Even as Menacing Inflation Confines Margins, Kraft Heinz Stays Resolutely Focused on the Long Term

Like its peers, Kraft Heinz benefited from consumers’ penchant for eating at home during the pandemic, with 85% of its sales driven through the retail channel, and could again if consumers resort to at-home food consumption against a more challenging economic backdrop. If household penetration and repeat purchases are a guide, we posit its revamped road map is proving prudent. In this context, CEO Miguel Patricio has charged the firm to pursue efficiencies that will prove lasting, elevate brand spending (marketing and product innovation), enhance capabilities (category management and e-commerce), and leverage its scale to more nimbly respond to changing market conditions, which we perceive as judicious.