PBM Products Revenue and Competitors

PBM also produces a line of small fruits and puffed grain snacks in recloseable tubs for toddlers. The Little Fruits and Little Puffs line, introduced last year, is distributed to Wal-Mart and other retailers. The company has expanded the flavors, which now include Pineapple Pear Little Fruits, Peach Blueberry Little Fruits, Corn and Cheddar Little Puffs and Pineapple Tangerine Little Puffs. PBM began in 1997 in New Jersey as a manufacturer of generic infant formula but moved its headquarters to Gordonsville six months later. The company employs about 400 people worldwide, with its manufacturing base located mostly in Vermont and New York. The company was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine's Hot 500 this year with a rank of 242 and posted $158.4 million in sales in 2006. The new Parent's Choice baby foods will create 20 administrative, managerial and executive positions in Gordonsville, the company said. Relationships such as the one between PBM and Wal-Mart are beneficial for both companies, said University of Virginia economics professor David Mills. "Wal-Mart gets a little bit of leverage with the pricing," Mills said. "They will put PBM's products next to a national brand like Gerber, who knows they're competing with the private label and can't make the price so high. For the company, PBM doesn't have to invest in national advertising. They have a wide distribution by selling to Wal-Mart and letting Wal-Mart put their label on the product." But Wal-Mart's size relative to the smaller companies it works with can be a problem if the smaller company becomes too dependent on the relationship, said Robert E. Spekman, a professor at U.Va.'s Darden School of Business. "Wal-Mart is the 800-pound gorilla," Spekman said. "While they're a good company, they're just so big. If I was a small company, I would be concerned of my dependency around it." Spekman said companies such as PBM need to pay close attention to Wal-Mart's needs and develop a long-term strategy based on what's good for the company, even if that conflicts with Wal-Mart's strategy. Manning said PBM has a good relationship with Wal-Mart thus far, describing its representatives as "very supportive and easy to do business with."