Item 1. Business.

General

We are driving transformation at The Kraft Heinz Company (Nasdaq: KHC), inspired by our Purpose, Let’s Make Life Delicious. Consumers are at the center of everything we do. With 2024 net sales of approximately $26 billion, we are committed to growing our iconic and emerging food and beverage brands on a global scale. We leverage our scale and agility to unleash the full power of Kraft Heinz across a portfolio of eight consumer-driven product platforms. As global citizens, we’re dedicated to making a sustainable, ethical impact while helping to feed the world in healthy, responsible ways.

On July 2, 2015, through a series of transactions, we consummated the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (“Kraft”) with and into a wholly-owned subsidiary of H.J. Heinz Holding Corporation (“Heinz”) (the “2015 Merger”). At the closing of the 2015 Merger, Heinz was renamed The Kraft Heinz Company, and H. J. Heinz Company changed its name to Kraft Heinz Foods Company (“KHFC”).

We operate on a 52- or 53-week fiscal year ending on the last Saturday in December in each calendar year. Unless the context requires otherwise, references to years and quarters contained herein pertain to our fiscal years and fiscal quarters. Our 2024 fiscal year was a 52-week period that ended on December 28, 2024, our 2023 fiscal year was a 52-week period that ended on December 30, 2023, and our 2022 fiscal year was a 53-week period that ended on December 31, 2022.

Reportable Segments: In the first quarter of 2024, we divided our International segment into three operating segments — Europe and Pacific Developed Markets (“EPDM” or “International Developed Markets”), West and East Emerging Markets (“WEEM”), and Asia Emerging Markets (“AEM”) — to enable enhanced focus on the different strategies required for each of these regions as part of our long-term strategic plan.

Subsequently, we manage our operating results through four operating segments. We have two reportable segments defined by geographic region: North America and International Developed Markets. Our remaining operating segments, consisting of WEEM and AEM, are combined and disclosed as Emerging Markets.

See Note 20, Segment Reporting, in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, for our geographic financial information by segment.

Resources

Trademarks and Intellectual Property:

Our trademarks are material to our business and are among our most valuable assets. Depending on the country, trademarks generally remain valid for as long as they are in use or their registration status is maintained. Significant trademarks by segment based on net sales in 2024 were:

						Majority Owned and Licensed Trademarks
North America						Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Capri Sun, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O*
International Developed Markets						Heinz, Golden Circle, Wattie’s, Plasmon
Emerging Markets**(a)**						Heinz, ABC, Master, Quero, Kraft, Pudliszki

(a) Emerging Markets represents the aggregation of our WEEM and AEM operating segments.

*Used under license.

We sell certain products under brands we license from third parties. In 2024, brands used under licenses from third parties included Capri Sun packaged drink pouches for sale in our North America segment. We also grant certain licenses to third parties to use our intellectual property rights in select jurisdictions. In our agreements with an affiliate of Groupe Lactalis (“Lactalis”), we granted the other party various licenses to use certain of our and their respective intellectual property rights in perpetuity, including perpetual licenses for the Kraft and Velveeta brands for certain cheese products.

We also own numerous patents worldwide. We consider our portfolio of patents, patent applications, patent licenses under patents owned by third parties, proprietary trade secrets, technology, know-how processes, and related intellectual property rights to be material to our operations. Patents, issued or applied for, cover inventions ranging from packaging techniques to processes relating to specific products and to the products themselves. While our patent portfolio is material to our business, the loss of one patent or a group of related patents would not have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our issued patents extend for varying periods according to the date of the patent application filing or grant and the legal term of patents in the various countries where patent protection is obtained. The actual protection afforded by a patent, which can vary from country to country, depends upon the type of patent, the scope of its coverage as determined by the patent office or courts in the country, and the availability of legal remedies in the country.

