Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994                   TAG: 9410140044
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: 8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FOOD COMPANY IS ON THE BLOCK

Since then the company, now Golden West Foods Inc., has been bought, merged and had its name changed. But change never worried Nichols, until now.

"This is more drastic, because we're pulling away from our parent company," Nichols, now a marketing specialist for the maker of processed foods for restaurants and institutions, said Wednesday.

Nichols was reacting to an announcement late Tuesday by McCormick & Co., the company's Sparks, Md., parent, that it intends to sell Golden West Foods as part of a $66 million restructuring. It is consolidating plants and eliminating about 600 jobs. McCormick bought Childer's Foods in 1968 and, after merging it with West Coast companies, formed Golden West Foods in 1980.

"They're going back to the basics, and we're their only frozen food company, so we don't fit their core business," said Steen Metz, Golden West Foods president.

McCormick is primarily a spice company, and Golden West Foods is best known for its frozen onion rings and batter-dipped turkey nuggets. Although McCormick supplied Golden West with the dehydrated onions and flavoring for its onion rings, it was always an odd match.

"You always wonder how we fit in [with McCormick]," Nichols said.

Metz hopes that won't be the case with Golden West's next owner, whom he hopes is in the frozen food business. So far, the company has had inquiries, but no reported offers.

That scares some of Golden West's 165 employees. Metz doesn't blame them.

"You cannot say you're all guaranteed your job. There's nothing I can promise," Metz said.

Travis Patterson, who has been with the company for eight years, said he's concerned, but he's not worried about job security.

"We've got a work force here that is very stable. Most people have worked here for 10 or more years. And Golden West runs a very lean work force; we don't have a lot of fat," said Patterson, the company's national account manager.

But until there's a buyer, it's business as usual.

"Nothing is stopping here. In fact, we're probably more productive now than we were before," said Metz, who in the past year has diversified Golden West's customer base and convinced existing customers to expand their business with the company. "We're concentrating on what we can control."