Kraft Heinz bets on agile pods and $1 packs to win back a pinched consumer (interview)
CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera runs ~75 interdisciplinary 'agile pods' and core-first innovation — Taco Bell meal kits grew over 24% while net sales still fell 6.4%.
What was changed
Kraft Heinz is rich in brands — Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Lunchables — but poor in momentum: its stock fell from $96.65 in February 2017 to $20.06 by March 2020, a 79% decline, and hovered near $29 into 2025. Carlos Abrams-Rivera, CEO since January 2024, inherited declining revenue — 2024 sales fell, and Q1 2025 net sales dropped 6.4% as the company lowered its organic sales and EPS outlook. The whole CPG sector's three-year return was down 21% against an S&P up about 8.75% (Yahoo Finance, as cited in Fortune).
His response runs on two tracks. The first is structural: Agile @ Scale, in play for four years, now around 75 interdisciplinary 'agile pods' on the company's biggest pain points, from product innovation to supply chain — making a CPG giant 'think more like a tech company'. 'We're going to basically cross this bridge and burn the bridge behind us,' he told Fortune. The second is product: 'core innovation' — unglamorous right-sizing for a consumer managing family cash flow, like $1 packs at Dollar General and Capri Sun sold multi-serve in club stores for the first time.
The early wins are self-reported: the Taco Bell branded at-home meal-kit line grew over 24% in its first year and is expanding into Canada; Heinz grew double digits in emerging markets on three straight years of volume gains; and the year-end engagement survey came back the highest in company history. Distribution is the third leg — smaller baskets and more shopping trips mean being on the shelf in every venue and format, with occasion pricing around Memorial Day and July 4.
He is candid about the flip side: where shoppers used to pay for premiumization and convenience, 'we're probably going to be doing less of that' — innovation that strays too far from the core is out. Tariffs look manageable from where he sits: 70% of revenue is American and 99% of goods sold in the US are made in the US.
Why it worked
Agile pods institutionalize small, fast experiments across a company built on slow brand management — the 'burn the bridge' framing forbids going back
Core renovation meets the pinched consumer where they are — dollar packs at Dollar General, club-store Capri Sun — instead of pushing premiumization they are abandoning
Licensed brands (Taco Bell at-home kits) plug Kraft Heinz into dinner occasions it couldn't own on its own, and the line grew 24% (self-reported in the interview)
Emerging markets supply the growth the US isn't giving: three years of volume gains and double-digit Heinz growth (self-reported in the interview)
What can be applied
When the consumer is pinched, the sharpest innovation can be unglamorous: right-size, repackage and re-place your core brands where the cash-strapped family actually shops.
Aftermath
The company entered 2025 with falling net sales and a lowered outlook, and the CEO's answer was optionality — 'plan A, B, and C' — plus doubling down on the core for families managing cash flow. The reorganization's promised outputs remain ahead as of the interview.