Dairy giant Danone named a new head to oversee its U.S. operations as the Oikos maker aims to turn around a region that has struggled to meet soaring demand due to customer service issues, a top executive told analysts.
Francois Lacombe will take over as president of Danone U.S. Lacombe, who has been optimizing Danone’s Spanish operations, is joining “to really make sure that 2027 looks very different” than this year, said Juergen Esser, Danone’s chief financial officer.
“We need to work harder to improve our U.S. performance and regain momentum now that capacity is there, which requires stronger focus on execution and rebuilding our innovation leadership,” Esser said. “As part of this, we believe that it is important that we bring fresh eyes into that business to now lead in a very offensive and aggressive manner the business into year 2027.”
A Danone spokesperson told Food Dive that Lacombe sees “significant opportunity [in the U.S.] to build on the company’s strong portfolio of brands, innovation pipeline, service excellence and leadership in health and nutrition.” Lacombe will focus on improving execution, deepening Danone’s connection with consumers and positioning the business for further growth, the spokesperson said.
Danone’s yogurts, including Oikos and Activia, have been a major beneficiary of the GLP-1 weight loss boom. Yogurts are not only loaded with protein, but they are also portion-controlled and contain other nutrients needed for consumers who are eating less due to the medication.
The demand has left Danone struggling to produce enough due to a lack of manufacturing capacity in the U.S. Danone has since invested millions in its U.S. business, including expanding a facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and growing and upgrading its yogurt facility in Minster, Ohio., yogurt facility.
But the expansion has created another set of challenges.
Esser told analysts that the ramp-up has resulted in performance and customer-service issues in North America as the new capacity disrupted Danone’s supply chain.
Lacombe “will be sorting out quickly now the issue on customer service and then really playing to the max a very strong innovation pipeline for the U.S. for 2027, an innovation pipeline, which we have not seen for years, to be honest,” Esser said.
Lacombe’s career at Danone began in 1997, when he joined the company’s water business out of its former Stamford, Connecticut office. He has since held senior leadership roles across North America, Latin America and Europe.
The seasoned executive has developed a reputation for his operational expertise, turnaround skills and an ability to simplify complex challenges and boost accountability within his teams, according to the company. Most recently, Lacombe led a turnaround of Danone's dairy and water business in Spain and reversed softened performance for specialized nutrition and plant-based categories.
Danone said on Wednesday it posted a 2.4% like-for-like sales growth for its North America business during the third quarter. Much of the increase came from price, which rose 3%, as volume/product mix slipped 0.6%.
