Word: simonizes
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...people appreciate the promise and the peril of the fast-growing natural-foods business as well as Irwin Simon, the energetic founder and CEO of the Hain Celestial Group. In the decade or so that Simon, 46, has been cobbling together the niche category's leader by buying up dozens of mom-and-pop brands, he has had to deal with all sorts of situations that aren't typically covered in business school. During one of Hain's recent acquisitions, the seller tried to insist that his factories be closed on Saturdays for religious reasons. Then there was the time...
...fair share of eccentrics--people who kept their company records in shoeboxes and didn't worry too much about profits, marketing or even good taste. Without necessarily having to lose the unique, even quirky, flavor that has contributed to much of the industry's appeal over the years, Simon thinks he can take natural foods to the next level. By bringing together a top-notch management team with some of the best brands in the field--from WestSoy soy milk and Celestial Seasonings teas to Terra and Garden of Eatin' chips, Health Valley cereals and soups and Earth's Best...
...well as rising concerns about obesity, natural and organic foods are growing at 5% to 10% a year, and they could claim 10% of the entire food universe within a decade. "I don't think natural and organic food is a fad. It's a way of life," says Simon, a fast-talking native of Nova Scotia, Canada, who started his career in the U.S. by expanding H??agen-Dazs' chain of ice cream shops in the 1980s. "And no major food company is built for the 21st century...
...never find the well-known parent company listed anywhere on the packages of their New Age offerings. "There is a credibility gap with these [brand name] companies as they try to represent themselves as healthy brands," says Steve Demos, founder of White Wave and creator of Silk. In fact, Simon argues that Hain can benefit from other companies' marketing campaigns. "We have great products, but our industry needs to do a better job of telling its story," says Simon, who was fired after a short stint at Slim-Fast Foods Co. in the early '90s for his outspoken views...
...Still, Simon, a father of four young children whose weekly family grocery shopping doubles as a market-research field trip, doesn't take anything for granted. "We're like a little speedboat circling around an ocean liner, so we have to be more innovative," he says. In the past year, Hain has joined forces with two U.S. institutions--providing its Yves veggie burgers as part of the McVeggie at select McDonald's locations and working with Sesame Street on co-branded Earth's Best products. Earth's Best baby food is seen as a key to the company's success...