Top 5 Most Powerful People in Food
Who are America's most powerful people in food? For the fourth year in a row, The Daily Meal is attempting to answer that question. These are the individuals that make things happen, rewrite the rules, change the conversation, and shift the paradigms.
To come up with the list of America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food, it took months of research and analysis to determine if each person on the list is capable of substantially changing, improving, and/or degrading the quality and variety of the American diet or the way we think about it.
Here, CGT has gone through this list and culminated a Top five list of consumer goods individuals that are powerfully impacting the industry.
To come up with the list of America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food, it took months of research and analysis to determine if each person on the list is capable of substantially changing, improving, and/or degrading the quality and variety of the American diet or the way we think about it.
Here, CGT has gone through this list and culminated a Top five list of consumer goods individuals that are powerfully impacting the industry.
- David Murdock, CEO, Dole Foods Co.
Murdock had brought the company back from near-bankruptcy in 1985, has been committed to finding a cure for cancer, and founded the Dole Nutrition Institute to advocate the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. - Paul Grimwood, CEO and chairman, Nestle USA
Grimwood, who moved into his position in 2012, presides over the U.S. operations of the company whose products are found in most every American home where there's a baby, a dog, a caffeine addict, or a sweets lover. - Donnie Smith, president and CEO, Tyson Foods
The company continues to be the world's second-largest meat processor and wholesaler, as well as the second-largest food-producing company in America. Not only is it popular in grocery-store coolers, but it also supplies chicken to chains like McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King. - David MacLennan, CEO and chairman, Cargill
The largest privately held corporation of any kind in the U.S. in terms of revenue, Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, as well as agricultural, financial, and industrial products and services. In the last quarter of 2013, it saw a 36 percent increase in profit, putting a silver lining on a rough year defined by a drought-influenced rise in feed costs. - Indra Nooyi, CEO and chairman, Pepsi
Since being named to her position as head of PepsiCo in 2006, Nooyi was named Fortune's "most powerful woman" five years in a row. Although Nooyi spearheaded nutrition-conscious products – such as stevia-sweetened orange juice and reduced-fat potato chips – shareholders are unhappy with the soft drink field, where Pepsi has lost market share to Coca-Cola.
- David Murdock, CEO, Dole Foods Co.
For more information, the full story, and the full listing, click here.