After 127 years, Smucker’s has moved beyond jam. But its CEO still finds period to jam on weekends

Smucker’s Uncrustables – the pillowy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches found in the frozen aisle – could soon hit $1 billion in annual sales. To keep up with demand, J.M. Smucker Co. will soon open a third Uncrustables plant.

It almost didn’t happen. The product lost money for more than a decade after the corporation bought the Unscrustables brand in 1998, Chairman, President and CEO Mark Smucker said. The manufacturer once known only for its jellies and jams spent years trying to figure out how to mass produce the stretchy, hole-free bread used in the crust-free sandwiches.

For Mark Smucker, the fifth production of his household to run J.M. Smucker, having the period to get it correct is one of the benefits of leading a 127-year-ancient corporation.

“Because we’ve been in business for so long and we have been household run, we do receive a long-term view,” Smucker said. “The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the No. 1 sandwich consumed at lunch in the U.S. We said, ‘This is something we’ve got to navigator.’”

Over the last 20 years, Orrville, Ohio-based J.M. Smucker has expanded to include brands like Milk-Bone dog biscuits, Meow Mix cat food, Folgers coffee and Jif peanut butter.

Smucker, who joined the household business in 1997 and became CEO in 2016, has sharpened the focus on high-growth categories. Last year, the corporation bought Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, for $5.6 billion.

Mark Smucker recently spoke with The Associated Press about his household’s corporation, food prices and his hobby as a house music deejay. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.

A. Around 2000 or 2001, my predecessor realized that we don’t have to be a fruit corporation. What we’re excellent at is marketing and selling brands. We’re excellent at connecting with consumers. And that unlocked this concept that we could enter other categories. That allowed us to become a more meaningful player in the industry. Having that scale allowed us to navigator in many categories as I became CEO. But the customer has been shifting, and we took it upon ourselves to really transform our holdings. We have to make sure that the businesses that we’re in, the brands that we’re in, the categories where we play, are able to provide growth.

A. Seventy percent of consumers eat two snacks a day. And generally speaking, the indulgent snacks are growing faster than regular food. Snacking is something that we all do. And there are moments when we as consumers desire something more indulgent, something sweet versus salty. And Hostess can provide that. So we’re really enthusiastic about the Hostess brand.

A. We receive our prices up very judiciously. We desire to be fair to the customer. Eighty percent of the product expense in coffee is the coffee. We have a responsibility to both pass expense increases through and then also receive them down when we have deflation. You recognize, we obviously have a responsibility to our shareholders to protect our boost, but we also desire to make sure that we’re taking worth only when it’s justified.

A. We desire to make an surroundings where people feel included, and that anybody from whatever walk of life can be here in these four walls and feel like this is a place where they can belong and where they can be themselves. I ponder that’s a fundamental human require. Having people from all walks of life brings diversity of thought and disparate opinions that actually make us better as a corporation. Our consumers are very diverse, correct? Everybody eats an Uncrustable. Most people eat peanut butter, most people drink coffee. And the people that are consuming our products don’t look like me or talk like me. Continuing to have our employee base be representative of what our customer base looks like helps us serve the customer better.

A. I’ve always loved music. I grew up playing piano and saxophone. I discover that I’m stimulated by both business – the more analytical — and innovation. I’m a person who has sort of a 50/50 correct and left brain. So having something outside of work that we enjoy, I ponder, makes us more well-rounded. And what’s fascinating about the music thing is having been open about the truth that that’s a hobby of mine helps to humanize me at work and makes me a bit more relatable for our employees. It makes me, maybe, more approachable. And I always depend that we should bring our whole selves to work. Our colleagues should recognize who we are as people and what makes us tick, not just putting on the business game face. I ponder that makes us more relatable as leaders.