From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited

The Matougues plant, 2007.
This new-generation factory
has McCain’s biggest single
production line.
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Five minutes later, the car phone rang again. It was Harrison. “Okay, you’ve had
time to think about it. I want you to start as soon as you can.”
Bernou took the job. He also developed a friendship with Harrison McCain that
he treasured. He particularly appreciated that Harrison offered help for certain family
problems Bernou was experiencing. “He was very, very helpful opening many
doors for me to get the right doctors. He would call my wife, too. This created a very
strong link between Harrison and me. This is one of the reasons I am still with the
company, because when you build this kind of relationship, you say, ‘Okay. I have to
stay.’ Harrison could be very tough but he could also be a wonderful guy.”
After Bernou had run the French business for two years, Harrison asked him to
take over responsibility for all of southern Europe. At the time, southern and northern
Europe were being run as two separate divisions. Harrison had divided the continent
in two because he thought having two managers and teams looking after such
a complex and large region would allow the business to grow faster than having only
one. But eventually it became apparent that two captains were not better than one. So
Gilles Lessard, based in Brussels, was named CEO for all of continental Europe, with
the CEOs of the two continental European regions reporting to him. Then, in 2002,
Bernou was given the job of merging and running the two divisions, northern and
southern Europe. In 2005, central Europe was added to Bernou’s responsibility. While
most of the major European french fry companies are still based in the Netherlands
and Germany, McCain since 2002 has maintained its continental European headquarters
in France.
Although Europe, with its slow population growth, is often considered a mature
market, McCain Foods is growing and thriving there. Some of the growth comes from
winning consumers over to McCain products. For example, the French for many
From the Ground up
Wallace
As a manager, Wallace McCain was famous for his mastery
of detail. CFO Bruce Terry admired his ability to “talk about
various cost ratios and speak about thirty years of history
with absolute accuracy. I used to say he could probably still
tell you what the specific gravity of peas was in 1961.”
John Walsh, a crop scientist in charge of potato research,
attended a meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, with Harrison
McCain and representatives of Monsanto in the late 1980s to
discuss genetic engineering of potatoes. When he returned,
he met with Wallace, who was eager to find out everything
about the meeting. Wallace had even set up a flip chart in
his office so that Walsh could make drawings to explain his
answers.
“I was very impressed by his knowledge of the subject
and the kinds of questions he asked,” recalls Walsh. “He
wanted to make sure that he understood the technology
properly and whether I thought the technology was viable
or not. He kept me there for an hour and a half, until he was
sure all his questions had been answered. I left exhausted.”
(Walsh did not recommend doing a deal with Monsanto,
and Wallace agreed. To date, McCain has not used genetically
engineered potatoes.)
Wallace McCain understood that, in manufacturing, the
winner is the company that can produce the highest possible
quality at the lowest possible cost. Pennies are important
because pennies add up to dollars.
“Wallace would call you into his office at ten minutes
to five,” recalls Jim Evans, a veteran production manager.
“He might be sitting there behind a stack inches thick of
purchase orders to authorize or invoices to approve for payment.
He wanted to know exactly why you had to purchase
this or that, why this many pieces, why it had to be of that
quality and price level.
“He wanted to make sure you knew exactly what you were
doing, and how you were spending the company’s money.
Once you knew what Wallace was looking for, you prepared
for it. If anything deviated 5 percent from budget, you made
sure you had all the answers before talking to Wallace.”
Like his late brother Harrison, Wallace McCain is unpretentious.
Both brothers had huge ambitions for their
Wallace, 1969.
company but never took themselves too seriously. Board
member Paul Tellier recalls a visit in 2006 by the McCain
board to France’s Champagne region to see the company’s
Matougues plant. The Matougues factory is impressive both
in its size and the attractiveness of its surrounding grounds.
Tellier, who was sitting next to Wallace on the bus, expected
him to be bursting with pride. After all, he had started a little
company in New Brunswick and now here he was arriving
at this magnificent factory that bore his family name and it
was in Europe, in the country that had given the french fry
its name.
Tellier said, “You must have a tremendous sense of pride
looking at this.”
Wallace replied curtly, “No. I’m just looking at the size
of the goddamn thing and I’m wondering why it’s so big.
Maybe we could have made more money if it was smaller.”
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