Kraft Heinz on Tuesday named former Kellogg chief Steve Cahillane as its CEO, tasking the industry veteran with leading the packaged food giant through a planned split into two stand-alone companies.

The company in September decided to break up, with one company focused on condiments like Heinz ketchup and the other on grocery food brands like Oscar Mayer, after years of price hikes, declining sales and higher costs due to tariffs resulted in a valuation that lagged peers.

Cahillane, 60, will begin the new role on Jan. 1 as Kraft Heinz joins a growing list of global consumer goods companies to make top-level changes this year. He will succeed Carlos Abrams-Rivera, who will serve as an adviser until March 6.

Abrams-Rivera, who became CEO in 2024, was pegged to head the grocery unit after the split, which is expected to be completed by the second half of 2026. But on Tuesday Kraft Heinz said the board would initiate a CEO search for the business.

  Shares of the company have lost about 75% of their value from the peak of $97.77 in 2017 and are down nearly 30% since Abrams-Rivera took the helm in January 2024.

The forward price-to-earnings multiple of its stock, a key valuation metric, is 9.73, compared to 17.67 for PepsiCo, 22.04 for Coca-Cola and Mondelez’s 17.21, according to LSEG data.

Kraft Heinz in October cut its annual sales and profit targets as budget-conscious consumers continued to prefer cheaper private label brands.

Cahillane would also serve as CEO of the sauces and spreads unit after the split, which aims to reduce operational complexity and improve focus on each business as high inflation and economic uncertainty hobble demand.

The sauces and spreads business had sales of about $15.4 billion in 2024, while the other company, which would consist of processed foods and ready-meal brands had about $10.4 billion in annual sales.

Cahillane had led Kellogg through its separation in 2023 and was CEO at Kellanova, the global snacking business, until it was acquired by Mars for about $36 billion this year. He has also worked with Coca-Cola and AB InBev.