Features Food & Beverage

Piece of cake? Well, it won’t be quite that easy to grow this franchisor of specialty retail bakeries, but the right ingredients and people are in place.  So assures Camille Penniman, who’s soon to celebrate her first anniversary as general counsel and the only in-house lawyer at Nothing Bundt Cakes. The Dallas, Texas-based company, which […]

Danielle Lemack may not have been the creative mind behind HP Hood LLC’s latest commercials, but she played a crucial role in the lines being delivered on screen. In one, a furry blue alien named Sensa makes her first visit to Earth, arriving at the breakfast table where a little girl is pouring Planet Oat […]

A world without candy—a world without chocolate—feels unfathomable. Yet, it’s something Mars Wrigley and its assistant general counsel of cocoa and global initiatives, Stephanie Felicetty, are working daily to prevent. Just consider, she says, that cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana accounts for almost two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply, and both countries face […]

In retrospect, Doug Martin wonders why it took some persuasion for him to accept the position. Texas-born and bred, Martin so craved the locally produced Blue Bell Creameries ice cream that he’d arrange for half-gallons to be sent to the faraway places where life and career took him. Besides, its headquarters is in Brenham, the […]

There’s no real highs or lows on his watch. Just an overall steadiness that Bhavin Patel helps enable at Compass Group USA where, come August, he’ll celebrate his 15th anniversary as assistant general counsel. But, as he told Vanguard in May, the past couple years have taken some doing to sustain business as usual at […]

Bananas, pineapples, melons and other produce products, like juice, may be what most people associate with Fresh Del Monte. But there’s something else coming to fruition behind the scenes, and it’s responsible for the company’s wide-ranging impact. Fresh Del Monte has 40,000 employees who produce, market and distribute products globally from Asia, Africa and Central […]

Gerald Walden has risen through the ranks and been promoted five times in The Fresh Market’s legal department. Last year, he added a new title that adds responsibility, pressure and pride—and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “The new position is the culmination of a journey I’ve taken much of my adult life,” says […]

While the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994 did much to incentivize and encourage cross-border commerce among the United States, Canada and Mexico, inequities persisted. This was especially true on the labor front, with trade imbalances stemming from Mexican workers being paid significantly less than their counterparts to the north. Subsequent arrangements, including the […]

In May 2019, Cherise Latortue accepted her first in-house counsel role at the Flynn Restaurant Group, a franchisee whose properties include well-recognized brands like Arby’s, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, Applebee’s and Panera Bread. While it’s been a drastic change from working at law firms for nearly a decade, Latortue says she’s enjoyed plying her […]

There’s been a change in the leadership at TGI Fridays, the casual dining chain transforming the brand and wanting its franchisees to share a common vision with headquarters. While most have been comfortable with the new approach, a few have opted to depart the chain and, at last count, the mothership has bought back five. […]