February Spotlight

Spotlight: Conagra Brands

Our Spotlight Interview for February is Conagra Brands.

Conagra Brands, headquartered in Chicago, combines a rich heritage of making great food with a sharpened focus and entrepreneurial spirit. Their Troy Branch is located at 801 Dye Mill Rd; Troy, OH 45373.

This interview is with Troy's new Plant Manager for Conagra, Michael Roth.

Q: When was Conagra Brands founded? When did Conagra come to Troy?

A: Conagra was founded in 1919. In 1998 Conagra began business in Troy after purchasing the plant that was previously owned by Gilardi Foods. Our Troy location is now where the school pizzas, calzones, and appetizers are primarily made.

Q: What is the mission of Conagra Brands?

A: Conagra has the most impactful, energized, and inclusive culture in food. Our diverse team embraces debate to challenge marketplace/business conventions. We are respected for our great brands, great food, great margins, and consistent results.

Q: About how many employees does the Troy location have?

A We have approximately 1,000 employees.

Q: What are some of the products that the Troy location produces?

A: We make Slim Jims, and also have a bakery that makes pizza, calzones, and appetizers for schools

Q: What moments/things have been most rewarding to you in this business?

A. Seeing the plant grown from 300 to 1,000 people over the last 15 years.

Q: What challenges has Conagra had to face and overcome?

A: Similar to a lot of food manufacturing companies, we had a hard time keeping up with the changes brought on by the pandemic.

Q: What elements of your business do you think makes you so unique and so vital to the Miami Valley community?

A. We have grown from a mid sized employer to one of the largest employers in the area over the past 15 years. Growth started in 2012, in such a short amount of time, we have expanded our business exponentially.

Q: What is a future goal that you would like to accomplish with Conagra?

A: Each year Conagra donates thousands of pounds of food that reaches food pantries across the country. However, I would want to go further and work more in the community itself. I would like to see Conagra partner and work with local non-profits.

Q: What is something about Conagra that you think people would be surprised to learn about?

A: I think people would be surprised about our size and presence in the community. You don’t really realize how many brands Conagra owns. Our plant in Troy is one of many for the company. We own a wide variety of brands that many people buy. This includes brands such as Birds Eye®, Duncan Hines®, Healthy Choice®, Marie Callender’s®, Reddi-wip®, and Slim Jim®; as well as emerging brands including Angies®, BOOMCHICKAPOP®, Duke’s®, Earth Balance®, Gardein™, and Frontera®. If you go home and look in your fridge, I am sure that you have something that is made locally.

Thank you to Conagra Brands for this interview!