L’or and Kenco owner JDE Peet’s CEO and chair Luc Vandevelde is stepping down after five months due to “unforeseen matters”.
The former M&S chief executive, who had been acting as interim CEO, departs with immediate effect as part of a reshuffle by majority shareholder JAB Holdings, the Financial Times reported.
Vandevelde was initially announced as interim chief executive and chair in March and took up the position in April after a difficult period for the coffee brand owner as it grappled with inflation and rising input costs.
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JAB managing partner and chair Peter Harf will succeed Vandevelde as chair, while JDE Peet’s chief financial officer Scott Gray will become interim chief executive until the role is filled permanently.
A spokesperson told the Financial Times that the hunt for a permanent CEO is “nearing completion” and that Gray “is the best person to lead the company” until then.
Meanwhile, Vandevelde will join JAB as a senior adviser, focused on packaged goods.
The Kenco owner is not the only coffee giant to have suffered from high costs over the past few years.
Last month, Italian coffee company Lavazza warned that coffee prices will keep rising until the middle of next year as the industry continues to face “very challenging headwinds”.
Vice chairman Guiseppe Lavazza said that prices have soared to a record 15-year high due to a mixture of supply chain disruption, geopolitical disruption and poor harvests and added that the brand had “never seen such a spike in price as the trend right now” with prices reaching a high of £3,356 a tonne in early July.
