Diamond Foods

Diamond Foods, Inc.

Type	Public company
Traded as	NASDAQ: DMND
Industry	Consumer packaged goods
Headquarters	Stockton, California, U.S.
Area served	Products sold in over 100 countries
Key people	Michael J. Mendes Chairman, President and CEO
Products	Pringles, Kettle Brand chips, Emerald snack nuts, Pop Secret popcorn, and Diamond of California snack and culinary nuts.
Revenue	2010: $680,162 MM 2009: $570,940 MM 2008: $531,492 MM
Operating income	2010: $52,230 MM 2009: $45,840 MM 2008: $23,881 MM

Diamond Foods is a packaged food company with offices in San Francisco and Stockton, California. It began as an agricultural marketing cooperative and converted in July 2005 to a public company, specializing in marketing nuts, particularly walnuts. Its globally distributed brands include Kettle Brand chips, Emerald snack nuts, Pop Secret popcorn, and Diamond of California snack and culinary nuts.

History

The company was founded in 1912 as Diamond Walnut Growers, Inc., a member-owned Californian agricultural cooperative association. In July 2005, Diamond Walnut Growers converted to a Delaware corporation and completed its initial public offering of Diamond Foods stock.

Diamond Walnut was the location for the longest union strike in U.S. history as of 2010. The strike began in 1991 and ended in 2005.^[1]

Timeline

• 1912: Diamond was founded as a cooperative by a group of Californian walnut growers.
• 1919: Diamond was the first nut producer to launch a national advertising campaign.
• 1930: Diamond started to sell its nuts abroad.
• 1950: Diamond became the first nut company to advertise on TV.
• 1956: Diamond centralized its operations to Stockton, California.
• 1989: Diamond was the first company to adopt laser sorters in its processing plant to eliminate shell fragments.
• 1997: Japan became Diamond’s number one export market for shelled walnuts.
• 1998: Diamond introduced a full line of shelled packaged nuts for baking and cooking and became the number one global marketer of in-shell nuts.
• 1999: Diamond changed its name to Diamond of California in order to reflect its expanded culinary nut products.
• 2000, 2002 and 2004: Diamond was the exclusive nut supplier to the U.S. Olympic teams.
• 2001: Diamond launched a line of glazed nuts.
• 2002: Diamond began a promotional partnership with the San Francisco Giants major league baseball team and became the title sponsor of the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl.
• 2003: Diamond developed a new production line in Stockton to produce glazed snack nut products.
• 2004: The Emerald Nuts line of snack nuts was launched.
• 2005: Diamond of California became Diamond Foods, Inc., and became a publicly traded company (NASDAQ DMND).
• 2006: Diamond acquired Harmony Foods, including an Indiana production facility.
• 2007: Diamond’s Super Bowl spot featuring Robert Goulet, ranked as the number one ad by Advertising Age and resulted in a 68 percent sales increase of Emerald.
• 2008: Diamond acquired Pop Secret popcorn from General Mills.
• 2009: Emerald adds 100-calorie portion control nut packs and hits ten percent share of the snack nut market in U.S. food stores.
• 2010: Diamond acquired Kettle Foods potato chip company with operations in the U.S. and the U.K.
• 2011: Diamond and Procter & Gamble announced that Pringles would merge with Diamond for $1.5bn from Procter & Gamble in a structured deal that will leave Diamond shareholders with 43 percent stake and P&G shareholders with 57 percent. The Deal is expected to close by June 2012.^[2]

Diamond Foods brands

Diamond Foods has five product lines:

• Diamond Foods’ line of potato chips are sold under the Kettle Brand label in the United States and Kettle Chips brand in the United Kingdom. They are available in a variety of flavors, styles and package sizes.
• Diamond Foods’ snack nuts are sold under the Emerald brand, and include trail mix, roasted, glazed and flavored snack nut products and other snacks. The product line includes 100 Calorie pack sizes.
• Diamond Foods’ popcorn, in both kernels and various flavors of microwave popcorn, is sold under the Pop Secret brand. The product line includes Homestyle microwave popcorn and items such as 94% Fat Free and 100 Calorie snack size.
• In-shell and culinary nuts are sold under the Diamond of California brand. In-shell nuts are typically sold in grocery store produce sections during the winter holiday season. Culinary nuts are sold in the baking aisle of grocery, mass, club and other retailers.
• North American and International Ingredient and Food Service products include Diamond of California brand in-shell nuts, shelled and processed nuts, glazed nuts, and custom-processed nuts for food processors, restaurants, bakeries and food service companies and suppliers.

Each of the snack product lines has “better-for-you” options including 100-calorie packs, 94% Fat Free popcorn and both baked potato chips with 65% less fat than traditional potato chips and a reduced fat chip with 40% less fat.

Production

The company has 1467 full-time employees in offices and facilities in California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama and the United Kingdom.

Diamond does not grow any of its own crops; the company purchases raw material from domestic and international sources. Diamond products are processed and packaged at facilities in Stockton, California; Salem, Oregon; Fishers, Indiana; Van Buren, Indiana; Beloit, Wisconsin; Robertsdale, Alabama; and Norwich, United Kingdom.

Acquisitions

In 2008, Diamond Foods purchased Pop Secret from General Mills.

In 2010, Diamond Foods purchased the potato chip company Kettle Foods for $615 million.^[3]

In April 2011, Procter & Gamble agreed to the $2.35Bn (1.5Bn stock and 850M debt assumption) sale of the Pringles company to Diamond Foods, which on completion will more than triple the size of its snack business.^[4]

References

1. ^ Contract vote by Diamond Walnut workers ends longest strike in U.S. history.. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
2. ^ Press Release (November 1, 2011). "Diamond Foods Provides Update on Pringles Transaction". Diamond Foods. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=189398&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=1624561. Retrieved 14 November 2014. 
3. ^ Bloomberg News (February 26, 2010). "Kettle Foods of Salem sold for $615M". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/kettle_foods_of_salem_sold_for.html. Retrieved 27 February 2010. 
4. ^ "Pringles sold by P&G to Kettle Chips firm Diamond Foods". BBC News. 5 April, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12973728. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 

External links

• Diamond Foods Inc.
• Emerald snack nuts
• Kettle Foods
• Pop Secret
• Diamond of California culinary nuts
• “Diamond Chews on Acquisitions” San Francisco Business Times, September 3, 2010
• “Meet the Boss: Diamond Foods CEO Michael Mendes” San Francisco Chronicle, July 11, 2010
• “Diamond Foods to Acquire Kettle” Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2010
• "Diamond walnut co-op files for IPO"; Sacramento Business Journal, March 25, 2005