With some deals already on the table and others supposedly on the table, food company managers suddenly have a reason to have an open mind.

I've asked the company for some time [about whether Morrison would leave], and the [recent] answer was 'who knows'.

There's a belief that the company is going to miss the consensus [earnings estimate] in a big way. It has certainly been a difficult tenure for Dale, but you have to give him the benefit of the doubt - he was dealt a really tough hand by David [when Morrison took the helm in 1997].

Food stocks are viewed as 'classically defensive,' meaning that the earnings hold up well across a dip in the economy, across a recession.

Given the risks related to closing the deal, they are probably pretty comparable. A better situation, in my view, would have been $26 per share in cash on the table.

Phil is a hands-off partner who allows the managers to run the company.