Pete Eckes Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Launched a consulting company to help suppliers grow their bottom line; clients include Walmart, Kroger, Super Value, Steak & Shake, Golden Corral, Little Kentucky Smokehouse, AVA Company and Merck Animal Health. Selected Projects: 1) developing a pulled-pork sandwich for Wendy’s; 2) reformulating the ground-beef blend for Steak ‘n Shake; 3) finding a lower-sodium dinner sausage for Golden Corral’s buffet line. Conference-level speaker and industry expert on Animal Welfare, Food Safety, Sustainability, and Case Ready approaches. See a published article here: (https://supplier.community/in-the-aisles-with-pete-eckes/)

Bentonville, Arkansas, Us

Transformed Walmart's meat and seafood programs driving 8% sales to just under $7 billion and 27% profit Directed strategic development of Walmart’s meat quality program. Led innovation with the fresh meat program; removed $100 million in cost working collaboratively with suppliers. Executed meat commodity sourcing. Led meat and seafood merchandising across all Supercenters and US neighborhood markets. Worked with 18 different subcommittees to execute the overwrap MAP meat program across the US in less than eight months. Reversed a five-year negative comp trend to positive in little over a year. Won Walmart Performance Excellence Award 2009 for Meat Re-Invention. Transformed a struggling seafood business; reduced sku’s and clarified offer to now run 20% + comps. Ran just short of $7 billion in sales with small dedicated staff; grew profits faster than sales each year. Won Walmart Spark Awards for Seafood and Super Mercado.growth, while improving ground beef safety standards for all US Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets

Founded company; developed and brought to market one of the first “truly natural” meat products. Worked with all areas of the chain from producers and ranchers to retailers and foodservice operators, targeting the top five natural meat processors. Took a natural system losing hundreds of thousand dollars and made it profitable in three months. Sold to one of the nation’s leading and largest retailers.

Us

Director of Marketing - Pork CategoryTasked with profitably growing Swift’s branded fresh pork sales to over $450 million. Developed and presented account-specific marketing programs; managed a $10 million budget across retail, foodservice and international channels. Created marketing expense system used by sales, finance and operations to analyze account-specific spend and ROI. Took branded enhanced pork tonnage to all-time company high of 226 million pounds.Product Manager Loin ComplexExceeded pricing goals and made the Swift loin complex the most profitable in the industry. Created price programs and projections to manage the movement of weekly inventory levels of pork products to retail, foodservice and international channels. Optimized conversion and significantly increased profits by implementing a new system. Consistently added another layer of profitability while in charge of outside procurement.

Shawnee Mission, Ks, Us

Led the startup, development, and sales of fresh pork products to national retail, and foodservice channels. Launched new fresh pork product line and handled all start up sales activities to new retail and foodservice accounts. Recruited and trained staff of new and experienced sales people.

Springdale, Ar, Us

Protein Product Manager, Beef & Pork MarketingLed the growth and P & L of fresh and processed beef and pork products. Worked with operations, finance, and R&D to develop and grow beef and pork products for retail and foodservice channels. Introduced new line of fresh beef and pork products to a national broker network. Developed branded product strategy growth for one, three, five and ten-year projections. Managed marketing agency spend across product lines.Procurement ManagerReported to Director of Procurement; managed procurement of raw materials for Tyson’s further processing divisions. Coordinated all purchased fresh beef and pork products and developed long-term pricing arrangements with suppliers in conjunction with sales, operations and the procurement staff.Sales Manager, Fresh Pork Sales (Marshall, MO)Drove the sale of fresh pork through the retail, foodservice and international channels. Designed and developed Tyson’s first fresh pork product line. Managed and trained fresh pork sales staff. Built customer base and worked with operations and credit to produce and market fresh pork products. Directed raw material production and sales between internal and external customers.

Reported to the Vice President of Sales and was responsible for the sale of fresh and frozen pork to national accounts in the retail and foodservice channels. Developed and managed national sales programs with the nation’s largest retail and foodservice companies. Managed pricing to profitably move inventory to coincide with procurement and production. Managed daily USDA reporting and retail sales projections used in daily cutout calculations. Won Top Honors in IPB’s sales school.