CEO exits across Big Food have accelerated over the past 12 months, driven by scandals, performance pressure, and board impatience as the easy COVID years fade.
Why CEOs are leaving now
The exits have been swift and often controversial. Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe was forced out after just 12 months over an undisclosed romantic relationship with a direct subordinate, and chairman Paul Bulcke was also ousted by investors who held him partly responsible. Suntory CEO Takeshi Niinami was removed over drug use allegations. Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen left after an investigation found his conduct "inconsistent" with company ethics policies. Kraft Heinz CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera stepped down weeks after the company announced a split into two entities. Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher departed after 18 months, with the chairman citing that more work was needed to deliver results. Hershey's US president Andrew Archambault also exited after 12 months in role.
Some exits were orderly: Michele Buck at Hershey and James Quincey at Coca-Cola stepped down at the right time. But others hint at deeper dysfunction beneath the surface.
The real problem: Innovation gaps exposed by inflation
The root cause is structural, not just personal. During COVID-19, Big Food had an unusual advantage. Their smaller local and regional competitors and private-label makers lacked robust supply chains, so Big Food cut SKUs and prioritized bestsellers while consumers stayed home. This masked innovation failures.
That changed in 2022. Russia's invasion of Ukraine spiked input and freight costs. Big Food pushed through heavy pricing, and consumers accepted it because they still had post-COVID savings. This was misread as a signal that consumers loved their brands again.
By 2026, the problem is exposed. Smaller competitors rebuilt supply chains. Private label is back. Consumers are exhausted by years of inflation. Big Food has suffered multiple years of volume declines because it "forgot how to innovate," according to portfolio manager Agne Rackauskaite at Impax Asset Management.
Boards are becoming impatient
Average CEO tenure in consumer-facing sectors has dropped to four to five years, down from roughly a decade historically. Boards, activist investors, and shareholders are demanding faster strategic change. With sluggish growth and margin pressure mounting, boards feel they cannot wait several years for a turnaround that may never happen.
But this speed carries risk. Many of the challenges facing consumer goods companies are inherently long-term: portfolio repositioning, rebuilding brand equity, executing innovation pipelines. Frequent leadership turnover can disrupt strategy just as it begins to take hold. A new CEO often needs time to diagnose issues, align the organization, and implement changes before results show.
The danger is that Big Food mistakes motion for progress, lurching from one plan to the next without fully executing any of them.
Who is being hired
Companies are now hiring operators and turnaround leaders rather than brand builders. This may help stabilize performance and sharpen execution. But the deeper challenge is not just operational. Consumer goods companies need to rediscover relevance with consumers who have more choice, less loyalty, and tighter budgets. Innovation, brand clarity, and genuine value matter just as much as cost discipline.