Name: Ellie Inkster
Age: 24
Job title: Business graduate, in the Health & Sustainable Diets Team
Company & location: Tesco, Welwyn Garden City
Education: BA Management with French at University of Nottingham
Why did you decide to go for a career in food? I’ve always loved food, but I hadn’t realised all of the different ways you could have a career in this industry. I joined Tesco on the summer internship in 2020, during which I worked on a Health & Sustainable Diets project focusing on how Tesco could encourage customers to choose more plant-based protein. This was when I realised that I wanted to work in food because I found it fascinating to learn all about the company and how it works. I became particularly passionate about working in health and/or sustainability within food, as I realised I could have a positive impact on both people’s health and the environment.
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): My job is really varied, which makes it exciting – my main focus is standing over our reformulation plan, which involves working with product developers to make our own-brand products healthier, for example through reducing nutrients of concern, or adding fibre, fruit or veg without compromising on quality. I’m also working on how we could encourage customers to choose more plant-based protein, which allows me to meet and work with different colleagues across the business.
What does a typical day look like for you? Every day is different, which is something I love about my role. One day I’ll be running a session with product developers to engage them on salt reduction and the next I’ll be sharing our progress towards our health targets with the business, or even spending time in the development kitchens to understand more about reformulating products. One of my favourite parts is continuously learning about the industry, reading about new products launched in the market and finding out new insight about how customers are feeling and behaving. As part of the graduate scheme, I have regular check-ins with my manager and team, and various other colleagues across the business. This support network is something I’ve found important, especially as a graduate, as I know I have colleagues around me who are happy to support with whatever I might need.
“I’ve realised that having a positive impact in my job is really important to me”
Tell us about how you went about applying for your job: I applied for the internship back in 2019 and I was fortunately offered a place on the graduate scheme off the back of that. The first stage was an online application, then online game-based activities and thirdly an automated interview, where you have a few minutes to record your answer to each question. Afterwards, I was invited to the Discovery Centre, where a real emphasis was put on this being a two-way process for us to decide whether we think Tesco would be a good fit for ourselves and vice versa. This was when I became really passionate about working for Tesco as everyone was so friendly, which initially surprised me given the size of the business. I found the group activity challenging as I’d never done anything like it before, but my advice is just to be yourself.
What’s the best part about working for a food company? The food industry is something which impacts us all every day so having an insight into all of the moving parts which go into getting a product on to the shelf is fascinating. Working for a food company the size of Tesco is great because of its scale, which means something which might seem small, for example in my role making one product slightly healthier, can have a huge impact when you look at the number of customers buying that product. Also, the excuse to try lots of different foods, and having team days based around food, are of course an added bonus!
And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? I’d assumed that I’d need to have an educational or professional background in food and drink to work in the industry. There are some areas which require more specialist knowledge or qualifications but having a genuine passion and curiosity can be enough. I thought I’d need to have a nutrition background to work in any part of health, but this isn’t the case for my role – there are many specialists and always someone you can ask for help and learn from.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? It sounds clichéd but just go for it! When applying for roles, I’d recommend working out what’s most important to you and what you find interesting, but still be open to new areas. There are so many roles out there which I would never have known exist, and I’m still discovering more even just within Tesco. I’d highly recommend a graduate scheme if you’re unsure exactly what part of the industry you’d like to work in. I’ll have done two very different placements, which has allowed me to work out what I really enjoy in a job as well as build a network across the business.
What’s your ultimate career dream? At the moment, I’d love to focus on product, particularly health and/or sustainability. I’ve realised that having a positive impact in my job is really important to me, whether that’s leading a team and supporting colleagues’ development, helping customers to improve their health, or minimising our impact on the environment – I’m excited to see what’s next!
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