What is your background, Giles?

GS: I have worked for more than 25 years in the retail, fresh produce and information consultancy industries, working for Sainsbury’s, Geest, TNS, Safeway and Leatherhead Food International, before spending the last three years as European business director of Market Tools, one of the world’s leading online research businesses.

Both my father and grandfather spent their careers working in the fresh produce industry. Fresh produce must be in my blood. Having started my career with Sainsbury’s, I now find myself in this great position here as part of Dole. It is a role that I believe will allow me to fully utilise all my previous experiences from my career to date. One of the things that really excites me about working for

JP/Dole is that we are part of such a large international organisation. I believe there are a lot of opportunities in the industry that are still there to be taken, and I am looking forward to working alongside Dickon Poole and the rest of the group in Dartford. I would like to bring some fresh thinking into the process of harnessing the size of this business, and enhance the sourcing and marketing infrastructure to do what is best for our people, and for our customers, right through to the end consumer.

Dickon, what do you think Giles will add to the company?

DP: Giles, like myself, has made the transition from fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) into the produce industry and, same as when I first came into the trade, there is still a need to bring more and more marketing expertise into the industry. We have, of course, entered into category management in the last decade, and there is an emphasis on marketing efforts as we continue the joint venture with our customers to drive sales and increase consumption of fruit.

It is frustrating sometimes, when we see all the positive messages out there about our products, that we are not doing enough. This is an exciting challenge for Giles; to get closer to customers and maximise potential.

Having been in the role for six weeks, what are your early feelings, Giles?

GS: We really need to be telling everyone that JP Fresh is owned by Dole. It is a real positive to have the strength and depth of the largest fruit company in the world behind us.

In the very short space of time I’ve been at JP, it has been noticeable that many of the issues I thought the fresh produce industry was experiencing are very relevant. I think, in general, the produce industry is 10 years behind FMCG, in the way owners look at their businesses and the way they structure themselves.

There are still similar patterns, with too much product coming into the country without a customer. We have to move away from that cycle as an industry, and ensure that relationships are financially beneficial for both parties.

Retailers spend a huge amount of time listening to their customers, and are better informed than they have ever been about their customers’ shopping habits and needs. In the past, they have always been in a position where they have had a level of understanding that their suppliers didn’t have. But they have got far better at sharing that information now, and rightly expect their suppliers to be more in tune with their business, and what they should be doing to address its needs.

I think the produce industry has not been perhaps as sophisticated as it could have been in [data analysis], but it has to be able to react to that information, and more importantly, be proactive.

You worked together before - how was that?

DP: Giles spent some time working on a Banana Group project while he was at TNS. He understood the business and was able to deliver real value to the Banana Group through his analysis. I was at Del Monte at that time.

What are the opportunities now, and how do you plan to address them?

DP: All sectors of the industry need to be on the healthy-eating bandwagon. We will obviously be looking to enhance our relationships with supermarket customers, but we want to spend more time with processors, wholesalers and foodservice customers, to make sure that we are addressing all of the different places where consumers want to buy fruit.

Five years ago, you would not have found fruit in a fast-food restaurant, for instance, now it is commonplace and we need to tap into that. We are not the only company to recognise that, of course, but we are certainly committed to putting more resources into it.

GS: The industry needs to remove its 80:20 specs. Whether you are selling 10,000 boxes of fruit into Sainsbury’s or 100 boxes into a wholesaler, that business is extremely important.

DP: We want to be more disciplined in our approach to marketing; its analysis, its planning and its implementation.

If we can make a contribution to the business on that front, it will be the better for it. There are a few people doing it in this business, and pulling in a similar direction. It is about pushing the whole idea of fresh produce further to the front of people’s minds.

GS: Ultimately, we are competing against huge consumer brands that have millions of pounds spent advertising them. If you take the banana category alone, it is a

£600 million category, and still one of the top three biggest-selling single products in supermarkets. But the banana does not have the presence in people’s minds that, say, a can of Coca Cola does. Neither is it seen as the alternative to something else. Looking at the number of varieties on shelf now, it is clear that consumers have more choice with bananas, but has that fundamentally lifted banana sales in this country?

Bananas are a classic case of how category management has worked in this country. The supermarkets identified what people wanted (smaller bananas, family packs, organics, Fairtrade) and responded to that. They have delivered on customer needs, but at the same time, they have not added extra value to the supply chain - only extra cost.

From your perspectives, what is the major challenge for you in trying to work more closely with the UK supermarkets?

GS: Produce lines have, in many cases, been commoditised, and understandably buyers will look at them in much the same way as they look at other grocery items. A buyer knows exactly what he or she has to do by the end of each year to hit targets.

I don’t think that all salesmen in the fresh produce industry are able to do that; and therefore, they cannot manage their businesses in the same way.

Supermarkets have done a fantastic job of educating consumers about the variety and availability of fresh produce, and the produce industry has done an equally fantastic job responding to that.

DP: Call it what you like - value analysis, planning or whatever - if you sit down around a table and thrash ideas out, you get results.

GS: There are opportunities to improve relationships between suppliers and retailers. I genuinely believe that the majority of multiple retailers want to play fair, but it has to be on their terms. And the closer and more effectively we work with each other, the more opportunities there will be.

Topics