Branded Foods
Customer & Market Due Diligence of Leading Brand of Refrigerated Plant-based Proteins: Rapidly Establishing Growth Prospects for Check-in Bid
Conducted 1.5-week customer & market due diligence to establish a rapid, early-stage, quick read on the target’s growth prospects in the retail and foodservice channels. Gotham leveraged our significant experience and interviewed grocery category buyers to gather market insights and we leveraged our analytical expertise to decipher market trends and identify and evaluate growth opportunities. Our fact-based view on the market opportunities and the target’s brand positioning got the client excited about the growth prospects and gave them the confidence to deliver an aggressive bid.
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Customer & Market and Operational Due Diligence of Refrigerated Mexican Food Manufacturer: Validating National Expansion Opportunity for a Regional Brand
Conducted a 2-phase due diligence to: (1) validate the national expansion opportunity in grocery, (2) validate the growth opportunity in foodservice, and (3) assess operations risks and opportunities. Gotham interviewed ~70 retail and foodservice buyers and surveyed ~4,000 consumers to establish target’s brand positioning and growth opportunity. We also leveraged Nielsen data to build an MSA-level market sizing model to establish a $2B addressable market size. To support national expansion, Gotham established second plant economics and profiled the competitive landscape to identify acquisition candidates. Our operational assessment did not reveal any significant commodity pricing margin risks and, in fact, identified material yeild and labor savings opportunities. These fact-based conclusions gave the client the conviction needed to submit an aggressive bid to win this hotly contested auction.
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Operational Due Diligence of Family-owned Branded Ethnic Foods Manufacturer: Assessing Operational Scalability to Support Targeted Growth
Built operational performance fact base and cost model for due diligence of an entrepreneurial company. Effort included: first-hand observation of operations, management interviews, data collection and synthesis, equipment condition and capex requirement assessment, food safety review, and interviews with potential co-packers. Established that: the existing plant can meet the buyer's target of growing the business 2-3X current volume; identified 5-6 viable and interested co-packers; identified opportunities to reduce cost per case by 16-17.5%; and provided a road map for improving operations. The PE firm is in process of closing the deal.
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Performance Tracking Tools at Leading Frozen Mexican Food Manufacturer: Helping New Management Make Fact-based Decisions
Constructed methodology and models to view profitability by customer, product, and channel. Results led new management to refocus product development/growth strategy on profitable products. Management succeeded in doubling revenue of profitable products and private equity owners sold firm to a strategic buyer in 3 years for a 26% compound annual return on investment.
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Operational Due Diligence of Startup Fresh Soup Company: Current and Potential Operations Value of Acquisition Candidate for National Fresh Foods Company
Performed operational due diligence for the acquisition of a fresh soup manufacturer that led to no-go decision as original cost savings estimate proved overly optimistic and investment requirement estimates proved too low. Identified stand-alone cost savings, constructed a catastrophe and failure scenario analysis, created a capital expenditure timeline in light of growth requirements and need to adapt process to manufacture U.S. style soups, and established forward COGS by identifying cutoffs for purchasing scale cost reductions and modeling labor requirements against growth targets. Assessed potential synergies, including soup revenue growth through shelf proximity and co-marketing with produce products, reduced soup logistics costs through use of existing produce cold-chain, lower soup raw materials cost through use of current suppliers and scale, and elimination of redundant overhead and SG&A expense through organizational consolidation.
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Delivery Strategy at Leading Luxury Chocolate Company: Capturing Lost Sales Opportunities Through New Planning and Delivering Capabilities
Developed a new customer service/logistics strategy for effectively distributing high-value, perishable products to 250 company-owned stores and 5,000 DSD customers. Developed and executed 3 pilot tests that demonstrated significant improvements: 100% improvement in retail delivery performance; successful direct fulfillment of retail corporate orders; 10% reduction in inventory costs; very satisfied wholesale customers.
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