Young grocery manager George Huteson tells Jo de Mille how he scooped a top trophy at the IGD Food Industry Awards
The competition judges included Richard Cook, marketing director, Tate & Lyle, Waitrose personnel director
Tony Solomons and Andrea Watson, careers editor of the Daily Express newspaper.
A routine part of Leading Edge member George Huteson’s working day is spent eating cake, but not because he has a particularly sweet tooth.
Huteson is a national account manager for cake and pastry manufacturer Inter Link Foods and, as such, has just scooped top prize in the Tate and Lyle Young Managers’ Business Challenge - part of the IGD Food Industry Awards, 2003.
Each participant was asked to consider the impact of the current moves towards consolidation in the supermarket sector on consumers, retailers and suppliers.
Huteson’s basic message was simple: to survive the current wave of consolidation, companies must evolve and adapt to the changing environment.
Huteson’s presentation included wide-ranging recommendations for his own company on developing accounts, major brand activity, standardising production, and improving processes and distribution. In their commendation, the judges remarked on Huteson’s thorough preparation and identification of areas of opportunity. He examined the implications of a Safeway takeover, which he was able to speak about first-hand because he works on both the Safeway and Morrisons accounts.
In the presentation, he explained how Inter Link had grown massively through acquisition and widened its portfolio to develop symbol group accounts.
However, the group needed to acquire more bakeries in order to compete with rivals such as Mr Kipling, Memory Lane Cakes, and to a lesser extent, Hazlewood and Yorkshire Cottage Bakeries, he said.
While consolidation was putting pressure on independent retailers, Huteson said he believed there would always be a place for these businesses, especially in smaller communities where it was not cost-effective for the multiples to open stores.
He said: “Independents often see confectionery, tobacco and news as being their staple businesses, despite the fact that margins and volumes on those products are declining.”
And he went on to emphasise the importance of offering a focused range of products for a focused consumer group.
“You’re never going to get people to do their weekly shop in an independent, but if you’re continually stocked up with top-up items such as milk and bread, customer loyalty will be sky-high,” Huteson said.
“Flexibility is key - competing in terms of opening hours and as a quick stop-off point for hunger fixes on the way home from work.”
Having youth on your side has its pluses and minuses, said Huteson, who is 25. “It can work both for and against you. The weight of your opinion depends greatly on how much experience you have.”
Huteson’s previous post was a national account manager at organic cake agent Adams Marketing overseeing Sainsbury, Tesco and Safeway accounts. Before that, he gained a degree in food and consumer management from Birmingham.
The competition judges included Richard Cook, marketing director, Tate & Lyle, Waitrose personnel director
Tony Solomons and Andrea Watson, careers editor of the Daily Express newspaper.
A routine part of Leading Edge member George Huteson’s working day is spent eating cake, but not because he has a particularly sweet tooth.
Huteson is a national account manager for cake and pastry manufacturer Inter Link Foods and, as such, has just scooped top prize in the Tate and Lyle Young Managers’ Business Challenge - part of the IGD Food Industry Awards, 2003.
Each participant was asked to consider the impact of the current moves towards consolidation in the supermarket sector on consumers, retailers and suppliers.
Huteson’s basic message was simple: to survive the current wave of consolidation, companies must evolve and adapt to the changing environment.
Huteson’s presentation included wide-ranging recommendations for his own company on developing accounts, major brand activity, standardising production, and improving processes and distribution. In their commendation, the judges remarked on Huteson’s thorough preparation and identification of areas of opportunity. He examined the implications of a Safeway takeover, which he was able to speak about first-hand because he works on both the Safeway and Morrisons accounts.
In the presentation, he explained how Inter Link had grown massively through acquisition and widened its portfolio to develop symbol group accounts.
However, the group needed to acquire more bakeries in order to compete with rivals such as Mr Kipling, Memory Lane Cakes, and to a lesser extent, Hazlewood and Yorkshire Cottage Bakeries, he said.
While consolidation was putting pressure on independent retailers, Huteson said he believed there would always be a place for these businesses, especially in smaller communities where it was not cost-effective for the multiples to open stores.
He said: “Independents often see confectionery, tobacco and news as being their staple businesses, despite the fact that margins and volumes on those products are declining.”
And he went on to emphasise the importance of offering a focused range of products for a focused consumer group.
“You’re never going to get people to do their weekly shop in an independent, but if you’re continually stocked up with top-up items such as milk and bread, customer loyalty will be sky-high,” Huteson said.
“Flexibility is key - competing in terms of opening hours and as a quick stop-off point for hunger fixes on the way home from work.”
Having youth on your side has its pluses and minuses, said Huteson, who is 25. “It can work both for and against you. The weight of your opinion depends greatly on how much experience you have.”
Huteson’s previous post was a national account manager at organic cake agent Adams Marketing overseeing Sainsbury, Tesco and Safeway accounts. Before that, he gained a degree in food and consumer management from Birmingham.
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