Commenting on the news, Mr. Funk said, "We are delighted to welcome Eric Zitelli
to the United Natural Foods team. With over 25 years experience in both the
natural foods and consumer product industries, Eric brings a wealth of
marketing, sales and operating management experience to this position. His
leadership and vision was instrumental in the successful creation of nSpired
Natural Foods, a California based company focused on natural and organic snack
foods. As founder and president he played a key role in the organization's
growth, highlighted by a significant increase in revenues in less than two
years. He fully understands the natural products industry and we are confident
that he will play an integral role in leading Hershey's to continued growth and
profitability."
Prior to founding nSpired Natural Foods in 1998, Mr. Zitelli was a Principal of
The Zitelli Group, a sales and marketing consulting firm. From 1984 through
1997, he was a Co-founder and Principal of Unger, Zitelli and Sletten, a
business development firm advising Fortune 500 consumer product companies on new
product innovation, new business start-ups, brand promotion, advertising, sales
management and sales promotion. He previously worked in a variety of marketing,
advertising and sales positions for Rexall Corporation, D'Arcy Advertising and
Ralston Purina Company. He has a MBA from Southern Illinois University and a BA
in Psychology from California State University.
Hershey Import Company, headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, is a leading
importer, processor, packager, and marketer of nuts, dried fruit, seeds, trail
mixes, natural and organic products, and confections in the United States.
Product is sold in its own packaged snack lines: EXPRESSnacks, Woodstock Farms
and Woodfield Farms, as well as in bulk. Hershey also provides private label
packaging for many large natural products, supermarket and convenience store
chains.
About United Natural Foods
United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes over 30,000 products to more
than 7,000 customers nationwide. The Company serves a wide variety of retail
formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores
and independent retail operators.
For more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's web-site
at www.unfi.com .
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Statements in this press release regarding United Natural's business which
are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and
uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could
cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to general business conditions, the impact
of competition and our dependence on principal customers, see "Risk Factors" in
the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Commission on October
23, 2001, and its other filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date
made. United Natural is not undertaking to update any information in the
foregoing reports until the effective date of its future reports required by
applicable laws.
SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.
CONTACT:
Thomas Simone, Chairman of the Board of United Natural Foods,
Inc., +1-707-537-9872; General Information, Joseph Calabrese, +1-212-445-8434,
Analyst Information, Vanessa Schwartz, +1-212-445-8433, or Media Inquiries,
Judith Sylk-Siegel, +1-212-445-8431, all of FRB Weber Shandwick
URL: http://www.unfi.com
Copyright (C) 2001 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.