Welcome to the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders of The Kraft Heinz Company. I would now like to introduce Angel Willis, Global General Counsel and Corporate Affairs Officer.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Angel Willis, Global General Counsel and Corporate Affairs Officer, I am honored to be here today. On behalf of our board of directors and executive team, I would like to welcome you to The Kraft Heinz Company's 2026 annual meeting of stockholders and call the meeting officially to order. Joining me today is Steve Cahillane, our Chief Executive Officer and member of our board of directors, who will act as chairperson of the meeting. I will act as secretary. On behalf of our 35,000 Kraft Heinz employees around the world and our board, we thank you for joining us today. The members of our board of directors are present at the meeting today. Peter Fritz has been appointed as Inspector of Election and is also present at today's meeting.
Laura Thonn from PricewaterhouseCoopers, our independent auditor, is also here with us. During today's meeting, we will make some forward-looking statements. That is the standard reminder that actual results can differ materially from results discussed today. You should refer to the cautionary statements and other information provided in our 2025 annual report, our 2026 first quarter 10-Q, and our subsequent filings with the SEC. It is my pleasure to turn things over to our Chief Executive Officer, Steve Cahillane.
Thank you, Angel, and good morning, everyone. I am very happy to be with you today at my first annual meeting of stockholders as CEO of Kraft Heinz. While I'm new to many of you, the iconic brands that make this company so very special have been part of my life forever. I grew up in New York, and one of my first jobs in the food business was stocking Kool-Aid in grocery stores. For millions of consumers around the world, our products have been part of the cultural soundtrack of their lives just as they were of mine. Since assuming the role of CEO on New Year's Day, I've been listening and learning from our customers and partners, from consumers, and from our own people.
It's a great privilege to lead this company and to steward and shepherd our portfolio of global and local brands. It's also an awesome responsibility to our people and to you, our stockholders. At the heart of this responsibility is returning Kraft Heinz to growth. Let me share three ways that we will do this in 2026 and going forward. First, we have a clear strategy. As a company, we have aligned around a very clear North Star: win market share while driving volume-led, sustainable, and profitable growth and continuing to generate attractive free cash flow. Over the last several months, I have been analyzing what's been holding us back with special focus on the United States. In short, the old model wasn't working.
To meaningfully change the course of the business, we know we must drive positive volume growth through better in-market execution, better products, and better innovations that consumers truly love. We are seeing success stories around our business. I call these blueprints, and we will replicate and scale them globally to drive and restore growth. Let me share a few highlights of our strategy and how we're bringing these to life. Leveraging the $600 million of incremental investment we're making this year across marketing, sales, and R&D, as well as product superiority and price. Innovation is critical. We will significantly strengthen our innovation pipeline, increasing our R&D investments by about 20% as we close the gap with our competitors. Going forward, market share goals will drive intentional decisions about how we invest in our brands.
We'll focus on driving trial and brand entry to meet consumers where they are, investing in opening price points across 40% of the categories in our U.S. portfolio, and we'll work to maximize our returns on promotions. We are increasing our marketing investment to about 5.5% of net sales this year, targeting our biggest growth opportunities as we work to drive higher returns on our advertising spend. We are investing in top marketing and sales talent, significantly growing the size of both teams to improve retail execution, drive demand through sharper consumer insights, and strengthen the positioning of our brands. We're uniquely suited for growth in our away-from-home business, from powerful brand awareness to scale and operational efficiency.
We have tremendous global growth opportunities beyond ketchup into other condiments and higher growth, higher margin channels like entertainment, travel and leisure, not to mention expanded distribution in QSRs. In emerging markets, we will drive growth through three levers: our global Heinz brand, our distribution-driving go-to-market model, and Heinz-led innovation. With only 11% of our current business in emerging markets, the runway for expansion and growth is long. Second, we will execute our plan with excellence. It's critical we deliver these solid plans with maniacal focus and without distractions. This will put us in position to generate solid market share momentum in the second half of the year, with the goal of returning Kraft Heinz to growth in 2027.
The first quarter results we just announced proved that when we make the right investments, our brands respond, and we can drive improved performance. A strategy is only as good as its execution. Each person in this company, regardless of role, must be aligned and moving together in the same direction. All of our resources, time, people, business investments, must be singularly focused on flawlessly executing our operating plan. Third, we simplify and move with speed. Turning things around requires significant shifts in how we operate our business. We will streamline our operating model to ensure we're focused on what's most critical as we drive toward that North Star. In our ways of working, we're empowering our people to make smart decisions faster and move more quickly.
In our execution, we're developing more detailed plans, focusing on flawless follow-through and monitoring the results that matter. In our capabilities, we're ensuring we have the right talent with the right skills, better technology, and the right levels of investment to deliver our plans and win in today's hyper-competitive marketplace. 2026 is a year of resetting. It's also a year of transformation for Kraft Heinz. My experience leading complex global companies has humbled me. It's taught me that turnarounds don't happen overnight, but they do happen with the right strategy, plus focus, consistency, and dogged commitment. Over these past few months, I've felt the energy, excitement, and optimism among our people. Personally, I couldn't be more excited or more confident about what's ahead for Kraft Heinz.
