations, Fractional COO, or Plant GM seats at $200M to $500M multi-plant food, confectionery, or nut operators.
Currently bench-available.
Reply DM HC-036 for the unredacted profile.
Nineteen-year milling and ingredients COO, currently Chief Operating Officer at a PE-backed $335M wheat protein manufacturer where he spearheaded the greenfield development of the plant from concept through full-scale production ramp, on time and on budget
Manages a $124M annual operating budget and led a $119M capital project portfolio · increased biofuel yield 24.7% through enzyme optimization, adding 10.6M gallons of ethanol annually
Improved OEE by 19.5% and reduced TRIR 55% through lean manufacturing and safety culture
Earlier directed 7 manufacturing locations representing $500M annual revenue and 6M+ lbs/day production at a Midwest milling group
Earlier plant with $18M plus net income at a specialty flour miller. Iowa (Ames) base
Right fit for COO, VP Operations, VP Manufacturing, or multi-site Plant Director seats at $250M to $750M ingredients, milling, or grain processing operators.
Currently bench-available.
Reply DM HC-037 for the unredacted profile.
Thirty-year public-company CEO and Big Food commercial leader, former CEO of a NASDAQ-listed heritage chocolate brand with 250 plus franchised shops
Earlier CEO of a $100M plus better-for-you snacks contract manufacturer where he nearly tripled EBITDA from baseline, doubled gross sales per pound and EBITDA margin, and grew the core BFY business from $25M to $70M in four years including exclusive manufacturing for a category-defining non-GMO chickpea snack
Earlier SVP Consumer Sales for the $400M plus Consumer channel of a NASDAQ-listed nut platform, delivering nearly 4X stock price growth ($150M plus shareholder value) and tripling EBITDA from $19M to $55M
Replaced every C-level position at the chocolate business with best-in-class talent and introduced manufacturing execution software and AI-driven location analytics
Currently advising family offices and PE firms on food and beverage M&A. Columbus, Ohio-based.
Right fit for CEO, President, Board Director, or Operating Partner seats at $50M to $250M snacks, confectionery, or PE-backed food platforms.
Currently bench-available.
Reply DM HC-038 for the unredacted profile.
Thirty-year food manufacturing operator spanning PE-backed specialty ingredients, contract manufacturing, and Fortune 500 CPG
Most recently President and COO of a better-for-you chocolate and confectionery ingredients manufacturer in Pennsylvania where he doubled sales and grew EBITDA by 170 percent in 3 years, led a $20M plus facility design, construction, and technology upgrade program, and supported a successful PE change of control
Earlier ran full North and Central America operations for the world's largest hazelnut and cocoa spread contract manufacturer
Foundational P&L leadership at Hain-Celestial, H.J. Heinz Frozen Foods, and Nabisco/Kraft across $500M to $957M revenue divisions
Greenfield builds, M&A integration, and PE change-of-control transactions across the resume. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area base.
Right fit for President, COO, CEO, GM Food Manufacturing, or VP Operations seats at PE-backed or Fortune 500 specialty ingredients, contract manufacturing, or confectionery operators.
Currently bench-available.
Reply DM HC-039 for the unredacted profile.
Multi-site UK food manufacturing executive with 30-plus years across bakery, pet food, condiments, and cheese, now a US permanent resident with immediate availability
Most recently Group Divisional Director at a $1.3B UK food manufacturer, executive P&L leader for a 3-site, $260M plus revenue division with roughly 1,000 employees
Grew flagship UK site revenue from $104M to $156M and expanded EBITDA return on sales from 8% to over 10% across the network
Led three full M&A integrations across manufacturing, quality, and supply chain in pet food
Designed, engineered, and commissioned a new $14.3M manufacturing facility and a separate £20M bakery that achieved BRC Grade A on the first audit
Increased on-time in-full from 72 percent to 99 percent and reduced customer complaints 70 percent at a pet food group.
Tampa Bay, Florida-based, US green card holder, full travel flexibility.
Right fit for COO, VP or SVP Operations, Group Operations Director, or Site President / Plant GM seats at US or UK bakery, pet food, chilled prepared, or condiments operators, particularly those with Anglo-American operating models or transatlantic exposure.
Currently bench-available.
Reply DM HC-040 for the unredacted profile.
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Williams Recruitment is a specialist executive search firm, personally led by Scott Williams, focused exclusively on food and beverage manufacturing.
With a focus on the US, the firm partners with mid-market private equity firms and family- and founder-owned businesses to place Director-level through C-Suite leaders across Operations, Quality & Food Safety, Supply Chain, Engineering, and executive leadership.
A family-run business built on 20 years in food manufacturing and 10 years placing its leaders, recognized as a Financial Times Top 150 Recruiter.