Del Monte Foods Reviews

Pros

Relatively health-oriented products, good/smart co-workers, great office space, best location of any CPG company out there (SF Financial District)

Cons

Management seems to have no direction, or at least does not do a very good job of communicating that to employees. Hours are long. Many projects start and stop with little reason or explanation. No one seems to be held accountable for project failures, product launch failures, employee dissatisfaction, etc. High turnover.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on the overall direction of the company, as well as the culture.

Pros

Del Monte offers great support in maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It is active in its social impact and influence on the community.

Cons

The lack of training for new technologists was disappointing. This made the learning process longer than necessary. Having a mentor or guide, at least in the beginning, would have been extremely valuable.

Pros

Good products; opportunity to learn

Cons

Disorganized; lack of good leadership

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate to lower ranks.

Pros

Really smart managers that are good people, great location

Cons

Hard to advance without MBA

Pros

- Great brands - really, some of the best, especially in the pet food arena
- Good location in SF
- Potential for greatness (unrealized)

Cons

- By far the most hierarchical company I have ever seen. Directors and up get enormous (and I mean enormous) offices, and everyone else has small cubes. It is incredibly difficult for someone at a lower level to speak to anyone above them other than their direct boss - it's just not done.
- Finance, not marketing driven
- Little diversity in upper management
- Lots of turnover at low levels, but at the same time no room for advancement. I think in the last three years possibly three people have been promoted to director
- Little opportunity for individuals to make their mark and if they try they are punished for it

Advice to Senior Management

- Let people think and make actual meaningful decisions. You hired smart people - take advantage of that don't beat them into submission
- Teach managers that the people below them are not a threat. If they do well, then that reflects well on the manager.

Pros

The employees are very good people and fun to work with. There is a sense of teamwork - at times - and eveyone seems to geniunely care about each other.

Cons

Very scattered though processes and seem to excel at placing obstacles (red tape) in the way of success. Expectations don't = reality.

Advice to Senior Management

There seems to be a geniune desire to remove the "thatch" and do what matters. However, far too many of the current managment team don't work that way.

Pros

Great exposure to pet category

Cons

Move to San Francisco was handled poorly

Advice to Senior Management

Pittsburgh is a great town

Pros

location
occassional free pet food samples
you can be a complete idiot and still work here

Cons

poor management
very little cooperation between departments
very little respect of employees

Advice to Senior Management

There are too many managers at this location and only a few managers that are worth anything. Get rid of at least 30 supervisors and managers that are useless . The 50 % of workers there that aren't managers can easily tell you who should fired. I would rate many categories below 1 if that were possible.

Pros

Location in downtown SF is great
Pay
Animal adoption

Cons

Overworked
Stress
"not my job" attituide
got rid of a few of the good people
Churn and burn atmosphere
HR - out of the loop
CEO - out of the loop
Staff - survival of the fittest (corporate office)

Advice to Senior Management

Blind surveys of employee satisfaction.

Pros

-Great location in downtown San Francisco.
-Lean company with fewer layers gives individuals more responsibility and autonomy to make key decisions.
-Culture is better than most. Employees are friendly.
-Respects hard work and results rather than looking busy and working long hours everyday.
-Becoming a more marketing driven culture.

Cons

-Lots of turnover at lower level marketing positions.
-No clear role definition between marketing analysts, associate marketers and sr. associate marketers. Depending on brand, sr. associates could be doing analyst work and and analysts could be doing sr. associate work.
-Knowledge management and transfer is lacking resulting in lots of fire drills and duplicative work.
-Short term focus at the expense of long-term brand health.

Advice to Senior Management

Reward your employees and work on employee retention and training. Upgrade your data systems. Take more risks and put more focus on the longevity of your brands.