Gehl Foods
Germantown
Industry: Food & Beverage
Michael Schwartz describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a Category 5 hurricane that has lasted for months on end, but he has also delivered a relatively simple message to his board and team at Gehl Foods.
“The pandemic was not our fault, but it is our problem and we’ve got to take ownership of this problem,” said Schwartz, vice president and general manager of the Germantown-based food and beverage manufacturer.
Gehl Foods has traditionally sold its nacho cheese sauce to theaters, stadiums and restaurants, all venues hit hard by COVID-19 related shutdowns. While the company’s product is also sold at convenience stores and at retail, the products generally come in 50- or more than 100-ounce packages.
“From a what-we-sell standpoint, we had to identify what the consumer is doing today versus what they were doing in the past,” Schwartz said. “While we believe everything is going to come back to normal — we certainly hope that — we certainly needed to focus our efforts against smaller packages that are more consumer relevant.”
Schwartz and his team were able to quickly develop a 16-ounce pouch and a small cup product for Gehl’s cheese sauce. The quick change in direction has earned them the spotlight recognition in the “Pivot Not Panic” category of the MMAC’s Focus on the Future Awards.
Offering the new products was not as simple as just filling different packages. Schwartz said the company had to start with a clear financial plan and an understanding of the required investment. From there the team identified packaging, developed artwork, worked through legal considerations, fine tuned the recipe and worked the products into the production plan.
Schwartz credited the team at Gehl for working through the challenges the pivot required. He said when he gave the project to the operating team, he asked them to develop a plan for the next 90 to 120 days of development by the time the group held an update meeting the next week.
When the meeting came, the team held up a sample of the 16-ounce product produced on the company’s lines, despite previously thinking it wasn’t possible.
“These folks are very experienced, very talented, very committed to the company,” Schwartz said. “They all completely understood where we were and what we were up against in terms of the incredible shift in our business.”
Gehl already had a retail presence, but that is now expanding and the company is also making headway into e-commerce. Schwartz said he is hopeful that a COVID-19 vaccine will lead to consumers regaining their confidence. If they do, then Gehl will have a chance to combine the new business the company has developed with a potential resurgence of traditional sales for venues like theaters and stadiums.