Thank you for joining us on this journey as we follow our North Star back to volume-led, sustainable, and profitable growth. With that, I'll hand it back over to Angel for the formal business portion of the meeting.
Thank you, Steve. We have designed the format of this virtual meeting to provide our stockholders with the same rights and opportunities to participate as they would have at an in-person meeting. The agenda and the rules of procedure for today's meeting are available under Meeting Materials at the bottom of your screen. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants abide by these rules. As stated in the rules of procedure, questions submitted in the field provided on the virtual meeting website will be addressed during the Q&A session. I have an affidavit of mailing from Broadridge Financial Solutions certifying that notice of this meeting was duly given. All stockholders of record at the close of business on March 16th, 2026 are entitled to vote at the annual meeting.
I am also pleased to report that I have been informed by the Inspector of Elections that approximately 86% of all of the shares entitled to vote at this meeting are represented by proxy or in attendance. The meeting is duly convened and a quorum is present. Now let's turn to the formal items of business. The polls are now open and will remain open until all items of business have been presented and discussed. If you have already voted, you do not need to take any further action. If you have not voted, or if you have already voted but would like to change your vote, you can access the meeting using your control number. You can use the Vote Here button at the bottom of your screen to submit your vote online.
The first item is the election of directors to serve until the 2027 annual meeting of stockholders or until their successor has been duly elected and qualified. The nominees whose names and biographies appear in our proxy statement are John T. Cahill, Steve Cahillane, Humberto P. Alfonso, L. Kevin Cox, Lori Dickerson Fouché, Diane Gherson, Mary Lou Kelley, Elio Leoni Sceti , Tony Palmer, John C. Pope. Our board recommends a vote for each of these nominees for director. The second item is an advisory vote on executive compensation for our named executive officers as disclosed in our proxy statement. Our board recommends a vote for the advisory resolution to approve executive compensation. The third item is the approval of The Kraft Heinz Company Amended and Restated 2020 Omnibus Incentive Plan .
Our board recommends a vote for the approval of the plan. The fourth item is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent auditors for 2026. Our board and audit committee recommend a vote for the ratification of the appointment of PwC as Kraft Heinz independent auditor. I am now confirming whether we received any questions regarding the proposal. We have not received any questions, therefore, the polls are now closed. I have a preliminary vote report from the Inspector of Election, and I'd like to report the preliminary voting results. With respect to item 1, each of the 10 director nominees has been duly elected by the affirmative vote of more than 95% of the votes cast.
With respect to item two, the advisory vote on the company's executive compensation, the proposal has been approved by the affirmative vote of approximately 94% of the votes cast. With respect to item three, the approval of the Amended and Restated 2020 Omnibus Incentive Plan has been approved by the affirmative vote of approximately 97% of the votes cast. With respect to item four, the appointment of PwC as Kraft Heinz independent auditor for 2026, the appointment has been ratified by the affirmative vote of approximately 94% of the votes cast. Final results will be available for stockholders review after the votes have been certified by the inspector in our Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within four business days after this meeting.
There being no further business for the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders, the business portion of this meeting is now adjourned.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect. We will now begin our general question and answer period. We will attempt to answer as many questions as time allows, but only questions that are germane to the meeting and in accordance with the rules of procedure will be addressed. Steve, the first question is about the dividend.
Thanks for hanging with us. I know there was a little bit of a mistake there in saying the meeting was over, thank you for staying with us. With respect to the dividend, we are very comfortable with our dividend. We're also comfortable with the business plan we put forward this year. We know that we can maintain our dividend, and we can reinvest in the business, and we can stay investment grade. We're very comfortable where we are.
Thank you. The next question is about nutrient profiling models and reporting on the healthiness of our products.
Yeah, we acknowledge the challenge that there is not yet a globally aligned and harmonized nutrient profile for companies to consistently assess and report progress on the healthiness of their portfolio. In its absence, we established the Kraft Heinz Global Nutrition Guidelines that are category specific and set maximum levels for nutrients of public health concern: total sugars, sodium, saturated fat, and calories. They are the foundation we currently use to develop new products and improve the nutritional value of our current portfolio. A good example is Heinz Tomato Ketchup Zero with no added sugar and salt in Europe. We are reviewing nutrient profile models commonly used to assess companies' performance on nutrition. Further, we are monitoring progress on the ongoing project of Access to Nutrition Initiative to align nutrient profile models to improve investment strategies.
Great. The third question is about the impact on the business of the conflict in the Middle East.
We are closely monitoring the evolving situation in the Middle East and remain focused on mitigating risk while maintaining operational continuity. The safety of our people is paramount. Our people are safe and operating well. It has a de minimis effect on our business overall.
The final question is about our acquisition plans.
We are always open to value creating opportunities, and we'll always actively consider options to improve our portfolio going forward.
Thank you. We appreciate your questions and comments. That concludes our general Q&A session and today's meeting. Thank you for joining us, and have a great day.