After 127 years, Smucker’s has moved beyond jam. But its CEO still finds time to jam on weekends

By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press

(AP Illustration/Jenni Sohn)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/AP Illustration/Jenni Sohn]

Smucker’s Uncrustables – the pillowy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches found in the frozen aisle – could soon hit $1 billion in annual sales. To keep up with demand, J.M. Smucker Co. will soon open a third Uncrustables plant.

It almost didn’t happen. The product lost money for more than a decade after the company bought the Unscrustables brand in 1998, Chairman, President and CEO Mark Smucker said. The manufacturer once known only for its jellies and jams spent years trying to figure out how to mass produce the stretchy, hole-free bread used in the crust-free sandwiches.

For Mark Smucker, the fifth generation of his family to run J.M. Smucker, having the time to get it right is one of the benefits of leading a 127-year-old company.

“Because we’ve been in business for so long and we have been family run, we do take a long-term view,” Smucker said. “The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the No. 1 sandwich consumed at lunch in the U.S. We said, ‘This is something we’ve got to lead.’”

Over the last 20 years, Orrville, Ohio-based J.M. Smucker has expanded to include brands like Milk-Bone dog biscuits, Meow Mix cat food, Folgers coffee and Jif peanut butter.

Smucker, who joined the family business in 1997 and became CEO in 2016, has sharpened the focus on high-growth categories. Last year, the company bought Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, for $5.6 billion.

Mark Smucker recently spoke with The Associated Press about his family’s company, food prices and his hobby as a house music deejay. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Q. There seems to be constant churn at J.M. Smucker. You sold Crisco, Gravy Train and Pillsbury a few years ago and recently bought Hostess Brands. Why so much change?

A. Around 2000 or 2001, my predecessor realized that we don’t have to be a fruit company. What we’re good at is marketing and selling brands. We’re good at connecting with consumers. And that unlocked this idea that we could enter other categories. That allowed us to become a more meaningful player in the industry. Having that scale allowed us to lead in many categories as I became CEO. But the consumer has been shifting, and we took it upon ourselves to really transform our portfolio. We have to make sure that the businesses that we’re in, the brands that we’re in, the categories where we play, are able to provide growth.

Q. How does the Hostess brand fit into your portfolio?

A. Seventy percent of consumers eat two snacks a day. And generally speaking, the indulgent snacks are growing faster than regular food. Snacking is something that we all do. And there are moments when we as consumers want something more indulgent, something sweet versus salty. And Hostess can provide that. So we’re really excited about the Hostess brand.

Q. Coffee prices recently hit 40-year highs because of weather impacting harvests. How do you deal with that inflation without losing customers to lower-priced competitors?

A. We take our prices up very judiciously. We want to be fair to the consumer. Eighty percent of the product cost in coffee is the coffee. We have a responsibility to both pass cost increases through and then also take them down when we have deflation. You know, we obviously have a responsibility to our shareholders to protect our profit, but we also want to make sure that we’re taking price only when it’s justified.

Q. You have said inclusion and diversity are very important to J.M. Smucker. Can you talk about that?

A. We want to create an environment where people feel included, and that anybody from whatever walk of life can be here in these four walls and feel like this is a place where they can belong and where they can be themselves. I think that’s a fundamental human need. Having people from all walks of life brings diversity of thought and disparate opinions that actually make us better as a company. Our consumers are very diverse, right? Everybody eats an Uncrustable. Most people eat peanut butter, most people drink coffee. And the people that are consuming our products don’t look like me or talk like me. Continuing to have our employee base be representative of what our consumer base looks like helps us serve the consumer better.

Q. You occasionally deejay house music as Mind.E. Is that just pure relaxation or does it sharpen your business skills?

A. I’ve always loved music. I grew up playing piano and saxophone. I find that I’m stimulated by both business – the more analytical — and creativity. I’m a person who has sort of a 50/50 right and left brain. So having something outside of work that we enjoy, I think, makes us more well-rounded. And what’s interesting about the music thing is having been open about the fact that that’s a hobby of mine helps to humanize me at work and makes me a bit more relatable for our employees. It makes me, maybe, more approachable. And I always believe that we should bring our whole selves to work. Our colleagues should know who we are as people and what makes us tick, not just putting on the business game face. I think that makes us more relatable as leaders.