MERIDIAN, Idaho—CTI Foods (“CTI”),a leading custom foodservice manufacturer supplying the top U.S. restaurant chains and branded food companies, today announced that Mike Buccheri, most recently the Company’s Chief Commercial Officer, has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of CTI, effective immediately.
Buccheri brings 25 years of experience in the foodservice industry, leading business development strategies and sales and operations program implementation. As Chief Commercial Officer of CTI, Buccheri was responsible for building a robust innovation pipeline with existing and new customers, optimizing the Company’s sales pipeline, commercialization and pricing with greater operational discipline, reorganizing the sales, R&D and culinary teams and revising the Company’s go-to-market strategy. Prior to CTI, Buccheri served as Vice President of Business Development at Simmons Feed Ingredients, an affiliate of Simmons Foods, where he led several projects to expand the company’s product portfolio and strategic position in the marketplace. Buccheri began his professional career at Tyson Foods, where he spent 20 years in various senior leadership roles in sales and operations, including Vice President and General Manager of the company’s $500 million Ingredient Meats business unit.
“Since joining CTI in January 2018, Mike has quickly demonstrated his passion for our company and his ability to deliver results,” said Jon Spiller, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. “We are confident that Mike is the right person to lead the continued execution of our strategy given his decades of experience in the foodservice industry. As CTI Foods builds on its current momentum, Mike will focus on improving our financial performance, further enhancing our innovation pipeline and commercialization processes and attracting top talent to all functions while at the same time strengthening our relationships with customers and winning new business.”
Buccheri said, “It is an honor to take on the role of CEO and to lead this uniquely positioned company. Over the last year, I have had the pleasure of getting to know and work with the CTI team and strongly believe that our deep bench of talent combined with our strong customer base will drive the next phase of growth for the Company. Further, as we continue to advance our strategy to enhance our customer value proposition, we are as focused as ever on maintaining the highest levels of food safety protocols and processes. I look forward to the work ahead to maintain our lasting partnerships by delivering on our mission to provide innovative and quality food solutions.”
About CTI Foods
CTI Foods is a culinary-driven company that offers a diverse range of custom food solutions to the foodservice and restaurant industries, including raw and pre-cooked protein, soups and sauces and dehydrated beans. CTI Foods has seven state-of-the-art food processing facilities and has over 1,500 employees at its California, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Texas locations.
