General Mills

Publix Supermarkets came into the supermarket industry in September of 1930 in Winter Haven, Florida. Founded by George Jenkins who referred to the

the profitability of the industry attracted no significant entry, and the industry continued to become

The second step will be assessing the supply market and discovering who offers what. General Mills is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation, which helps create contact with cocoa farmers, origin governments, and environmental organizations. It is very important to consider environmentally and labor friendly options when developing my sourcing strategy for cocoa beans. General Mills does not want to risk partnering with an unethical cocoa farmer who violates labor laws using young children or putting the workers through harsh conditions.

Olive Garden was founded in 1982 owned and operated by Darden Restaurants. Darden Restaurants is the nations largest most successful restaurant chain. Darden Restaurants also own and operates The Red Lobster chain. Olive garden offers a family home style dining with inspiring recipes from Tuscany, Italy. Their Culinary school was founded in 1999 in Tuscany, Italy. Where they train their chefs and create menus for the restaurant. With a remarkable wine selection and great home cook Italian meal and a affordable menu price I have always enjoyed my stay at the Olive Garden. Olive Garden has received many award throughout their history. Recent awards came from the Nation's Restaurant News which presented Olive Garden with the "Menu Masters" award

Graeter’s has been in the business since 1870 and been growing and expending since then. In 1934 Graeter’s opened first Reading Road Factory ice-cream production. Company was doing so great, so they see the need to construct a new facility to support ongoing expansion. Graeter’s signed a 20-years deal with the city of Cincinnati and barrowed $10 million from the city with low interest rates to be repaid in 20 years. In 2010 Graeter’s officially opened a new Cincinnati facility. Also, Graeter’s had an opportunity to buy the largest franchise operation, with stores and an ice-cream factory. Now company owns three equipped factories to make the company’s signature French-pot ice cream.

The company was founded by a man who not only is not a general, but whose last name was not “Mills”, Cadwallader Washburn. Interestingly enough, the word “cad” is right in his first name. What would later be known as General Mills was founded in 1866, a year after the death of Abraham Lincoln. There is no proof that Cadwallader Washburn was the assassin, unless, of course, you would consider the fact that he attended Lincoln’s 1861 inauguration with five of his brothers, one being Lincoln’s campaign biographer (General Mills: 150 Years of Passionately Making Food That People Love). All that can be stated is that we do not know of Washburn’s alibi on the night of the assassination, and an actor, of all people, John Wilkes Booth conveniently took the blame. While the trigger happy history of the company would seem damning enough, there is actual numerical data supporting General Mills’ responsibility on firearm suicides. The year 2008 had sales of $13.548 billion, 2009 had sales of $14.556 billion, and 2010 had sales of $14.636 billion, as illustrated in Figure 2

In 1883, Bernard Kroger, who is Kroger Company’s owner, opened the Great Western Tea Company in Cincinnati when he was 22. In 1902, the company became Kroger Grocery and Baking Company after growing to 40 stores in different cities like Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. The company continued growing thorough buying smaller, cash-strapped companies. Moreover, in the late 1920s, the company gained Piggly Wiggly stores, and in early 1940s, the company bought most of the Piggly Wiggly stock. In 1929, the chain reached its greatest number of stores which is 5,575. The company continued buying other stores. After that, the company started opening bigger stores in 1971. In 1987, Kroger sold most of its interests in the Hook and SupeRx drug chains and started focusing on its food and drug stores. Furthermore, Kroger announced that it was purchasing around 75 store (mostly in Texas). Not only Kroger was buying food stores in Texas, but also in Virginia, Nebraska, and New Mexico, which happened around 2000 and 2001. In 2003, Kroger announced Naturally preferred, its own brad products which include baby food, pastas, cereal, snacks, milk, and soy products (Company History-Hoover’s, 2016).

In 1978 Pillsbury, a company that specialized in baking goods acquired the Green Giant Company to expand their market and

General Mills, Inc. has three segments. U.S. Retail sells ready-to-eat cereals, meals, yogurt, organic foods, etc. The International segment includes retail business in Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific region. Bakeries and Foodservice sells to retail and wholesale bakeries, and convenience stores. The company makes money through producing various food and products and distributing them all over the world.

Pursuing a nonfood diversification strategy, General Mills also purchased another specialty retailer, Eddie Bauer, after a sinking stock market had torpedoed Bauer’s planned stock floatation in 1971. During the 1970s and 1980s, General Mills aggressively pursued growth strategies for both Talbots and Eddie Bauer, driven primarily by retail store expansions. Bauer, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, had a strong catalog operation and 58 stores in 14 states by 1988. During this expansionary period,

General Mills (NYSE:GIS), our company, is a global consumer foods company. We develop distinctive value-added food products and market with our unique brand names. We work continuously to improve our established products and to create new products that meet our customers’ potential needs and preferences. Our company has $14.88 billion in sales last year. Our sales has grown substantially throughout the years due in large part to our popular brand names, this however is only part of the reason that we has been so successful. We markets global brands such as Green Giant, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Yoplait, Cheerios, Betty

Grommet Industries is facing some very tough business decisions to stabilize the company and restructure to stimulate growth. The HR issues that I am now asked to address in our meeting with Mr. Ramon include identifying the issues we are facing, the options we have to work with, and strategies to use for implementation.

From ready-to-eat cereal to convenient meals to wholesome snacks, General Mills is one of the biggest food products manufacturers and competes in growing food categories that are on-trend with consumer tastes around the world. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Haagen Daazs, Yoplait, Betty Crocker, Totinos, and Cheerios, among others. Main rivals include Kellogg, Kraft, Conagra Foods, and Sara Lee. General Mills sells its products in three segments: U.S. retail (63% of net sales), International (25% of net sales), and Bakeries and Foodservices (12% of net sales). In addition, General Mills sells cereals and ice cream through its Cereal Partners Worldwide and Haagen Daazs Japan

Acquisitions during that period were Jacobs Suchard, Freia Marabou, Terry 's of York, and the US. Kraft General was renamed as Kraft Foods Inc. during 1995. (Marketline).

General Mills, as one of the Big Three companies that focused on diversification of consumer goods on cereal division, restaurant chains and packaged consumer foods. In 1994, the cereal industry was profitable and had been one of the most concentrated industries overall historically, and the big Three company had a dominant position in this industry. However, the problem was although the high profitability attracted fewer entry company due to the high entry barrier restrained by joint monopoly of the Big Three, they were facing the threat of private label companies which grew fast in market share by sales and volume. Therefore, what is General Mills strategy to increase revenue while dealing with the threat of private labels. This is a critical issue because General Mills need measure the trade-offs among strategies, and this determines whether General Mills would still be one of the top players in terms of market shares in the industry.