Careers at Acosta Inc.
MISSION
Acosta Inc (“Acosta”) aims to provide effective, efficient, and innovative sales and marketing services to large-scale retailers, seeking to optimise their marketing performance and increase their sales figures.
FOUNDING STORY
Acosta traces its roots back to 1927, when Louis (L.T.) Acosta opened a family-run, single-market food broker, servicing consumers in the Jacksonville, Florida area. The company operated under the name under the name LT Acosta Company Inc. The company maintained modest operations for many years, expanding only through a 1956 merger with food broker Common and Co. Food Brokers.
In 1959, Louis Acosta retired, and was replaced by Robert H. Albritton as President and owner of the company. Albritton, in turn, retired in 1974 and was replaced by Del Dellas. Dellas. had more ambitious plans for the company, and quickly launched an expansion plan that saw the company become one of the first companies to offer manufacturer representation in more than one area through the establishment of a new office in Tampa, Florida. Acosta continued to expand its operations throughout the remainder of the 1970 and early 1980s, initially opening offices in Alabama and Georgia, and later in Miami, Florida which enabled it to offer state-wide services.
Acosta continued its expansion throughout the remainder of the twentieth century establishing a presence in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, and Louisiana. The company assumed its current name, Acosta Inc, in 1999 through the merger of four entities: Acosta Sales Company, PMI-Eisenhart, Kelley-Clarke, and The MAI Companies. Acosta has since cemented its position in the US market as a leading sales and marketing agency.
Business model of Acosta Inc.
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
Acosta Inc provides services and solutions that are targeted directly at commercial enterprises and brands that produce products for sale across retail chains around the world. This comprises companies in the following categories:
- Food and Beverage Companies, including producers of fresh, frozen, and canned food products, as well as of beverages, including soft drinks and dairy products;
- Health and Wellness Companies, including producers of everyday hygiene products such as soaps, shampoos, and toothpastes, as well as more targeted skin care, medicine, and other health and beauty products; and
- Other Consumer Goods Companies, including producers of other consumer goods products such as cleaning supplies, household items and confectioneries.
Acosta also provides marketing insights to branches of the military, e-commerce companies, and foodservice providers.
Acosta has a number of longstanding relationships with companies dating back to the mid-twentieth century. The company serves a number of high-profile companies and household names, including companies such as Campbell’s, The Clorox Company, Coca Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone North America, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, Mondolez International, and Nestle.
VALUE PROPOSITIONS
Acosta provides value to its customers in the following ways:
- Industry Experience and Expertise – Acosta is a market leader in the field of sales and marketing solutions, it has extensive experience in the sector, is able to attract highly-trained, expert personnel, and has access to cutting edge technologies that set its offerings apart from competitors;
- Innovative Technology and Solutions – Acosta commits a significant portion of its resources to developing and implementing technology systems that enable it to incorporate real-time data into its sales and marketing platform, and allow it to deliver actionable and insightful analysis to its clients;
- Extensive Reach – Acosta has an extensive operational presence across its core market in the US, and a growing reach across international markets, including a presence in Canada, Australia, and the UK;
- Longstanding Relationships – Acosta has a track record for establishing long-lasting relationships with its clients, including a number of high-profile brands, making the company attractive to new clients;
- Reputation and Track Record – Acosta has an established track record for providing effective sales and marketing insights and solutions, and delivering measurable returns to its customers and retail partners.
CHANNELS
Acosta lists a number of channels on its website, comprising retail channels in which it provides tailored solutions. These channels include retail sectors such as retail club, drug store, grocery, mass merchandise, pet store, natural and specialty, and value.
Acosta also operates separate divisions and dedicated channels through which it serves e-commerce companies, foodservice providers, and the military. Acosta has dedicated teams across all of these channels that provide services, insights, and data to customers directly.
Acosta additionally provides general data and market insights through its website at www.acosta.com, as well as through a series of industry research and insight reports released throughout the year. The bulk of these reports focus on current and developing industry trends, but also concern more targeted topics.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
As noted above, Acosta seeks to establish long-standing relationships with its clients. The company works closely with its customers through dedicated sales and relationship management teams to ensure that it provides actionable and insightful data and analysis to its customers. The company’s sales and relationship management personnel operate out of the company various offices across the US, as well as through offices in the UK, Australia, and Canada.
