Hunt-Wesson Division Plagued by High Turnover Rate--of Bosses

It is almost old-hat to the employees of Beatrice Co.’s Hunt-Wesson division here.

The acquisition of Beatrice by ConAgra marks the fifth time in six years that the nearly 2,500 Hunt-Wesson employees in Orange County--about 9,000 throughout the United States and Canada--have had a new boss.

This time, as in times past, officials at the campus-like corporate headquarters complex in Fullerton remained mum on what might happen to the division, whose brand name products include Hunt’s tomato ketchup, Wesson Oil, Peter Pan peanut butter and Orville Redenbacher popcorn.

ConAgra officials declined to discuss the Beatrice acquisition Thursday.

In a prepared statement, however, the Nebraska-based food processing giant said it viewed the Beatrice deal as “a major strategic acquisition that served our stockholders’ long-term interests.”

And that appears to signal ConAgra’s intent to hang onto the Beatrice units rather than sell them off piecemeal as the former owner, New York buyout specialist Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., had been doing ever since acquiring Beatrice in 1986.

Hunt-Wesson, in fact, has been on the block twice since 1988 as Beatrice tried to raise funds by selling its food-processing divisions.

Todd Nicholson, executive director of the Industrial League of Orange County, said the deal would be a blow to Orange County if ConAgra decided to relocate or dismantle the Hunt-Wesson operation.

“It would hurt us because there are 2,500 or so jobs at stake,” he said, “and also because having a major company like Hunt-Wesson adds to the county’s prestige as a business location.”

Because it has always been part of a larger corporation, Hunt-Wesson’s finances are not in the public record. But the company reportedly is a profitable one.

That profit-making ability could have a lot to do with how ConAgra treats Hunt-Wesson--especially whether the headquarters operation remains in Fullerton. Except for some payroll thinning, previous owners have left the operation alone.

The division got its start in the early 1930s as Hunt Brothers Packing Co. in Fullerton.

It was acquired in 1943 by an entrepreneur named Norton Simon, who merged it with his nearby Val Vita citrus juice processing operation and called the new operation Hunt Foods. Simon acquired the Wesson Co. in the early 1950s and merged it with the food concern to create Hunt-Wesson Foods Inc. The company became a centerpiece of Norton Simon Industries.

The 40-acre headquarters complex, which housed some of art-loving Simon’s sculpture collection, was built in the early 1960s. The sculptures were removed when the facility was acquired by Chicago-based Esmark in 1983 as part of its acquisition of Norton Simon Industries.

Beatrice acquired Esmark in 1984 and then, in 1986, was taken private in a leveraged buyout led by KKR.

Hunt-Wesson is the largest of Beatrice’s remaining food divisions--several have been sold off since KKR took control--and the only one in Orange County.

It employs about 1,500 people in sales, administration, marketing and research, and about 1,000 seasonal workers in a tomato processing plant and can manufacturing facility. The tomato canning season is about to head into full swing.

The division also operates Cal-Compack Foods, a chili powder manufacturing plant in Santa Ana, which employs about two dozen people who make private-label chili powders for stores, restaurants and food processors.

Earlier this year, Hunt-Wesson shut down its vegetable oil refinery in Fullerton, one of the smaller Wesson Oil facilities in the country, laying off 100 workers.

Wesson Oil is still processed in facilities in Memphis, Tenn., and Savannah, Ga., and Hunt’s tomato products are turned out at processing plants in Northern California, Ohio and Canada as well as in Fullerton.

The Hunt-Wesson division’s other major facilities are the Orville Redenbacher popcorn plant in Valparaiso, Ind.; Peter Pan peanut butter processing in Sylvester, Ga.; Rosarita Mexican food products in Mesa, Ariz.; and La Choy Oriental foods in Archbold, Ohio.

Hunt-Wesson spokeswoman Kay Carpenter, in a brief telephone interview Thursday, said the sale of Beatrice to ConAgra was announced to employees about 2 p.m. She said officials have received “absolutely no indication” of ConAgra’s plans for the Hunt-Wesson division.