History & Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Early Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Global Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Modern Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Company Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Recent Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Company DNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Social Media Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2

Saul Brandalise and Angelo Ponzoni opened a grocery store in Vila

das Perdizes in 1934

The two Italian immigrants picked a location in the far south of

Brazil, almost equidistant from São Paulo and Buenos Aires

They first aim was to establish a fledgling retail empire simply by

merging with a store in a nearby town.

Within a year they had switched careers and were in meat

production

Due to their location, the state of Santa Catarina was awash with

livestock farms run by European settlers.

In 1941, the firm of Brandalise, Ponzoni and Cie launched their

first pork products under the Perdigão brand name.

3

As a result to Saul and Angelo’s energetic leadership, they acquired a tannery to process their own pig skins.

They soon branched into flour milling and even bought a sawmill. In 1950, the company is renamed to Brandalise, Ponzoni SA

Comércio e Industria and it concentrated its expansion efforts on vertical integration.

Their new name became an enduring hallmark. The company was farm-rearing its own pigs and its chickens were

fed from its own feed mills. Resulting products were distributed by its own subsidiary, which

included two Douglas DC-3 aircraft to get fresh produce to the São Paulo markets 1100kms away.

In 1958, the Perdigão brand name (meaning partridge) became so popular

Soon, the company adopted Perdigão as its official name. In 1970, they developed a national presence across Brazil.

4

Perdigão made its first foray into a production of branded processed meat products such as hamburgers and salami.

Also in 1970, investment in R&D capabilities were steadily increasing.

In 1980, Perdigão withdrew a number of non-core operations (such as sawmill and retail outlets), by expanding into the beef category.

They became a dedicated food producer. In 1981, R&D came up trumps when the company launched

chickens under the Chester brand name. R&D was a specially bred to have a greater proportion of meat in

the breast and thigh portions, and were quickly followed up with low fat versions.

In 1989, the company increasingly added brands to its portfolio through a combination of its own efforts, the use of established children’s characters such as Turma da Mônica, and acquisitions such as that of Swift canned vegetables.

5

In 1990, the irresistible force of Perdigão’s constant expansion hit the immovable object of the Brazilian economic crisis and very nearly bankrupted the business of its early year.

In 1994, the Brandalise and Ponzoni families sold out to a consortium of pension funds. They wasted no time in seeking to turn around their investment.

6

In 1985, Perdigão set up a partnership with the Mitsubishi Corporation to export its products into Japan

In 1990, EC permission was granted for the company to import into Europe

Last 2001, Perdigão and Sadia joined forces to create an export joint venture

BRF Trading aimed of exploiting new markets in Russia, Africa and the Caribbean

When their partners fell out, Perdigão took over the entire operation In 2012, they had amassed 19 commercial offices overseas During the same year, they achieved:

61 plants in Brazil, five in Argentina, and two in Europe (UK and

The Netherlands), another was under construction in Abu Dhabi.

7

A promising joint venture with Dah Chong Hong Ltd to

distribute the company’s products in China through both retail

and food service sectors took place.

Export sales reached R11.6 billion off a volume of 2.5 million

tons.

With the exception of North America, they enjoyed a good

global spread: 33% going to the Middle East; 20% to the Far

East; 16% to Europe; 13% to South America; 9% to Eurasia

and 8% to Africa.

8

The new owners had a clear out at the top and hired a team of

seasoned executives

The purpose of hiring new executives is to embark on an extensive

restructuring of the company, both operationally and financially.

This resulted in a tighter definition of what were the core

operations

They want an outcome that non-core activities like the animal feed

divisions that were sold off.

More than $260 million was spent on modernising and upgrading

manufacturing facilities while the product range moved towards

higher margin, added-value categories.

In 1997, the company launched the Healthful Choice brand of

frozen foods

Initially. It was a range of vegetables and then fish products.

9

Next came the launch of readymade meals under the Toque da

Sabor brand, which was quickly followed by the Apreciatta range

of frozen pizzas.

In 2001, an investment of $250 million was made to construct

Latin America’s largest pig and poultry facility.

In 2002, Perdigão entered into the cheese business.

Their total annual sales became R2.8 billion ($1.4 billion), almost

half of which was exported.

Pursuing essentially the same strategy nearly doubled sales

between 2002 and 2006

A takeover bid from rival Sadia was promptly rejected

The next year Perdigão changed gear.

10

They agreed with Unilever to create a joint venture to manage the

Becel and Becel proactive heart health brands in Brazil.

As part of the deal, Perdigão acquired Unilever’s Doriana, Delicata

and Claybom margarine brands, together with the associated

production facilities.

