PROFILE: Man With A Van To Manager With Solutions...
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The Man Who Helps YDC Help Manufacturers to Meet the Consumers' Needs - He's Come A Long Way Since He Gave Up His Van
NAME: Peter Squires
BACKGROUND: Company:
Yoplait Dairy Crest Ingredients Title:
Sales Manager Date
of Birth: 2 / 9 / 1948 Education:
6 O Levels Family:
Hobbies:
Photography; travel; breeding, showing & judging dogs CAREER
TO DATE: Present
job and responsibilities: Career in food industry: On
leaving school spent 6 months as a trainee manager in a supermarket
before joining Matterson Meats (then a Unilever subsidiary) as a
van salesman. I left after five years and joined Mr Kipling Cakes
also as a van salesman, but then returned to Mattersons in a management
position and stayed for a further five years, progressing through
to the position of Regional Sales Manager. Joined Raines
in 1979. Raines became YDC in 1998. Career in YDC Ingredients: When
I joined Raines Dairy 25 years ago, we were still selling cream
in 10-gallon stainless steel churns and soft cheese in wax coated
cardboard cartons. How we have progressed! At
that stage we were still delivering retail products direct to many
of the supermarkets around the UK and as they began introducing
central distribution, we needed to find alternative work for our
delivery drivers, to save making them redundant. As luck would have
it, the emergence of fresh chilled recipe dish meals coincided with
this and as manufacturers sought fresh dairy ingredients, we were
ideally placed to develop and deliver products to suit their requirements.
How have you got where you are today: Luck?
Being in the right place at the right time? Fate?
THE
INDUSTRY: How do you see the state of the ready meals sector at the moment? Chilled and frozen ready meals continue to grow, particularly as lifestyles evolve. Convenience is a given with these types of product so, increasingly, consumers are looking for them to answer other needs. For example, there is demand currently for indulgent, luxury products, which has been fuelled primarily by the introduced of chilled premium ready meals that have restaurant-style descriptions of ingredients. Consumers
are also looking for ready meals to meet other needs.
If they are dieting, they may want access to diet ranges,
for instance. What are the challenges for ingredients companies supplying into ready meals sector? One of the current big challenges for us is also allied to consumer needs. The population's soaring obesity rates forms one of the big talking points of the day, and it is becoming increasingly important as consumers learn how to tackle the problem. As a result, they often look to manufacturers to provide healthier, lower fat alternatives to existing products. For us, this means we are constantly researching ways of improving our product range, which then allows manufacturers to deliver the products consumers want. For instance, we have been meeting these particular needs by working closely with our manufacturing clients to develop healthier, lower-fat alternatives. This has led to the development of products such as reduced fat dairy topping, natural low fat yogurt and low fat soft cheeses. We are finding that many of our customers are also more likely now to ask for a low fat or low salt product. Some
of the other healthy additions to our range include liquid whey,
smatana and half fat Greek-style yogurt. What
are the key things that a manufacturer should be looking for in
an ingredient and
its supplier? Quality, and consistency of quality, is extremely important, and should be a top priority for manufacturers. Value is, of course, very important, but quality ingredients mean the manufacturer can develop a quality product. They should also be looking for an ingredients supplier that understands the market implicitly, can respond swiftly to consumer trends, and that is also on hand to discuss product development, new ideas, and innovation. We
have a unique sample delivery service, which allows our customers
to develop products with us, and with confidence.
Our strategy is to grow our business by offering a broad
product and packaging portfolio, and by offering a differentiated
range of specialised ingredients as well as the traditional commodity
products. What
are the challenges for the food industry and the ready meals sector
now, and in the future? Meeting consumer needs remains one of the biggest challenges for the food industry and the ready meals sector. This means that working in partnership will become ever more important, especially in the development of new or exclusive offerings, or via modification of existing products. We
pride ourselves on our thorough understanding of dairy-based applications,
and we guard our reputation for providing flexible and responsive
customer services: these attributes will become more important as
the industry continues to evolve.
WHAT MANAGEMENT STYLE DO YOU PRACTICE? I
have always practised the open door style of management, which is
especially practical since our offices are now open plan! We have
purposefully kept our team compact, so that we are lean in terms
of cost whilst ensuring that everybody in the team can handle cross
function challenges, and that customers can always contact somebody
quickly who knows them and can help them. WHAT
DO YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING IN 10 YEARS' TIME? Retiring J
For
more information about YDC and its products contact Janelle Harland
Tel:
01372476000 Fax: 0137246113
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