Raw Materials and Packaging:

We manufacture (and contract for the manufacture of) our products from a wide variety of raw materials. We purchase and use large quantities of commodities, including dairy products, meat products, tomato products, sugar and other sweeteners, soybean and vegetable oils, coffee beans, wheat and processed grains, eggs, and other fruits and vegetables to manufacture our products. In addition, we purchase and use significant quantities of plastics, cardboard, resin, glass, and metal to package our products, and we use electricity, diesel fuel, and natural gas in the manufacturing and distribution of our products. For commodities that we use across many of our product categories we coordinate sourcing requirements and centralize procurement to leverage our scale. In addition, some of our product lines and brands separately source raw materials that are specific to their operations. We source these commodities from a variety of providers, ranging from large, international producers to smaller, local, independent sellers. Where appropriate, we seek to establish preferred purchaser status and have developed strategic partnerships with many of our suppliers with the objective of achieving favorable pricing and dependable supply for many of our commodities. The prices of raw materials that we use in our products are affected by external factors, such as global competition for resources, currency fluctuations, severe weather or global climate change, pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, consumer, industrial, or investment demand, and changes in governmental regulation and trade, tariffs, alternative energy, and agricultural programs. In 2024, we experienced moderate inflation in our supply chain costs compared to the prior year period, which we expect to continue through 2025. While inflationary pressures within procurement, manufacturing, and logistics costs had a negative impact on our results of operations, we experienced increased stability of these costs as compared to the prior year period.

Our procurement teams monitor worldwide supply and cost trends so we can obtain ingredients and packaging needed for production at competitive prices. Although the prices of our principal raw materials can be expected to fluctuate, we believe there will be an adequate supply of the raw materials we use and that they are generally available from numerous sources. We use a range of hedging techniques in an effort to limit the impact of price fluctuations on many of our principal raw materials. However, we do not fully hedge against changes in commodity prices, and our hedging strategies may not protect us from increases in specific raw material costs. We actively monitor changes to commodity costs so that we can seek to mitigate the effect through pricing and other operational measures.

Research and Development

Our research and development efforts focus on achieving the following four objectives:

• product innovations, renovations, and new technologies to meet changing consumer needs, support our environmental and sustainability goals, and drive growth;

• world-class and uncompromising food safety, quality, and consistency;

• superior, consumer-preferred product and package performance; and

• continuous process, product, and supply chain optimization and productivity initiatives.

Competition

Our products are sold in highly competitive marketplaces, including e-commerce retailers, large-format retailers, and discounters. Our competitors include large national and international food and beverage companies and numerous local and regional companies. We compete with both branded and private label products sold by retailers, wholesalers, and cooperatives. We compete on the basis of product innovation, price, product quality, nutritional value, service, taste, convenience, brand recognition and loyalty, effectiveness of marketing and distribution, promotional activity, and the ability to identify and satisfy changing consumer preferences. Improving our market position or introducing new products requires substantial advertising, promotional, and research and development expenditures.

Sales

Sales and Customers:

Our products are sold through our own sales organizations and through independent brokers, agents, and distributors to chain, wholesale, cooperative, and independent grocery accounts; convenience, value, and club stores; pharmacies and drug stores; mass merchants; foodservice distributors; and institutions, including hotels, restaurants, bakeries, hospitals, health care facilities, and government agencies. Our products are also sold online through various e-commerce platforms and retailers.

We have key customers in different regions around the world. In 2024, the five largest customers in our North America segment accounted for approximately 46% of North America segment net sales, the five largest customers in our International Developed Markets segment accounted for approximately 28% of International Developed Markets net sales, and the five largest customers in Emerging Markets accounted for approximately 12% of Emerging Markets net sales. Our largest customer, Walmart Inc., represented approximately 21% of our net sales in 2024, 2023, and 2022. Both of our reportable segments have sales to Walmart Inc.

In the first quarter of 2024, we changed the way we manage our product portfolio to align with our future growth strategy. As of December 28, 2024, we manage our sales portfolio through eight consumer-driven product platforms. A platform is a lens created for the portfolio based on a grouping of consumer needs and includes the following for Kraft Heinz: Taste Elevation, Easy Ready Meals, Substantial Snacking, Desserts, Hydration, Cheese, Coffee and Meats.

Taste Elevation includes condiments, sauces, dressings, and spreads. Easy Ready Meals includes Kraft Mac & Cheese varieties, frozen potato products, and other frozen meals. Substantial Snacking includes Lunchables meal kits, frozen snacks, and pickles. Desserts includes dry packaged desserts, refrigerated ready to eat desserts, and other dessert toppings. Hydration includes ready to drink beverages, powdered beverages, and liquid concentrates. Cheese includes American sliced and recipe cheeses. Coffee includes mainstream coffee, coffee pods, and premium coffee. Meats includes cold cuts, bacon, and hot dogs.

