Executive Search Success Story: Transitioning a Family-Owned Snack and Bakery Co-Manufacturer to Professional Leadership While Automating Plants and Expanding Private Label

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a third-generation family-owned snack and bakery co-manufacturer with the president, operations, product development, finance, and sales leadership required to succeed the family in management, automate labor-constrained plants, build a customer-facing R&D capability, and grow private label and branded programs.

The Challenge

A family-owned snack and bakery co-manufacturer had grown for seventy years on craftsmanship and customer loyalty, but the third generation had decided to move from management to the board. The plants depended on manual processes in a tight labor market, with turnover above 60% and overtime eroding margins; product development was reactive, producing whatever customers specified rather than bringing ideas; finance was built for a smaller company; and sales relied on long-standing relationships with no structured pursuit of the private label and brand programs that were growing fastest. Executive leadership and the family identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the business:

• A family leadership transition with no professional management team in place
• Manual plant processes with labor turnover above 60% and overtime compressing margins
• Reactive product development with no capability to bring innovation to customers
• Finance built for a smaller company with limited costing, planning, and capital analysis
• Sales reliant on legacy relationships with no structured growth pursuit
• Competitors with automated plants winning on cost and reliability

Recognizing that the transition and modernization required a professional leadership team, the family and board engaged JRG Partners to recruit a President & Chief Executive Officer, Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Research, Development & Customer Innovation, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President of Sales. The company required an executive search partner with deep co-manufacturing expertise and experience introducing professional leadership into family-owned manufacturers.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

CPG Co-Manufacturing & Co-Packing Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice serving co-manufacturers, co-packers, and private label producers, with a clear understanding of snack and bakery operations, customer-driven innovation, and the leadership profiles that modernize contract manufacturers.

Family-Owned Business Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting presidents and executive teams for family-owned manufacturers transitioning to professional management, with a clear understanding of ownership dynamics, culture, and governance.

Multi-Role Execution

Our team specializes in running coordinated president, operations, R&D, finance, and sales searches in parallel, ensuring leaders are selected as a complementary unit aligned to a single modernization plan.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Succession & Modernization Alignment

Our consultants partnered directly with the family, board, and advisors to define the family’s governance role, cultural requirements, automation priorities, and growth strategy, producing five executive profiles aligned with the succession and modernization plan.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting presidents, operations, R&D, finance, and sales executives at snack and bakery manufacturers, co-manufacturers, and private label producers who had led documented automation programs and family business transitions. Over 390 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of succeeding family management, automating labor-intensive bakery and snack plants, building customer-facing product development, professionalizing finance in mid-sized manufacturers, and winning private label and brand programs through structured selling. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists met with family members and the board, presented modernization plans, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified automation, innovation, and growth outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 390+ snack, bakery, and co-manufacturing executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized leadership tier spanning president, operations, R&D, finance, and sales within eight months.
• Reduced labor hours per unit by 35% and turnover from above 60% to 25%.
• Generated $55M in new program revenue from a proactive innovation pipeline.
• Won private label programs with three national retailers and two national brand agreements.
• Grew revenue 30% and improved EBITDA margin by 400 basis points with family ownership retained.