McKeany-Flavell Company Information

The history of McKeany-Flavell is one of people, their ideas, and their willingness to evolve. People are our most important asset, ideas are the cornerstone of our business, and their willingness to change has made us into "the premier counsel in the food and beverage industries." From our roots as a West Coast-based sugar brokerage company in 1948, our reach has extended to the national and international arena, and our expertise has expanded from sweeteners to include a spectrum of commodity ingredients. In each decade since our founding, McKeany-Flavell has been at the forefront of industry change, recognizing we must add value to the buy-sell equation. Beginning in the 1950s, we helped food and beverage manufacturers achieve competitive advantages by bringing new bulk handling systems online. In the 1970s, we assisted companies considering the switch to high fructose corn syrup with our expertise in both formulation and product application. We continued to expand our scope in the 1980s, entering the edible oils, cocoa, chocolate, coffee, and fruit juice concentrate areas. Food and beverage manufacturers could now develop full-featured ingredient purchasing programs through one reliable source, McKeany-Flavell. We continued honing our commercial talents. During the 1990s and through the mid-2000s, we wrestled with NAFTA and its possible effects on sugar supply between Mexico and the United States. We purposefully became experts of and to the Mexican sugar industry, allowing our role facilitating the flow of sweeteners to and from each country. Also, during the 1990s, we progressed as an intelligence provider, lending insight to clients' decision-making processes. We recognized and defined our value-added proposition, our commercial intelligence and experience. This emphasis allowed us in the early 2000s to fix upon our true passion and vision, to be "the premier counsel to the food and beverage industries." In the 2000s, we introduced strategic consulting services to help customers in more volatile, consolidated, and complex marketplace and markets. As investment in commodities markets by nontraditional (and noncommercial) players has grown, we've adopted new tools including technical and statistical analyses and cost modeling. Since then, we have begun working with customers to devise and implement risk management services. In addition, we have expanded our information services offerings to take advantage of new technologies. We have developed our in-house educational programs like Sweeteners 101 courses, which have become "musts" for our valued customers, principals, and their new employees. Our public presentations are renowned for their insight and find us being invited to food conferences throughout the U.S. and the world. We are regularly commissioned to create private studies and consult on strategic planning processes. Today, we truly counsel and have become strategic partners to our valued customers, national and international companies whose brand names are recognized throughout the world. Empowering our clients with solutions to gain a competitive advantage in the food and beverage industry is our mission.