Dive Brief:

• Gourmet specialty foods seller Innovative Food Holdings said Tuesday that it hired Walmart veteran Gary Schubert to become its CFO.

• Schubert is joining Innovative Food after a long career in corporate finance, with three years at Tyson Foods followed by a decade and a half at Walmart, according to his LinkedIn profile. The role change was effective on Monday, according to a press release.

• “His extensive experience developing and implementing profitable strategies at complex, multi-billion-dollar companies, including Walmart and Tyson Foods, will deepen our financial acumen, governance, and management processes as we navigate the next chapter of our strategic plan,” Innovative Food Bill Bennett said in the release.

Dive Insight:

The change comes on the heels of weak financial results from Bonita Springs, Florida-based Innovative Food.

In November, the company reported that it generated total revenues of $17.3 million during the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of 13.8% compared with the year earlier period. This followed a second quarter revenue decline of 8.2% year over year.

Bennett, who was appointed to the role of CEO in early 2023 after his predecessor, Sam Klepfish, stepped down, has laid out a three-pronged plan for delivering long-term profitable growth, starting with stabilization of the business.

During a November earnings call, Bennett said the company was “still squarely” in the stabilization phase of the plan.

“We need to build credibility that we can consistently deliver a profitable business model and positive cash flow,” he said. “This is why we've been focused so heavily on rightsizing our margins, expenses and uses of cash.”

Prior to his latest post, Schubert served as senior director of finance and transformation strategy at Walmart for two years. His other roles at the retail giant included senior director of operations finance and strategy as well as senior director of merchandise and strategy for food. At Tyson Foods, he served as a senior financial analyst.

Innovative Food’s previous CFO, Richard Tang, who joined the company in December 2020, will stay on through the end of January to help with the transition, according to the Tuesday release. 

“We thank Richard for his tremendous contributions over the last three years, bringing the company back to profitability post-COVID, recapitalizing all company debt, improving net working capital, and strengthening the accounting team, enabling them to meet all SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] deadlines,” the food company said.