The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1977, Side 42

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
AUTUMN 1977
HOSTESS CHIEF SETS QUALITY GOAL
(Hostess Food Products is an indepen-
dent subsidiary of General Foods. Ed)
Gib Stefansson has been working
hard to please customers for most of his
life.
As a boy, that meant getting up at the
crack of dawn through cold prairie
winters to collect newspapers for his de-
livery route from the train depot in
Roblin, Man.
As president of the fast-growing
Hostess Food Products, he still finds
himself up early; his dog wakes him at
6 o’clock each morning for a two-mile
run.
And as president of Canada’s largest
snack food company, he is still working
to please his customers.
“Our objective now is to become the
best snack food company right across
Canada,” he said simply during a re-
cent interview.
Gib who was appointed president
of the General Foods subsidiary in
September, said quality products and
employee participation are his princi-
pal concersn.
“One of my main jobs is to place a
very heavy emphasis on quality,” he
said. “Our operations and sales people
have worked together with close co-
operation to bring high-quality, fresh
products to our customers.”
Quality in the snack food business
means freshness. It is here the com-
pany’s sales force plays as important
a role as the operations people.
“The main thrust of this business
has been distribution,” Gib explained.
“You can have a very reliable product
leaving the plant but unless you have
a good sales force rotating the stock in
the stores, you can lose the respect of
your customers.”
And it is here where employee parti-
cipation plays a key role.
“I like to encourage participation and
decision making at all levels,” Gib said.
Gib has been able to participate
himself in several aspects of Hostess
in his 21 years with GF.
After signing on as a salesman for GF
in Winnipeg in 1956, he transferred to
Moncton where he worked in eight
different locations within four years
throughout the Maritimes. He was, he
said, “have-suitcase-will-travel.”
In 1960, just after GF acquired
Hostess, Gib moved to Toronto as Hos-
tess product manager where he oversaw
a broker sales force.
But the early 60’s proved to be a
painful learning experience for General
Foods and in 1965 a reorganization of
Hostess put Gib into the marketing
manager’s chair.
Gib was Hostess marketing manager
until his appointment as president last