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Food Industry

Four Ways to Ensure Your Hiring Process is Equitable

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Research from Harvard Business Review shows that women feel they need to meet 100% of the criteria when applying for a job, while men apply after only meeting about 60% of the criteria. This statistic is backed up by LinkedIn behavioral data that shows that women apply to 20% fewer jobs than men because they screen themselves out of the conversation before it even has a chance to start.

So, how can you ensure the next time you’re bringing on a new team member that you’re doing your best to be fair and impartial and mitigate the disparity in these statistics.? Here are four ways.

Write an Inclusive Job Description

How a job description is written says a lot about the company and the job seekers that are likely to apply. It’s the candidate’s initial exposure to the position and the company’s culture and values. Writing your job description can be the difference between attracting a diverse pool of candidates and deterring candidates from applying.

Try focusing on what success looks like in the role and company values and beliefs, instead of a list of job requirements. Use inclusive and gender-neutral language and avoid kitschy jargon like rockstar, guru, or ninja.

Recruit a Diverse Pool of Candidates

Think about where your company is recruiting candidates. If you’re using external means to market your position, consider your partnerships with job boards and local organizations. Are they known to attract diverse candidates? Would a woman be just as likely to see the job posting as a man? Would a member of the LGBTQ community be as attracted to the position as a member of the black community? Dig deeper into the tools you’re using to find your candidates to ensure diversity before you hire.

Remove Bias When Reviewing Applications

Unconscious bias is when a person has unsupported judgments for or against something or someone. This implicit bias reinforces stereotypes even when our conscious mind considers the behavior counter to our own values and beliefs. Unconscious bias is common, especially when reviewing job applications. Ageism, racism, and sexism, amongst other things, come into play.

To remove bias from your hiring process, acknowledge it exists, and actively combat it. Avoid selecting candidates based on name, gender, or age. All qualified candidates should be given a chance to interview for the position without forces outside of their control inhibiting them.

Ensure a Fair Interview Process

The interview process is another crucial time to put your implicit biases aside. Give all candidates a fair and equal chance to showcase their abilities and why they’re qualified for the position. If you’re the hiring manager and you had a part in selecting the candidates, this is hopefully a no-brainer. But if you’re interviewing candidates selected by human resources or you’re not the hiring manager, make sure you’re treating all candidates equally.

Ask similar questions to gauge experience and skill set, and allot the same time and style of interview for everyone. If you’re in a position to influence the interview process, make sure there is a diverse selection of employee representatives conducting the interview. This not only shows the candidate the company practices what they preach, but it also provides the company with diverse feedback on the candidate.

How Females in Food is Helping the Food & Beverage Industry Become More Sustainable

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80% of food buying decisions are made by women globally, yet representation at senior-level leadership positions across the food and beverage industry is less than 20%.

This statistic is jarring, but most of all, it’s not sustainable for the future of the food and beverage industry. Angela Dodd, the founder of Females in Food, set out to change that.

Dodd wanted to help women advance their careers by removing barriers and supporting them along their journey.

There are everyday realities that tear women down and hinder their progress, leaving women feeling like the chips are stacked against them.

This lack of sustainability hinders the food and beverage industry as women seek to grow in their careers as new professionals through senior-level executives.

A sustainable food and beverage industry allows companies and employees to meet their current needs without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs.

Dodd envisioned an industry where women had access to the resources they needed to empower their careers. She imagined a network that would easily connect women with female-friendly organizations and a world where women didn’t have to choose between motherhood and career advancement.

Fueled by the need to give women in the food and beverage industry a voice, the Females and Food community was born.

Females in Food accelerates careers and connects women with female-forward companies. They exist to support women throughout their career journey, from women who aspire to hold a managerial role to women who already do.

Their mission is simple – to advance women in the food and beverage industry.

To help the food and beverage industry become more sustainable in supporting and advancing women in their careers, Females in Food focuses on three main commitments: cultivated community, career acceleration, and creating opportunities.

  • Cultivated Community: Females in Food unites women across every food and beverage industry segment and allows women to support each other, access real-time feedback, and form lasting relationships through their mentorship program and curated events. The community establishes intentional bonds and meaningful relationships to help women support women.
  • Career Acceleration: From job search strategies to personal branding to enhancing executive presence, Females in Food empowers careers by delivering resources for the everyday realities. They have resources to help all women, regardless of where they are in their career journey. By providing women with the tools to accelerate their careers, they’re putting them back in the driver’s seat.
  • Creating Opportunities: Females in Food works as a talent connector and provides visibility while advocating for change at both the company and policy level. The food and beverage industry needs to change and adapt to become more sustainable for women and their future. By advocating for opportunities to improve companies and careers, Females in Food is setting out to change the industry for the better.

Females in Food is committed to helping women advance in the food and beverage industry, including closing the gender gap at the top. Their initiatives empower careers, provide visibility, and help companies close the gaps across parity, pipeline, and policy.

They proudly work with employers who are committed to designing and supporting a better workplace for women and who understand that our industry becomes more sustainable and profitable when women are equally represented at the top.

Visit FemalesinFood.Community to learn how you can join the community today.

3 Supply Chain Pitfalls and How To Navigate Them

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Emily Levasseur

The Females in Food Community is overflowing with astounding industry experts, thought leaders and innovators for the future of the F&B industry. Meet Emily LeVasseur. Emily is a member of FIF and managing director at Waypost Advisors. Their speciality is simple: Supply Chain. We are excited to share just a bit of their vast knowledge with you today.


Would you consider your business successful if you could say “our customers are hungry for more and we make good money serving them”? 

We think the same way about a Supply Chain. 


