What are we talking about? We’re talking about the merger of Unilever and McCormick. Now this might seem all remote because it’s a mega deal worth billions, and so be it. But when these category and product managers get involved, they will start to cut lines or change products, all in the aim of making them cheaper and providing more profit. If you think this is theoretical, think again.
This is what happened when Mondelez took over Cadbury’s. People all over the world on TikTok are complaining that there’s very little of the cocoa in the Cadbury chocolate slabs. It’s low, about 5%. These TikTokers also make comparisons with other chocolates, which have much more cocoa in them.
What about PepsiCo, when they bought into the Pioneer Foods brand? You saw rationalisations there. Thank goodness for another company that got Peck’s Anchovette back off the ground, because it was a terrible blow for consumers in South Africa, a spread that they’ve known for years.
And what about when Tiger Foods, not in a merger, but when they got rid of the famous South African product Koo sousboonjies? That in itself was a major tragedy. It was such a great accompaniment to a snoek braai and other summer salads.
Now I was in a Pick n Pay supermarket the other day, and I spoke to a Unilever rep, and we were talking about Sunlight bars and how useful they are for washing. Not just the Sunlight in liquid form, but the Sunlight in solid bar form. Then he mentioned that, or I mentioned that we’re lucky in this country because our machine?washing soaps come in powder form. And a lot of people in America complain that their washing soaps have gone into liquid form. And this local Unilever rep said that soap powders for washing machines in this country are going to go into liquid form as well. This will be a great tragedy. Who can do without Bio Classic, for example, which is only getting a tiny showing on the shelf space of supermarkets these days? Some of these supermarkets aren’t even carrying the product anymore.
So let’s watch this space and see what the Unilever–McCormick merger does to the ordinary shopper in the months and years ahead. No doubt we can expect changes.
A bit of background on who they actually are
Unilever is not just some vague “British” company; it’s a Dutch–British multinational with deep roots in both Europe and the UK. It was formed from the Dutch margarine company Margarine Unie and the British soapmaker Lever Brothers, which is why people associate brands like Sunlight, Dove, and Omo with a very British?feeling heritage, even though the company is legally dual?listed and global.
Unilever’s Foods business – the part that’s being merged into McCormick – is home to some of the biggest names in the grocery aisle: Knorr (bouillons, instant soups and meal?in?a?box products) and Hellmann’s (mayonnaise and salad dressings). Together, Knorr and Hellmann’s make up roughly 70% of Unilever Foods’ sales, which is why this merger is such a big deal.
McCormick & Company, on the other hand, is a U.S.?based flavour giant founded in 1889 that specialises in spices, seasonings, condiments and flavour ingredients sold in more than 150 countries. It’s the kind of brand that sits behind the scenes in many restaurant kitchens and industrial?food formulations, even when consumers don’t see the name on the final product.
Some of McCormick’s most recognisable household brands include its own McCormick spices and blends, French’s (famous yellow mustard and ketchup), Frank’s RedHot hot sauce, and others like Cholula, Old Bay, Lawry’s and Stubb’s.
Why this merger is personal – even to French’s mustard lovers
Here’s where it becomes personal: French’s mustard is already part of McCormick, and it’s one of its flagship condiment brands. So when people talk about the Unilever–McCormick merger, they’re not talking about a tiny, unknown brand; they’re talking about a squeeze?bottle staple that many of us have in our fridges right now.
McCormick has owned French’s for years, so it didn’t just “fall into” this deal; it’s a core asset in the group. The new structure simply places French’s alongside Unilever’s Hellmann’s, Knorr and other global food brands under a single, much larger “flavour?powerhouse” umbrella.
What this usually means for the products on your shelf
History shows that mega?mergers like this almost always lead to rationalisation. Product managers start looking at overlapping SKUs (stock keeping units)– different flavours of mayonnaise, several bouillon cubes, similar spice blends, multiple mustard lines – and ask: “Which of these do we keep, which do we shrink, and which do we quietly kill?”
For ordinary shoppers, the likely outcomes are:
- Shrinking or deleting products – regional or “slow?moving” SKUs, quirky local flavours, smaller pack?sizes or niche condiments may be pulled from shelves to simplify the portfolio.
- Formula tweaks – to keep margins up, companies often quietly change recipes: less cocoa, less high?quality spices, more fillers, cheaper oils or different thickeners, while the logo and packaging stay the same.
- Fewer “quirky” options – brands that once offered a rich range of local flavours may be streamlined to a handful of “core” lines, reducing choice for consumers who liked the “odd” variant they used for years.
If you love a specific product – whether it’s a particular Knorr bouillon cube, a specific French’s mustard line, or a local South African favourite – don’t assume it will always be there. Brands live and die on spreadsheets, not on nostalgia.
South Africa, the U.S. and the American angle
One of the interesting things about this story is that my audience is global. On idea Ideaaccelerator.co.za, more than half of our page views now come from the United States, which means readers in New York, Texas and California are watching the same brands, the same shelves, and the same quiet product?cutting and recipe?tweaking that we see in Pick n Pay and other South African stores.
In the U.S., people already complain that their washing machine soaps have shifted from powder to liquid. That’s not just about one brand disappearing; it’s about entire formats being phased out to suit global manufacturing and logistics economies of scale.
So when you stand in that supermarket aisle, that French’s mustard in your hand, that Sunlight bar you still swear by, or that dwindling Bio Classic on the edge of the shelf – they’re all part of the same story.
So what’s next for your French’s mustard?
So the next time you reach into your fridge for that French’s mustard bottle you bought at Thrupps, remember: it’s not just a condiment; it’s a tiny piece of a multi?billion?dollar flavour empire. Mega?mergers like this rarely come with warning labels, but they do quietly change what ends up on your plate – and on your washing line.
If Bio Classic is squeezed off the shelf, or if your favourite compact disappears from your supermarket in favour of a new liquid format, that’s the same logic at work: one big machine, one simple portfolio, and less room for the products South Africans have known for years.
We’ve already seen this movie before. When Campbell’s bought Royco soup, most of the soup variants were ditched, including the legendary tomato soup in South Africa. Today you can barely find proper Royco soup; you mostly see Royco sauces and mixes taking over the shelf.
So keep an eye on that French’s mustard, on Bio Classic, and on every other brand that’s been part of your kitchen for decades. In the world of mega?FMCG mergers, there’s no such thing as a “safe” shelf – only brands that are still, for now, profitable enough to survive another round of rationalisation.
