IMA member Plante Moran Launches Food & Beverage Consulting Practice Nationwide
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:28PM Plante Moran, PLLC, one of the nation’s largest accounting and business advisory firms, recently announced the launch of the firm’s food and beverage industry practice. Based in Chicago and led by Jeff Mengel, partner and certified public accountant, the practice formalizes the expertise that Plante Moran has gained serving the needs of more than 200 food and beverage industry clients for over 80 years.
Plante Moran’s food and beverage practice consists of over 350 manufacturing and distribution professionals providing a variety of services including financial statement auditing, tax planning and compliance, technology assessments, operations improvement, cost containment and transportation cost reduction to clients nationwide. The client base consists of food processors in several diverse industry sectors including confectionery, frozen foods, snacks, baked goods, dairy, and natural processors.
“The recent Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) presents additional challenges for food and beverage companies including continued economic issues, rising transportation costs and increased regulation,” said Gordon Krater, managing partner at Plante Moran. “Jeff’s expertise, with a team of experienced industry professionals, provides a great benefit to current and future clients to effectively monitor cost savings and ensure a risk-free supply chain.”
With over 30 years of manufacturing and distribution experience, Mengel has authored topical articles and spoken on effective strategies and is the current committee chair for the Association for Corporate Growth Chicago’s Food Conference scheduled for June 12, 2012. He graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.
“Our team of auditors, tax specialists and consultants is familiar with the challenges of food and beverage companies, and helps clients seamlessly adapt to new laws, price fluctuations and technology changes, as well as better manage risks from new industry regulations and tax additions,” said Mengel. “Plante Moran has been serving its food and beverage clients mostly out of the Chicago office, so establishing the local presence further emphasizes the city’s central influence on the food and beverage industry and continued practice growth.
IMA member Plante Moran is among the nation’s largest certified public accounting and business advisory firms, providing clients with tax, audit, risk management, financial, technology, business consulting, and wealth management services. Plante Moran has a staff of more than 1,600 professionals in 21 offices throughout Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois with international offices in Shanghai, China; Monterrey, Mexico; and Mumbai, India. Plante Moran has been recognized by a number of organizations, including FORTUNE magazine, as one of the country’s best places to work.
For more information, visit http://www.plantemoran.com/pages/default.aspx.