TreeHouse Foods, the nation’s leading manufacturer and distributor of private label packaged foods and beverages, is exploring strategic options for its business. Over the past several years, it has closed several plants, reduced SKUs, cut jobs and abandoned business units to become a more focused, nimble company. Despite those efforts, the changes have done little to excite investors with the stock price hovering around the same price as when the CEO change happened in early 2018. With activist investor Jana Partners recently taking a sizable stake, it forced a strategic review that determined TreeHouse Foods should exploring options that could include a complete sale of the company or a divestiture of a large portion of its meal preparation business segment to focus on snacks and beverages. Something that wasn’t talked about (or at least not publicly) was an idea that I’ve tossed around in different iterations. This is the strategy that leverages the contract manufacturer to consumer model, attaching a brand development division, and creating strategic partnerships with celebrity and influencers to create food and beverage CPG brands. Fortune favors the bold and, increasingly, the many celebrities who’ve made the leap into the CPG industry. The success stories are plentiful, so why not add a vertical integration partner and make it much easier for celebrities to monetize themselves in the food and beverage CPG space. Plus, TreeHouse Foods could really use that Hollywood sparkle to put some excitement back into the business.

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