PARIS — Carlos Abrams-Rivera, chief executive officer of the Kraft Heinz Co., was direct when asked about the current near-term macroeconomic environment — “The year has turned out different than many of us expected.”

Speaking June 4 during the Deutsche Bank dbAccess Global Consumer Conference, Abrams-Rivera said he expected the new Trump administration to focus on driving down inflation to give some confidence to the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates that would have led to relief for consumers.

“… and we haven’t seen that,” he said. “… What I'll say is there’s (US) consumers who are not just at the lower socioeconomic class, who are really dealing with the pressures of having to have high interest rates, mortgage credit cards, and you’re seeing delinquency already increasing, wages not keeping up with inflation. So, it is a moment in which … was a difficult 2024, I think, has extended into this year more so than we may have expected…”

The turn of events has forced Kraft Heinz management to shift its focus to delivering the value consumers are expecting, even if they have different definitions of value.

“If I think about the fact that families are looking for value at this time, we also … are going to be launching a family-sized pack of Mac & Cheese that you can feed a family of 5 for $2,” he said. “So, that idea of us responding to the moment with the right communication, the right packaging format with a great quality at this particular time. And we're doing that across our portfolio in the US…”

Andre Maciel, chief financial officer, emphasized that the definition of “value” is fluid depending on the consumer. There are those focused on price while others are shifting from eating out to eating at home more.

“We continue to see premium growing, in part, because of those consumers leaving away from home and going to retail,” he said.

Abrams-Rivera added that while price is important there is no way Kraft Heinz is going to “out private label private label.”

“For us, … it’s about us both coexisting and emphasizing the values and benefits we bring to consumers,” he said.

An analysis by the company showed that the quality of its Lunchables cookies and crackers was considered poor.

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One area the company has focused on improving is product quality. Analysis of product lines like Lunchables and Kraft Mac & Cheese revealed shortcomings in how consumers perceive the product. With Lunchables, the quality of the cookies and cracker used was inferior.

“Some of that came because of COVID,” Abrams-Rivera said. “We needed to make sure we source those cookies and crackers from different places. We invested in making sure we have superior products, and now we’re telling consumers about it over the summer.”

With Kraft Mac & Cheese it was the flavor that did not meet consumer expectations.

“One of the things we saw was that one opportunity we have is to reclaim the ‘cheesiest’ Kraft Mac & Cheese,” Abrams-Rivera said. “That type of reformulation, which you can imagine when we’re dealing with an icon like Kraft Mac & Cheese, potentially can take eight or nine months on a normal basis. We’re doing it in nine weeks.

“So, by the time from us learning about it, being able to deploy … what consumers really want, by the time we get to (the) back-to-school period, we will have a superior product, highlighting the claims that consumers care about and making sure we have the marketing to reflect those things.”

In late April, Kraft Heinz issued its first-quarter results and lowered its full-year outlook from net sales in a range of flat to down 2.5% to down 1.5% to 3.5%.

Abrams-Rivera said the revised guidance reflects the moment and that “we also are reflecting the fact that we are going on offense by us investing more in our business.”