, Columnists
Big Food Can't Close the Deal
Small makers of healthy offerings don't come cheap these days.
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It's not going to be easy for food and beverage companies to satisfy investors' appetite for growth.
As consumer preferences shift, companies such as Kellogg, Hormel and Campbell Soup face slowing sales in their packaged cereals, lunch meats and snacks. Aggressive cost-cutting is keeping profits afloat, but slashing expenses can only go so far. These companies need to buy sales growth by gobbling up smaller businesses that sell the healthy foods shoppers increasingly want. The only problem is, there don't seem to be enough sellers to satiate the bevy of buyers.