WEBVTT

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Welcome to you both.

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Brendan, to you first.
How is McCormick balancing quality,

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consistency, and sustainability across supply chains

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at the moment?

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You know,
when I think about all three of those,

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quality, consistency,
and sustainability—I would even add on

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top of that customer service because
that's part of the equation—

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we don't see those as necessarily
tradeoffs from one another.

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We really see them as reinforcing each other.

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And the way we think about it is down
even to a site level within our whole

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entire manufacturing base.

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So, you know,
when you think about the relationship

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between our quality teams and our
manufacturing teams on-site,

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it's really important that they really do
have a lot of alignment on what we're

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trying to achieve.

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We even measure that in a lot of ways.

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And then also the site level, you know,
we bring sustainability goals,

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we cascade them down to site by site.

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So it's water reduction,
it's going to be recycling rates,

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it's also going to be energy reduction,
too, water treatment.

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These are things that we sort of really
bring down to the site level and really

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measure all the time.

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And I would say customer service and
consistency are kind of, you know,

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partners with quality overall.

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So that's the way we look at it right now.

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Jeff, looking across the consumer product space,

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where are you identifying the most compelling

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growth opportunities at the moment?

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While the environment might be tough
right now,

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there are three really exciting places
for growth that we talk about with our clients.

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First, you can never focus enough on your core.

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Every company has got those core brands,
core products,

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core items that you want to get in the
hands of consumers everywhere you can.

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And it's important to make them available,
to make them visible,

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to make them desired,
to have them in the right sizes,

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to have them at the right prices.

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Second thing that we're encouraging
companies to think about right now is

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consumer wallets are tight.

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And you've got to think about not just
selling products relative to your direct

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competition, but for other uses of a dollar.

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Think broadly about who your competitor
could be, why your product's better,

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and convince people to choose your products,

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your brand over a broader competitive set.

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And the third thing we're encouraging
clients to think about is to grow inorganically.

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There's never a better time to do
acquisitions and add to your portfolio

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than in a tough economic environment.

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And there are certainly bargains to be
had right now.

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what are the imperatives for leaders
right now?

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What advice do you have?

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What should they be focused on?

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What are you focusing on?

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Well, I think, you know,
I agree with many of the things that Jeff

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just said,
but one of the most important ones is

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making sure you're really focused on the
strongest categories that you should be

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leaning into for, you know,
growth and value creation.

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It all starts there.

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And that's probably one of the most
important areas right now that we think

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is most important to focus on.

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And kind of—it's just about the

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categories and the brands,

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it's remembering at the end of the day
it's about winning the hearts and minds

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of consumers and delighting them and
getting them to choose their scarce

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dollars to your brand and product.

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So despite all the noise and everything
around macro economy, policy, competition,

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supply chain challenges,
it all comes back to keeping the

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consumers your true north and remembering
that you're in the business to serve the

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consumer at the end of the day.

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Gentlemen, thank you so much for your time.

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Thank you.