The platforms are modular and configurable by reportable segment and market and help us to manage and organize our business effectively by providing insight into our various product categories and brands. Further, each platform is assigned a role within our business to help inform our resource allocation and investment decisions, which are made at the operating segment level. These roles include Accelerate, Protect, and Balance. The role of a platform may also vary by reportable segment and market.

Net Sales by Platform:

Net sales by platform as a percentage of consolidated net sales for the periods presented were:

			December 28, 2024						December 30, 2023						December 31, 2022
ACCELERATE
Taste Elevation			44		%				44		%				41		%
Easy Ready Meals			18		%				18		%				19		%
Substantial Snacking			5		%				5		%				6		%
PROTECT
Desserts			4		%				4		%				4		%
Hydration			9		%				9		%				9		%
BALANCE
Cheese			7		%				7		%				7		%
Coffee			3		%				3		%				3		%
Meats			8		%				8		%				9		%
Other			2		%				2		%				2		%

Seasonality

Although crops constituting certain of our raw food ingredients are harvested on a seasonal basis, the majority of our products are produced throughout the year.

Seasonal factors inherent in our business change the demand for products, including holidays, changes in seasons, or other annual events. While these factors influence our quarterly net sales, operating income/(loss), and cash flows at the product level, unless the timing of such events shift period-over-period (e.g., a shift in Easter timing), this seasonality does not typically have a significant effect on our consolidated results of operations or segment results.

Government Regulation

The manufacture and sale of consumer food and beverage products is highly regulated. Our business operations, including the production, transportation, storage, distribution, sale, display, advertising, marketing, labeling, quality, and safety of our products and their ingredients, and our occupational safety, health, and privacy practices, are subject to various laws and regulations. In the United States, our activities are subject to regulation by various federal government agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, and Environmental Protection Agency, as well as various state and local agencies. We are also subject to numerous laws and regulations outside of the United States in markets where our products are manufactured, distributed, or sold, including laws and regulations governing food safety, health and safety, anti-corruption, and data privacy. In our business dealings, we are also required to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act, the U.S. Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act, and various other anti-corruption regulations in the regions in which we operate. We rely on legal and operational compliance programs, as well as in-house and outside counsel, to guide our businesses in complying with applicable laws and regulations. In addition, regulatory regime changes may add cost and complexity to our compliance efforts.

Environmental Regulation:

Our activities throughout the world are highly regulated and subject to government oversight regarding environmental matters. Various laws concerning the handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials and the operation of facilities in environmentally sensitive locations may impact aspects of our operations.

In the United States, where a significant portion of our business operates, these laws and regulations include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). CERCLA imposes joint and several liability on each potentially responsible party. We are involved in a number of active proceedings in the United States under CERCLA (and other state actions under similar legislation) related to certain closed, inactive, or divested operations for which we retain liability.

As of December 28, 2024, we had accrued an amount we deemed appropriate for environmental remediation. Based on information currently available, we believe that the ultimate resolution of existing environmental remediation actions and our general compliance with environmental laws and regulations will not have a material effect on our earnings or financial condition. However, it is difficult to predict with certainty the potential impact of future compliance efforts and environmental remedial actions and, thus, future costs associated with such matters may exceed current reserves.

Human Capital Management

We are driven by our Purpose– Let’s make life delicious, our Company Dream—To be the leader in elevating and creating food that makes you feel good, and our Values and Leadership Principles. Those elements represent the foundation upon which our culture is built. They represent the expectations we have for ourselves and the environment we aspire to create for our Company. We recognize that our ownership-centric culture is vital to our overall success and a key competitive advantage.

Our people are at the heart of who we are at Kraft Heinz. We drive growth through high accountability, development and career opportunities, empowerment, and autonomy. We recognize and reward outstanding and differentiated performance at every level, creating a true spirit of ownership, ambition, and meritocracy. We strive to channel our employees’ passion, curiosity, and attitude to make an impact on our future and our legacy by leading as learners, acting as owners, and being change agents. Our Board of Directors (“Board”), through the Human Capital and Compensation Committee, oversees our human resources strategy and key policies.

