Company: BRID
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001493152-25-008406
Chunk: 28

Company: BRIDGFORD FOODS CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-27
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 28
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 the executive officer’s services.

The Company has successfully held most base salaries at the low end of the competitive range in order to reduce its overall cost structure and to achieve systematic improvement in the financial performance of the business without incurring a large turnover in executive talent and leadership.

Any “merit increases” for the Company’s executive officers are subject to the same budgetary constraints that apply to all other employees. Executive officer salaries are evaluated as part of the Company’s annual review process and may be adjusted where justified in the context of the Company’s current focus on profitability and controlling expenses.

For fiscal year 2025, the Compensation Committee set a base salary of $6,366 per week for each Executive Committee member, reduced on a pro-rata basis for any member working less than a full-time schedule. For fiscal year 2024, the Compensation Committee set a base salary of $6,180 per week for each Executive Committee member, reduced on a pro-rata basis for any member working less than a full-time schedule.

Discretionary Cash Bonuses

The Company’s policy is to make a significant portion of each NEO’s total compensation contingent upon the Company’s financial performance. The Compensation Committee believes that the payment of cash bonuses based on the Company’s financial success allows the Company to offer a competitive total compensation package despite relatively lower base salaries, while aligning a significant portion of executive compensation with the achievement of positive Company financial results. However, while the payment of these cash bonuses to the NEOs is generally correlated with the achievement of positive Company financial results, there are no specific performance targets communicated to the NEOs in advance, and the bonuses are ultimately paid at the discretion of the Compensation Committee after receiving input from the Chairman of the Board. For the fiscal year ended November 1, 2024, no discretionary bonuses were awarded to the members of the Company’s Executive Committee as disclosed in detail in the Summary Compensation Table.

Long-Term Equity-Based Incentive Compensation

The Compensation Committee has concluded that long-term stock-related compensation has very limited value as an employee incentive or retention tool because the Company’s equity-based incentive awards have historically provided little or no value to the recipient. In addition, beginning in 2005, U.S. accounting rules required the Company to expense any stock option awards according to a formula which could impose a costly charge on the Company’s income statements, thereby burdening or erasing its profit margins. Because of these factors, the Company has not granted stock options or restricted stock awards for many years. Instead, the Compensation