The iconic hot dog brand Oscar Mayer could be up for sale by its parent company Kraft Heinz Co., The Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday.
Oscar Mayer, whose Chicago origins date back to 1883, could fetch $3 billion to $5 billion, the WSJ said citing “people familiar with the matter.” It also said Bank of America and investment bank Centerview Partners were hired to explore a possible sale, though a buyer has not emerged.
Food giant Kraft Heinz, co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday: “There is no news here. We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.”
The report comes after Carlos Abrams-Rivera was named CEO of Kraft Heinz on Jan. 1, succeeding former CEO Miguel Patricio. Abrams-Rivera previously served as the company’s president, a role he held for about four months after serving as executive vice president and president of North America.
Kraft Heinz, whose brands include Velveeta, Jell-O and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, has been restructuring its large portfolio in recent years. In 2021, it sold most of its Planters nuts business for $3.35 billion to Hormel Food. That year it also sold parts of its natural cheese operation to Groupe Lactalis for about $3.3 billion, including the intellectual property for its Cracker Barrel brand.
“We’re not surprised to hear that Kraft Heinz might be exploring a sale of its once-historic Oscar Mayer brand. The company has been selling off underperforming brands for many years in order to pay down debt and reposition itself for stronger long-term growth,” Arun Sundaram, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said in a statement to the Sun-Times.
In March, Kraft Heinz debuted Oscar Mayer’s first-ever plant-based hot dogs and sausages through a joint venture with NotCo. The U.S. market for plant-based food is projected to mushroom from $8.3 billion in 2023 to $19 billion by 2030, said Kraft Heinz.
Its new vegan Bratwurst and Italian sausage is aimed at a growing number of consumers ranging from “the devoted vegan to the plant-based curious,” The Kraft Heinz NotCo CEO Lucho Lopez-May said in a news release.
In addition to its hot dogs, Oscar Mayer is known for its cold cuts, bacon and other food products such as Lunchables snack packs, as well as the infamous Wienermobile.
But Sundaram said the company has lagged behind. “Oscar Mayer seemed to have lost its appeal to the modern consumer many years ago, as we think Kraft Heinz failed to renovate and revitalize the brand,” he said.
On May 1, the company reported first quarter net sales of $6.4 billion, down 1.2% compared to the same period in 2023. It also increased its prices by 2.7 percentage points from the same period last year to accommodate its own higher costs on goods like dairy. Sales volume also fell by 3.2 percentage points with the company citing the reduced benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