Perdigão overtook Sadia as Brazil’s biggest food company, helped

by the acquisitions of poultry and dairy producer Eleva Alimentos

SA; and the meat-processing unit of Cebeco Groep BV.

In 2009, they launched a bid for their great rival

Sadia had lost more than R3 billion in ill-advised derivative bets on

the Brazilian Real currency and made a whopping loss in the year.

Perdigão agreed to take over Sadia in a share-swap transaction,

thus forming the world’s biggest poultry processor

11

Its value is about $5.3 billion and had overtaken Tyson Foods Inc.

of the US.

The new company would be called BRF Brasil Foods SA

It forecasted to generate anywhere from R2-4 billion cost savings

in distribution and production

BRF received the entire shareholding of Quickfood SA, owner of

Argentina’s leading hamburger brand

Sales rose from R20.9 billion in 2009 to R25.7 in 2011 - making

BRF the world’s seventh-largest food company

The contribution to an average total shareholder return increased

of over 30% since the merger had been announced.

Even after the enforced shedding, BRF still had a portfolio of over

thirty brands spread across 3,300 product lines.

An average of approximately 300 new products launched each

year 12

It helped earn the company a place in the Forbes list of the world’s

100 most innovative companies.

The company now has 150,000 distribution points, and giving

access to their products to 98% of the country’s population.

The new company’s mission was “To be a part of people’s lives by

offering tasty foods with high quality, innovation and at affordable

prices anywhere in the world”.

This mission was being realised: over 40% of sales were being

exported to over 120 countries.

13

The latter operated as a stand-alone subsidiary, in parallel with the

company’s other main Brazilian businesses (after Sadia’s

acquisition)

International divisions were consolidated under one holding

subsidiary, Crossban Holdings BmbH (which was registered in

Austria)

By the end of 2012, Sadia SA had been fully absorbed into the

main business

14

2009

A huge number of activities were necessary: absorbing and

divesting facilities and brands

Managing brand transitions where their names had been forced to

take a hiatus.

2012

The enforced transfer of assets and suspension of brands knocked

an eye-watering one-third off the company’s domestic sales

Despite the problems, they still managed to move ahead by 10.9%

and like domestic sales in the second half of the year were up 50%.

It rolled out new lines under the Sadia brand to replace the

suspended Perdigão products

They launched new lines under the Perdigão brand into categories

not affected by the suspension.

15

The company brought out 99 new products into the Brazilian

market.

These were principally ready-to-eat meals, pizzas and Meu Menu

brand of frozen pasta meals

These all contributed an additional 8.5% to the top line.

Market share (2012 % share): Speciality meat 56.6, Margarine 59.9,

Pizzas 64.6, Frozen meats 68.3, Pastas 72.7.

The food services unit grew its sales to 62,000 customers while in

the overseas markets the company grew by over 30% in South

America and Eurasia and over 10% in the Far East and Middle East.

The company capped off a fine year by investing over R100 million

in a new technology centre, this brought together the 250-strong

R&D teams.

The year’s turnover was over $13 billion

16

Given a complete clean sweep of management and strategy in

1994 and the mega-merger with Sadia in 2009, it is fair to say that

the BRF DNA is still evolving.

A cause of their recent success must be the level of

professionalism and dynamism they have brought to a historically

somewhat staid category.

They are a match for anyone in the food business and a competitor

to be feared.

17

BRF Brasil Foods SA is the result of a complex 2009 merger

between Perdigão Agro-industrial and Sadia SA.

The company has had the benefit of a dynamic domestic Brazilian

market which has helped it to generate strong growth. It remains

however very reliant on that market with negligible presence.

Taking over Sadia in a share-swap transaction, thus formed the

world’s biggest poultry processor, as its value was about $5.3

billion

Received the entire shareholding of Quickfood SA, owner of

Argentina’s leading hamburger brand.

An average of approximately 300 new products launched each

year helped earn the company a place in the Forbes list of the

world’s 100 most innovative companies.

18

As one of the most impressive supply chains in Brazil, reaching

over 150,000 distribution points, and giving access to their

products to 98% of the country’s population.

With a 2012 turnover of over $13 billion, BRF is already a bigger

company than some of the venerable first world leviathans

covered earlier in this book.

Their background and existing business is in fresh (vegetable,

ready to eat meals), frozen foods (meat, poultry, fish, pasta meals)

yet, their shift into more branded categories is continuing to

expand.

Middle East, Africa and China have been their recent targets for

expansion which has seen the construction of its first processing

plant in the United Arab Emirates in 2013.

19

Website: www.brf-br.com/global/

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/brf 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/BRFSA/373130329473764?rf

Twitter: www.twitter.com/brasilfoods

20