Engagement:

We are committed to attracting, developing, and retaining world-class talent and creating an engaging and inclusive culture that embodies our Purpose, Dream, Values, and Leadership Principles. As of December 28, 2024, Kraft Heinz had approximately 36,000 employees globally. Driven by our Value We champion great people, we support our employees’ health, safety, and professional development and reward outstanding and differentiated performance at every level. Our rewards strategies (compensation, benefits, recognition, and wellbeing) aim to help our employees help themselves to LiveWell. LiveWell represents our total rewards offerings that are designed to attract and engage highly skilled and performance-oriented talent, meet individual and family needs, and inspire, celebrate, and engage our people and teams through enhanced interactions in moments that matter in an environment where employees feel productive, trusted, and empowered.

Guided by our Values, we conduct a global engagement survey annually to provide employees with an opportunity to share anonymous feedback with management across a variety of topic areas. The results and comments are reviewed by the Board, senior leadership, managers, and human resources to help determine where changes are needed to support our people and teams.

Our November 2024 survey showed that we hit an all-time high for employee engagement since the 2015 Merger and achieved our aspiration to rank in the top-quartile on the Inclusion Index, which measures employees feeling like their opinions count, belonging and inclusive leadership.

We believe our culture is the secret sauce that sets us apart and drives our success. It is the key ingredient that unites us as a Community of Owners, fosters a sense of belonging, and inspires us to lead the future of food. It is the foundation of our employee value proposition.

We grow our people to grow our business. Our Employee Value Proposition is built on three core pillars:

• We develop people for greatness, unlocking their full potential through continuous learning and growth opportunities.

• We nurture an ownership-centric culture, encouraging people to act with autonomy and treat our business as their own.

• We drive impact by challenging the status quo, celebrating differences, and sparking innovation in pursuit of leading the future of food.

Over the past decade, we have been on a journey to create a workplace that resembles the consumers that we serve and provide delicious innovations that better serve our people, business, and communities. We have made significant progress, learned a lot, and plan to build on our successes as we set the table for the future.

Wellbeing and Safety:

Our employees’ health, safety, and wellbeing are a top priority. We establish and administer company-wide policies and processes to protect the health, safety, and security of our employees, subcontractors, and all those who visit our facilities, and to comply with applicable regulations. We review and monitor our performance closely to drive improvement. To help us evaluate how effective our safety efforts are in lowering incidents rates, we use a Total Recordable Incident Rate (“TRIR”). TRIR is a medical incident rate based on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) record-keeping criteria (injuries per 200,000 hours). Our TRIR globally was 0.39 in 2024 and 0.53 in 2023.

Our global LiveWell program focuses on four wellbeing elements — physical, emotional, financial, and social health — and provides specific programs and resources to support our employees and their families within each of these areas.

Learning and Development:

Through Ownerversity, our Kraft Heinz learning ecosystem, we provide learning opportunities for each of our employees, designed to inspire and grow talent within Kraft Heinz while developing employees’ skills and competencies to help them navigate their career journey. Our learning and development offerings are created to enable employees to live our Value We dare to do better every day and own their personal learning and development. We believe this empowers employees to execute with excellence in their current role, accelerate their learning curves, and grow a great career. Through Ownerversity, employees have access to custom Kraft Heinz training, learning and development materials, and external content libraries and articles.

Rewards and Compensation:

Our Total Rewards philosophy is to provide a meaningful and flexible spectrum of programs that equitably support our workforce and their families, and compliment Kraft Heinz’ strategy and values. Total Rewards includes compensation elements of base pay and wages and incentives, healthcare, savings and insurance plans, wellbeing plans, employee recognition programs, and other voluntary elected benefits. Kraft Heinz is a great place for those who dare to win in a challenging, meritocratic, ambitious, and engaging environment. We believe in ownership and meritocracy, recognizing and rewarding our people on their achievements and impact as they grow their careers with us. We aim for global consistency while respecting local market practices and employee preferences. The plans are designed to be market competitive and data-driven to promote our high-performance and results-oriented growth culture and realize our Purpose to Make Life Delicious for employees and their families.

Ethics and Transparency:

The Kraft Heinz Ethics Helpline is available to our partners, suppliers, customers, and consumers to ask questions or report potential violations of various policies and ethical guidelines, including our Code of Conduct, Supplier Guiding Principles, and Global Human Rights Policy.

