Grab a Buddy.

Simmons Foods actually started looking for those ways last November. That's when it hired Buddy Pilgrim as consultant.

Pilgrim is the former general manager of the now-defunct Hudson Foods Inc. in Rogers and former chief operating officer of Pilgrim's Pride Corp. in Pittsburgh, Texas. He became the third CEO in Simmons' 50-year history last spring.

Simmons Foods underwent a major strategy shift in the summer of 1999, refocusing its energy on the food-service industry. It wound up with $420 million in gross sales for 1999, up 5 percent from $400 million in 1998. But weak poultry prices depressed the entire segment this year.

Laurel, Miss.-based Sanderson Farms Inc., which is similar in size to Simmons Foods but is publicly held, recorded a net loss of $5.6 million for the third quarter, compared with a $3.7 million profit for the same period in 1999. Privately held Simmons does not release its earnings.