Mars petcare unit to move management from L.A. to Nashville

Food and beverage giant will consolidate management of pet-food operations here after Doane acquisition

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood and Richard Lawson

Masterfoods Petcare, a division of global food and beverage conglomerate Mars Inc., is moving its executive operations to Nashville following its purchase of Nashville-based Doane Pet Care Co., according to a report in advertising industry publication AdWeek.

NashvillePost.com has learned that between 60 and 100 new management jobs will be created as leadership of the Masterfoods unit relocates from Vernon, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles. Doug Cahill, president and CEO of Doane, will run the combined operation.

Mars, headquartered in McLean, Va., closed earlier this week on the Doane deal. Both firms are privately held.

Masterfoods will continue to manufacture its products at a facility in California. Its pet food brands include Pedigree, Cesar, Whiskas and Sheba.

Mars spokesperson Alice Nathanson told AdWeek that the move is part of an effort to establish "a more efficient geographically distributed network in North America, with more plants, more locations, situated closer to our customers."

News of this latest eastward corporate migration broke just as boosters of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce's Partnership 2010 convened this morning for an "investors' meeting." Officials at the event touted the number of corporate headquarters relocations, business expansions, and retentions of imperiled jobs in Nashville of late, saying these developments have accounted for more than 5,000 new and retained jobs so far this year in the area.

The gathering was in a celebratory mood after yesterday's groundbreaking on Nissan's $100 million headquarters building in Cool Springs, set to open in 2008. Along with Nissan, other California-based operations that have set up shop in or near Nashville recently include ad agency TBWA Chiat\Day, which followed Nissan and also happens to have Masterfoods' account, and high-end pool table maker Olhausen Billiards, which is moving from San Diego to a new Sumner County facility.