We report more detailed information regarding our programs and initiatives related to our people and human capital management in our Environmental Social Governance Report. Our 2024 report, which provides our progress through 2023, is available on our website at www.kraftheinzcompany.com/esg. The information on our website, including our ESG Report, is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated into any other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

Information about our Executive Officers

The following are our executive officers as of February 8, 2025:

Name and Title						Age						Business Experience in the Past Five Years
Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Chief Executive Officer and Director						57						Chief Executive Officer (since December 2023); President Kraft Heinz (August to December 2023); Executive Vice President and President, North America (December 2021 to August 2023); and U.S. Zone President (February 2020 to December 2021). Executive Vice President and President, Campbell Snacks (May 2019 to February 2020), and President, Campbell Snacks (March 2018 to May 2019) at Campbell Soup Company (“Campbell”), a food and beverage company.
Andre Maciel, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer						50						Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer (since March 2022); Senior Vice President, U.S. Chief Financial Officer, and Head of Digital Transformation (September 2019 to March 2022); Managing Director, Continental Europe (January to August 2019); Chief Financial Officer, U.S. (2017 to January 2019); and Head of U.S. Commercial Finance (2015 to 2017).
Diana Frost, Global Chief Growth Officer						42						Global Chief Growth Officer (since December 2023); Chief Growth Officer, North America (August to December 2023); Head of North America Disruption and Canada Chief Marketing Officer (January to August 2022); and Chief Growth Officer, Canada (September 2020 to December 2021). Head of Portfolio Transformation, Mars Wrigley (January 2019 to September 2020) at Mars, Incorporated, a multinational confections company.
Marcos Eloi Lima, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Procurement and Sustainability Officer						47						Executive Vice President and Global Chief Procurement and Sustainability Officer (since December 2023); Executive Vice President and Global Chief Procurement Officer (December 2021 to December 2023); Chief Procurement Officer (October 2019 to December 2023); and Advisor in the area of procurement (July to October 2019). Vice President Procurement & Sustainability Middle Americas Zone (2016 to July 2019) at Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (“AB InBev”), a multinational drink and brewing holdings company.
Pedro Navio, Executive Vice President and President, North America						44						Executive Vice President and President, North America (since December 2023); President – Taste, Meals, and Away From Home (March 2022 to December 2023); President, Latin America (November 2019 to February 2022); and President, Brazil (2017 to November 2019).
Cory Onell, Executive Vice President and Chief Omnichannel Sales and Asian Emerging Markets Officer						51						Executive Vice President and Chief Omnichannel Sales and Asian Emerging Markets Officer (since December 2023) and Chief Sales Officer, U.S. (August 2020 to December 2023). Senior Vice President and Head of U.S. Retail Sales (April to July 2020) at The J. M. Smucker Company, a food and beverage company. Senior Vice President, Sales (2017 to April 2020) at Campbell.
Flávio Barros Torres, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Supply Chain Officer						55						Executive Vice President and Global Chief Supply Chain Officer (since December 2021); and Head of Global Operations (January 2020 to December 2021). Global Operations Vice President (2017 to 2019) at AB InBev.
Melissa Werneck, Executive Vice President and Global Chief People Officer						52						Executive Vice President and Global Chief People Officer (since December 2021); Global Chief People Officer (2016 to December 2021); and Head of Global Human Resources, Performance and Information Technology (2015 to 2016).
Angel Willis Executive Vice President, Global General Counsel and Corporate Affairs Officer						54						Executive Vice President, Global General Counsel and Corporate Affairs Officer (since November 2024); and Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary (January 2019 to November 2024) at Sealed Air Corporation, a global provider of packaging solutions.

Available Information

Our website address is www.kraftheinzcompany.com. We use our investor relations website, ir.kraftheinzcompany.com, as a routine channel for distribution of important, and often material, information about Kraft Heinz, including quarterly and annual earnings results and presentations, press releases and other announcements, webcasts, analyst presentations, investor days, sustainability initiatives, financial information, and corporate governance practices, as well as archives of past presentations and events. We encourage you to follow our investor relations website in addition to our filings with the SEC to receive timely information about the Company. The information on our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this report or any other filings we make with the SEC. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”), are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with, or furnish them to, the SEC. In addition, the SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including Kraft Heinz, that are electronically filed with the SEC.