Q: What did you want to do when you left school?
A: I have always been fascinated by wildlife and, growing up in a rural environment, I thought I would become a vet.
Q: What, in fact, did you do?
A: After school I did a degree in business studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, the old polytechnic, where I focused on the manufacturing side. I’ve never regretted the decision because business has got so many dimensions from designing, creating and manufacturing a product through to a consumer who is, hopefully, delighted with it.
Q: How did you initially get into the foodservice sector?
A: It took a while. I did some work experience with furniture warehouse MFI and financial services company Provident before joining the graduate sales team at Grand Met. I did that for three years and then worked for Unilever as major account manager for clients like Tesco and Safeway and later in customer management roles. They were a great company to work for, but eventually I decided it was time for something new and I was approached by Nestlé, who wanted to commercialise their beverages proposition.
Q: What areas of the foodservice market does your role cover?
A: QSR’s (quick service restaurants), fast casual, fine dining, pub chains, health, education ... I think that’s what makes the job so fascinating, it’s so diverse and there so many dynamics that come into play.
Q: How do you research your markets?
A: Foodservice is not exactly a data-rich industry. You can drive yourself mad trying to get a handle on it. We use industry sources, measure traffic and access market information from companies like Crest Data. We also externalise ourselves. When you want to find the answer to the question why, you need to be immersed. So we go into schools, hospitals, restaurants and ask staff about ordering, the offers they have, how they deal with hot beverages. We also find a few mentors to provide a perspective and try to maintain those links.
Q: Do you do this yourself?
A: I get involved, yes. I spent a half day at Christ Church School in Horsham peeling asparagus and believe me I learnt a lot. They start out 7in. long but only about a quarter of that ends up on the plate because of the attention to detail and demand for quality. It’s public school feeding for hundreds of students, three times a day, but the facility can also operate as a fine dining venue for formal dinners. This sort of externalisation is critical to satisfying client and customer expectations.
Q: What’s your take on the state of the foodservice market?
A: My headline view is that there are long-term opportunities and short-term challenges. Consumer confidence is low and that, of course, affects their behaviour. They feel worse off than they did two years ago as a result of higher prices now and the fear of higher interest rates around the corner. The winners at the moment are operators in the QSR sector, fast casual dining and the managed pub chains who all offer value for money. They have tuned into the fact that consumers still like to eat out, but are looking for fixed price menus or coupons. These are the trends we observe in the retail sector. The losers at the moment are fine dining, where they don’t have a value proposition, and the business and industry market where the big challenge facing contractors and in-house operators is falling footfall and a drop in the number of transactions. Their customers can bring in deals from the High Street or make lunch at home, which has an impact, plus they are facing cost pressures themselves. Then there’s the public sector, which is facing budget cuts and increased costs alongside the need to continue to provide a good level of service if they want to compete. Their challenge is: How do I make my pound go further without losing quality?
Q: What’s the answer?
A: Operators need to think about value for money, but be commercially sensible. It needs a lean mentality. For a supplier like Nestlé, we recognise the challenges facing caterers and we want to help them provide the best possible offer, but also help them save costs. One area where we may be able to help is in staffing. Hot beverage operations have high staff turnover and there is necessarily a lot of time for training, but at the same time we know the consumer wants a good, premium cup of coffee. We can help because we can offer the quality without the need for expensive barista training. When it comes to food, we aim to offer the market menu solutions. The education sector, for instance, needs interesting, nutritious food and our products can help deliver on that promise but help manage costs at the same time.
Q: What about the wider economy?
A: We’re not looking at the economy with rose-tinted spectacles; we see the pressures on the consumer across the board, not just on their out of home spending on food and drink. So we know the cost to operators in getting their businesses to grow; we’re realistic. But we’re also optimistic in the longer term about the opportunities in the market.
Q: How do you see the relationship between suppliers and operators?
A: Customer intimacy is critical. As a supplier we don’t always touch the consumer. We talk to chefs and we need to work closely with them along the whole value chain, not just deal with the people we sell to like wholesalers, contractors and pub chain buyers. Customer-focus is so important because we can only deliver to our shareholders if we look at customers. And where are they? We have a saying here: Look out of the window – any window – and that’s where our customers are.
