Pillsbury eliminating 750 jobs, refocusing on its dough-based products

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Pillsbury Company announced Wednesday it is eliminating about 750 positions and will focus on its expertise in dough-based foods.

Of the 750 positions, 278 are in Minnesota, about 11 percent of Pillsbury's work force in the state. All but one of those jobs is in the Twin Cities.

''We know dough,'' said Pillsbury president and chief executive officer John Lilly, ''and we want to leverage that expertise in a significant way to win in the marketplace. To accomplish this, we are changing how we approach our dough businesses from research and development to how we market to the consumer.''

The company has announced an alliance with Dallas-based CROSSMARK, a national food broker. CROSSMARK will offer positions to many Pillsbury field sales people.

Lilly also said the alliance with CROSSMARK will allow Pillsbury products to be sold in a greater variety of retail outlets.

''This is a very significant change for Pillsbury,'' Lilly said. ''Not in terms of the number of jobs affected, but rather in how the company will be organized, how we operate internally and how we move more innovation to the marketplace. We want to win in our categories, and this will get us there.''

Pillsbury employs 17,500 people worldwide. The company is the packaged food division of London-based Diageo and sells food under the Pillsbury, Green Giant and other labels.