Kettle Cuisine Names Rainert CEO

Kettle Cuisine, manufacturer of all-natural soups for foodservice and grocery operators, has named Joe Rainert to the position of CEO. Jerry Shafir, who founded the Massachusetts-based company 27 years ago, will transition from CEO to chairman of the Board of Directors to help the company navigate future opportunities.

Rainert (left) first joined the company in January 2013 as EVP of Sales, Marketing and Innovation. Before joining Kettle Cuisine, he served as managing director of a $200 million fresh, chilled foods company in London. Rainert also led an 18-year career at Bakkavor in the U.K., where he ran soup, sauce and ready-meal businesses serving leading retailers such as Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury and Asda. Prior to his career in chilled foods, Rainert was an accomplished chef and restaurateur, running a successful Michelin-rated restaurant in England.

“I look forward to seeing Joe lead Kettle Cuisine into the future,” said Shafir (right). “Joe has an extraordinary background, combined with a passion and commitment to food quality and innovation. He is customer focused, results-oriented, and has a fantastic track record of developing high performance senior teams. I am supremely confident in Joe and the excellent management team at Kettle Cuisine.”

Both Shafir and Rainert will be in attendance at the upcoming National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show in Chicago in May, as well as the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) Seminar and Expo in Orlando this June.