Q: Food price inflation is a problem for operators right now. Is there anything Nestlé can do?
A: First we have to be ruthless about managing waste within the business because consumers and our customers vote with their feet if they don’t think the deal is fair. We have an ongoing programme called Continuous Excellence which aims to help us understand our business along the whole supply chain. We ask ourselves: Are we being as careful as possible with costs? That’s our biggest responsibility. An example is our recent link-up with Brakes to rationalise deliveries and cut our food miles. That is good for the environment and helps us trim costs.
Q: Healthy eating is a major industry issue and some contract caterers have already signed up to the Government’s Responsibility Deal. What’s Nestlé’s stand?
A: The irony is that alongside high levels of obesity we can see the mega-trend of healthy eating. But consumers are more educated today and the grocery retailers have led that. They have seen that when a choice is offered enough people do make it. The Government is becoming more active, there is growing pressure from stakeholders and it’s only going to intensify. We want to be the leading health, nutrition and wellness business, helping to educate consumers and offering them choice. Nestlé has already signed up to the Responsibility Deal and we’ll work with industry towards a solution, but it’s not as simple as flicking a switch. Take calorie labelling, for example, which is not without its difficulties but is being done. Some of the major players are already working on it, and much of the early movement will be here because the bigger operators have the resources to introduce such ideas. They have moved or are starting to move people more towards healthier choices, but you must always make sure it is a choice and not a requirement.
Q: What is Nestlé doing specifically?
A: Well, within our own staff restaurants we flag up the calorific content of the menu and we’re looking at the best way presenting this information. Consumers say they want more information about fat, salt and sugar content, but that doesn’t mean they will always choose the healthiest option. The whole thing has to be done in small steps and in a non-patronising way. If they feel they are being talked down to or lectured, consumers will assert their right to choose.
Q: Fairtrade and sustainability seem to have slipped down the list of priorities for caterers. Are they still important?
A: You’re right, there was so much noise about sustainability two or three years ago, but the economic situation changed all that. But as far as Nestlé is concerned we look back 30 years or more on working with farmers to build sustainable plantations for coffee and cocoa and looking at better water management. Is it important still? Yes, but it has been for a long time.
Q: Have you got an example of your sustainability in action?
A: In 2010 we introduced the Cocoa Plan to nine cooperatives in Cote d’Ivoire and increased this 24 this year. By providing training to farmers supplying them with 12 million stronger, higher-yielding, disease-resistant trees we are helping them become more competitive, enabling us to pay a premium for the higher quality cocoa they produce. The Cocoa Plan also sees us partner with organisations like the International Federation of the Red Cross to provide water and sanitation and combat child labour.
Q: What research does Nestlé do to understand the UK foodservice market?
A: We look to see the size of the market and who the customers are, and we do primary research to help us make choices about where we want to trade. We also do bespoke research like immersion to understand the dynamics, needs, issues and therefore the opportunities for us to get involved.
Q: What does all that tell you?
A: Breakfast occasions show underlying strength from people on the move grabbing something on the way to work. You’re seeing that taken advantage of not just by QSRs (quick service restaurants) but by pubs. Coffee shops are gearing themselves up for breakfast, but looking to change the offer for lunch. At lunchtimes people are spending less time sitting around a table eating, instead grabbing something to eat at their desks or going out to grab something. That trend, though, has had a bit of a dent put in it by the current economic situation as people bring in more food from home. Consumers want speed and grab and go, but they also want quality food and they are fully multi-national in terms of the types of food they want. Gone are the days of meat and two veg; even in schools now you’ll find pasta solutions and grab and go.
Q: What new products are in the pipeline?
A: Our Milano coffee concept is an example of ‘simplexity’, a beverage proposition which meets the expectations of consumers in terms of quality, but packaged to make it simple to use for operators. On the food side we have our Rich & Rustic Tomato Sauce and we also have a new flavour in our range of Chef high-end reduced sauces that take work and time out of the cooking process yet offer a quality product.
Q: Do you see yourself as a partner to the industry?
A: Very much so. We are a key sponsor of Local Authority Caterers’ Association and the Young Chef Young Waiter competition as well as running our own hugely influential Toque d’Or student chef competition. And through our support of Bocuse d’Or we help promote skills development.