When Peter McGuinness took over as the North American CEO of Babybel cheese maker Bel Group earlier this year, he inherited what he calls a portfolio of “sleeping beauties.” While brands like GoGo squeeZ and The Laughing Cow fit squarely into consumer demand for protein and healthier snacking, McGuinness says the company has been too “quiet” in promoting them.

“I’m not coming to Bel to restructure or fix something that’s broken,” said McGuinness. “[Bel in North America is] a healthy company that has strong top and bottom line results, good margins, strong balance sheet. But it’s really about how … quickly can we accelerate even more growth and make a good thing better.” 

McGuinness’ move to Bel follows a four-year stint running Impossible Foods and nine years at Chobani. The often outspoken executive isn’t afraid of taking bold steps to scale brands, leading a repositioning of Impossible Foods after acknowledging the plant-based meat category was “mismarketed and mislaunched.” 

At Bel, McGuinness takes the helm of a business in a position of strength. Bel has been a fixture in the U.S. for half a century, and today the Paris-based company generates a third of its sales in the U.S. through its Babybel, GoGo squeeZ, The Laughing Cow and Boursin brands. Sales are growing in the low double digits, McGuinness said. 

Despite its lengthy time in the U.S., there remains plenty of “pure opportunity” for the company, McGuinness noted. Awareness of Babybel is 72% and The Laughing Cow is two percentage points higher, according to the company. As consumers turn to portion-controlled snacks with simple ingredients, the cheese, vegetable and fruit products maker is poised to tap into that untapped opportunity.

Earlier this year, Bel announced it would spend $200 million to double output at a Babybel cheese production plant in Brookings, South Dakota, the largest U.S. investment in the company’s history. It also announced a partnership with food technology company Foodberry to develop a lineup of better-for-you snacks using real fruit.

“It’s more now than ever our time,” McGuinness said. “There is a little bit of a carpe diem thing going on here, and we just want to make sure we’re prepared. No one wants to squander demand with a lack of supply.”

McGuinness said the production expansion, in particular, will help Bel meet demand as it further scales its innovation pipeline. Without added production capacity, the company could find itself in trouble as early as next year due to upcoming launches and growth projections within its existing lineup.

Bel is planning to roll out innovations this spring, as well as late this year and early 2027, to position its brands as more GLP-1 friendly and expand its presence in protein and functional foods. In March, it launched Babybel Pro, its signature mini wax-wrapped circular cheese with five grams of protein and 1 billion live and active probiotics. The Laughing Cow also released a dill pickle option to expand into “culturally relevant flavors.”

McGuinness said he is “pretty seriously” looking at M&A to complement its existing business of veggie and fruit pouches and cheeses. The company could also expand into new categories such as spreads.

“We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said. “We’re going to continue to innovate within our current portfolio in an organic way. But there is no reason why we can’t be looking at inorganic at the same time, as long as it’s within healthy snacking.”