Nestle is the world’s most admired consumer food products company, while Tyson is the top food production company, according to Fortune Magazine’s new analysis.
Every year, Fortune surveys executives at the highest-revenue companies in the Fortune 500 database to determine who has the best reputation based on nine ranking criteria:
- Innovation
- People management
- Use of corporate assets
- Social responsibility
- Quality of management
- Financial soundness
- Long-term investment value
- Quality of products/services
- Global competitiveness
Here are the top 5s in food.
Top 5 consumer food products companies
- Nestle
- PepsiCo
- Danone
- Kellogg
- Mondelez International
Nestle held onto its #1 ranking in the consumer food products category and moved up to #36 overall, with 1s across all ranking criteria.
PepsiCo and Danone both moved up a spot this year. PepsiCo scored perfect 2s on the ranking factors, while Danone got high marks for innovation, quality of products/services, and global competitiveness.
Kellogg made a jump from #7 to #4 thanks to its use of corporate assets, social responsibility, financial soundness, and long-term investment value. Finally, Mondelez held steady at #5, getting its highest score for quality of management.
What happened to last year’s #2, you ask? Unilever (which recently rejected a merger proposal from Kraft Heinz) didn’t even make this year’s list.
Top 5 food production companies
- Tyson Foods
- Archer Daniels Midland
- Ingredion
- Wilmar International
- Bunge
The food production list is the same as last year, just in a different order. Tyson leapfrogged everyone else to move from #5 to #1, scoring 1s or 2s on all ranking factors. This pushed all of the other four companies down one spot.
Overall, this year’s results show how important it is for companies to innovate and be socially responsible. Consumers are more informed than ever, and these reputation-building activities can make or break a company just as quickly as the financial results.
