Name: Sarah Gerrard
Age: 26
Job title: Category & insights manager
Company & location: White Rabbit Pizza, London
Education: BBA Management at Lancaster University
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I’m pretty sure I had multiple rotating ideas as a kid: a pop star and a gymnast come to mind – I obviously had a bigger ego as a child since I’m tone deaf and I’d liken my flexibility to that of a wooden plank.
Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? I decided I wanted to work in consumer goods quite early on in my business degree. Ensuring I could relate to my day to day work was really important to me, and what’s more relatable than food and drink?
I started my food & drink career in BWS at Pernod Ricard, which cemented that it was a category I wanted to pursue career-wise. This is also where I was first introduced to category management as a role which I’d never heard of before!
“I love being able to help bridge the gap between what consumers want, and what they see on the shelf”
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): My job is essentially to be the “consumer expert” in the free-from category in which White Rabbit operates. I work with sales data and consumer behaviour insights to ensure retailers and White Rabbit meet consumer needs, to subsequently drive free-from as a category. This covers all sorts, including ranging, promotional and merchandising recommendations across grocery, and feeding into White Rabbit’s overall strategy.
What does a typical day look like for you? I’m lucky at White Rabbit as for our size, we buy lots of data (e.g. Nielsen, Beets, SIP), and we’ve also set up our own panel of 400-plus free-from consumers, so there’s a lot of analysis that I can get my teeth into.
Typically no day is the same, which I love! One day I’ll be doing a deep-dive into what areas are growing in free-from and why, the next I’ll be feeding into packaging designs to ensure we’re calling out claims that the consumers actually care about. Longer-term I also take part in conversations around our brand strategy, where I feed back the consumers’ perspective to ensure we continue to lead growth in the free-from sector.
Tell us how you went about applying for your job: I was looking for an opportunity to work somewhere smaller but up and coming, so that I could be involved in key strategic conversations and really see the impact of my work on a business’ growth.
I had two main stages: a presentation using data for range extension recommendations and a final stage chat about the alignment of my goals and the business’ goals with Nick Croft-Simon, the CEO.
I remember being a bit taken aback when Nick asked me outright what I would change about the products, but it also showed me how open the business was and is to feedback, and that’s a huge part of why I love working here – every voice is heard and we’re encouraged to speak openly.
What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? In my job it’s definitely feeling like you can set a basis for workstreams across the entire business, all with the consumer as the key focus. You’re the first to see what trends are gaining momentum in the market, and what gaps/consumer needs are still unaddressed.
It’s amazing to see changes that come about based on the insights you communicate, and I also love being able to help bridge the gap between what consumers want, and what they see on the shelf.
Read more:
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Kirsty’s expands free-from food to go offering with brand new range
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Free-from trends 2024: Dull and tasteless no more
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Natasha Clinical Trial shows a new way forward on food allergies
And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? People believe you have to be a maths whizz to do a category management role, since you deal with a lot of data. Ironically, maths was actually my worst subject and isn’t something that comes naturally to me. The role is far more about being able to piece together a story from the insights that represent what is happening in the market and how the category can still grow – it’s a lot more creative than you’d think.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? Don’t wait for someone to tell you what to do when first starting out. If you spot something that you think can help improve, whether that’s a process or a project, voice it and ask if you can own the task of improving that area. It’ll show you have initiative and you’ll build experience far quicker. It’s scary at first, but the business should appreciate it and it’ll make you stand out.
What’s your ultimate career dream? Honestly, this is something I’m still figuring out as I go along. At the moment, I’m focusing on my current role and becoming more involved in building a business/retailer strategy. I could see myself starting a consultancy business for category insights where I’d help small businesses with their product and innovation strategies, but let’s see!
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