Veg supplier Produce World is changing its corporate structure and splitting into three new business units to better focus on the different needs of its root vegetable and brassicas customers.
The new structure, effective from 1 July, will involve the creation of PW Burgess Farms, which will manage all of Produce World’s farming operations and will be headed up by Jason Burgess; PW Butterwick, which will handle sales and marketing for brassicas and be headed by David Betts-Gray; and Produce World, which will look after sales and marketing for root vegetables, potatoes and alliums, and will be led by William Burgess.
William Burgess said the new structure would allow the company to be more responsive to customer needs, as brassicas and root vegetables required different approaches to management. “Brassicas are grown above ground, and the supply and demand situation changes almost daily. That business needs a fast decision-making structure and local decision makers.”
Root vegetables and potatoes, on the other hand, were grown below ground and often stored for months, Burgess added. “Both businesses need a slightly different style of leadership. We will have a flatter structure and fewer people in the chain, which will make us more focused and much more up to speed with category needs.”
In addition to greater responsiveness, the new structure should result in a “more focused product development process”, Burgess said.
Back office functions, such as finance and HR, will continue to be shared by all three businesses, which will report into executive chairman Neil Fraser. There are no redundancies, although group sales and marketing director Mark Phillips will be leaving the Peterborough-based company at the end of the month as a result of the restructure.
No comments yet