Through its website, Acosta provides information to customers regarding its operations, services, operating locations, and leadership. The company is also able to interact directly with its clients and offer up-to-date market insights through its various social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Acosta, which conducts business under the name Acosta Sales and Marketing Company, provides a range of outsourced sales and marketing services to consumer packaged goods companies, major brands, and retailers, primarily in the US and Canada. Acosta provides integrated marketing, retail, sales, and business process services to its clients, including customer relationship management, category management, space management, sales support, strategic end-to-end marketing, advisory, and project management, solutions. The company operates across multiple service channels, including club, convenience, drug, foodservice, fresh foods, grocery, mass merchandisers, military, natural and specialty sales, and value. The company is headquartered in the US, and has an operational presence in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
KEY PARTNERS
Acosta works closely with a network of partner organisations and companies that help to ensure that the company is able to provide effective and insightful solutions. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:
- Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of technologies, tools, and equipment that support the company’s development of innovative sales and marketing solutions, as well as third-party providers of more general corporate support services;
- Retail Partners, comprising retail companies and chains, including wholesalers, supermarkets, grocery stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, e-commerce companies, and other retailers with which the company works closely to optimises sales strategies;
- Media and Communications Partners, including various media agencies and communications companies with which the company collaborates on the development and publishing of market insight reports and sector analysis;
- Technology Partners, including a range of technology and marketing companies with which the company collaborates to develop and or implement innovative new marketing and sales solutions; and
- Strategic and Alliance Partners, comprising a range of companies and organisations with which Acosta works closely on joint projects and ventures.
Acosta notably has partnerships a number of leading retailers, including Kroger, Walmart, Costco, and PetSmart. It has also established recent partnerships with companies such as Quri, and Trax and Nielsen.
KEY RESOURCES
Acosta’s business model relies on its ability to provide innovative and unique sales and marketing solutions. As such, the company’s most key resources are its technologies and intellectual properties, its software and analytics products, its IT and communications infrastructure, its retail partnerships, and its personnel. The company is particularly dependent on having unique technologies and employing highly-trained, expert members of staff. Despite its need for unique solutions, the company does not have any patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Acosta’s key resources also include its physical properties – including offices across the US, and in the UK, Australia, and Canada, as well as its suppliers and vendors.
COST STRUCTURE
Acosta incurs cost in relation to the development of its technologies and solutions, the maintenance and management of its software and analytics databases, the maintenance and development of its IT and communications infrastructure, the management of its partnerships, and the payment of salaries and benefits packages to its personnel. The company also incurs substantial costs in relation to the payment of rental and utility costs across its network of offices in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
REVENUE STREAMS
Acosta generates revenue through the provision of sales and marketing services and solutions to consumer goods companies and retail brands. The company derives its revenue primarily under individual sales and service contracts agreed with clients on a case by case basis. Acosta is a privately owned company and as such is not obliged to publish its financial results online. While the company does not make its revenue figures available to the public, media coverage from the past few years has estimated its annual revenue figures to be approximately USD 1.85 billion.
Our team
info: Alejandro Rodriguez Bas (“Bas”) joined Acosta in July 2018 as the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. He is responsible for leading the company’s overall strategic direction and collaborating with other members of Acosta’s Board of Directors. Bas began his career holding management roles at Calzado Rohcal and McKinsey and Company. In 2003, he joined Sabritas PepsiCo, where he served in several management positions, including a spell as Chief Transformation Officer, before moving to PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand as a General Manager in 2008. After a spell as Chief Executive Officer at PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand, Bas served briefly as Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Industrial Lala in 2013. In 2014, he was named Executive Vice President of New Business and Market Development at C&S Wholesale Grocers, his last executive role before joining Acosta.
info: Matt Laurie (“Laurie”) has served as Acosta’s Interim Chief Financial Officer since 2013. He is responsible for leading the company’s financial management operations, including its tax, accounting, and audit activities. He has been an employee of Acosta since 2002, and prior to assuming his current role served as Acosta’s Corporate Controller and Treasurer. Laurie began his career at Deloitte, where he held a number of management positions during the 1990s. He went on to join Francis Meyer Inc, where he served as Chief Financial Officer before moving to Acosta in 2002.
info: Steve Kremser (“Kremser”) joined Acosta in April 2017 as its Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer. In this role, he is responsible for planning and executing of Acosta’s strategies and corporate development programs, including leading the company’s transformational initiatives. Acosta began his career at Molecular Bio-Products, where he served as Marketing Director from 1994 to 1997. In 1999, he joined The Boston Consulting Group, where he spent 17 years in various leadership roles. This included a ten-year spell as a partner, leading the company’s west coast consumer and retail team, and a spell as the company’s Managing Director. Kremser left The Boston Consulting Group in 2016 before joining Acosta.