Defined as the activities, people and assets required to create and deliver products to a customer – from forecasting, purchasing, production, inventory management, warehousing and transportation – the Supply Chain is what literally executes your business.

At Waypost Advisors LLC, we work with clients across all types of industries that endeavor to delight their customers with their goods, whether they make and ship product themselves, or buy and distribute.  We help clients execute their best by giving them access to expertise that helps improve their execution and results, providing talented project management resourcing for key initiatives, helping them design the best technology solutions as they modernize their companies with ERP systems, and enabling them to drive waste out of their business operations.

We’ve seen a lot of different businesses and there are common pitfalls that plague many supply chains.  Read on for helpful insights!

Pitfall #1: Your Purchasing Isn’t So Strategic

Many businesses start with a good idea and grow from there, leveraging existing networks or rushing to find ways to execute and keep up with customer needs.  We frequently hear this is how we’ve always done it.  We’ve always worked with this vendor.  They know our business and our needs. We don’t have a reason to change.  All of these statements are likely true except that you may be leaving a lot of money on the table, and you may have unintentionally blinded yourself to risks within your supply base or other options that may enhance your good or service.

Suggestions to help determine if you have an opportunity to improve your Purchasing:

  • Run a market analysis for the goods you’re purchasing: Understanding the size of the market, the utilization (ie, how much demand there is for the products, relative to the supply) and the regional pricing drivers can be a very powerful way to understand where you have leverage and where you have risk.  This can help you negotiate better pricing and proactively source alternatives for constrained materials.
  • Put your key products out to bid: Once you understand the markets for your materials you can create some price competition by “bidding-out” your business.  This will entice incumbent and potential suppliers to sharpen their pencils on pricing and service offerings.
  • Have a strategy: It can be helpful to map your purchases into groups that have unique strategies.  Perhaps you have components that are more like commodities – they are amply available and fairly standard with a lot of purchasing options.  You probably have other materials that are highly specialized or rare and expensive.  You will likely have 2 very different strategies and objectives for managing the vendor relationships and purchasing of these 2 types of materials.

Pitfall #2: Your Inventory Isn’t Thoughtful

Inventory is a tricky aspect of supply chain management.  It is a key lever in the total product cost and service level performance to customers.  You have to pay for your inventory and then wait for a period before you sell it (and get paid), which ties-up your cash.  If you have too much or incorrect inventories, you risk having to invest more money in the inventory and potentially taking losses on write-downs.  Too little inventory and you may not have product available to capitalize on sales opportunities.

If you’ve been dissatisfied with your inventories (ie, you recently took a big write-down or foregone sales due to lack of product availability), read on and check out our case studies at Inventory: Not Just A Feeling – Waypost Advisors.

  1. Know the levers: Inventory management is fairly simple – as we like to say: “It’s just math”.  But it’s not easy.  Knowing the factors in the equation is helpful in understanding how to improve.
    • Replenishment Leadtime: This is how long it takes you to get new product from the moment you confirm the need (place a purchase order, confirm production, etc) until you have it ready to use.  It could include the required order leadtime from the vendor, transit time from port to door, customs clearance time, receipt and put-away at the warehouse, etc.  Imported products will take more time to receive and require you to have higher total inventory pipelines (ahem, and spend more money).  Local-sourcing may be more expensive at the unit-cost level, but when you consider how much cash flow you tie-up for long leadtimes, offshore sourcing may not be as beneficial as you think.
    • Anticipated demand in replenishment leadtime: This is your forecast, however you create it.  Whether you use sophisticated models or a simple moving average, you need some sense of what you will think you will sell during the period where you are waiting for new product.  For example, if it takes you 2 months to get new product from the moment you place a purchase order to a vendor, you need to know how much you think you will sell during those 2 months so you protect that quantity of inventory when you place the new PO.
    • Variability of your demand and your replenishment leadtime: This is where things get a bit more “mathy”.  No supply chain runs exactly as it should (or we wouldn’t have jobs, #amiright?).  If your average replenishment leadtime is 8 weeks, surely there are cases where sometimes it’s 5 weeks and other times it’s 12 weeks.  The same is true for demand; you may sell an average of 100 units per month but the reality is sometimes you sell 50 and sometimes you sell 150.  Understanding these variables is critical to calculating effective “Safety Stock”.  This is a buffer of inventory that can be set to cover the variation.  You determine the percent you want to cover, but be forewarned, higher confidence requires exponentially more inventory to achieve, and 100% is not possible.  Which brings me to the final parameter …
    • Target Service Level (confidence interval): In plain terms you can think of this as “I want to have inventory available for X% of my orders”.  Remember, 100% is not achievable because it would require infinite inventory.  You could say 98% or 90%, but each incremental percentage point improvement requires an exponential change in your level of inventory (and, ahem, the cost). It is MUCH more expensive to get from 90% to 95% than it is to get from 70% to 75%.  It is important to understand what is truly required to serve your market and not to over-engineer the service.

  2. Early detection is key: As with many ailments, being able to detect and react quickly will help mitigate negative impacts when something changes.  For example, your historical import leadtimes from China were 4 weeks from port to your door.  Suddenly a pandemic turns supply chains upside-down and your leadtimes slow to 12 weeks. You might be caught short on your inventory but the sooner you modify your purchasing habits, the less time you’ll spend with product outages.

Which brings me to the final pitfall:

Pitfall #3: Your Processes & Systems are Not Aiding Your Success

Many companies are modernizing their data and information flows with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and many are still running on spreadsheets.  Either method can work and by no means are we dumping on spreadsheets.  They are a powerful tool.  Either way, there are 2 key things we’ve observed that can be the difference between successful execution or painful, daily fire-fighting.

  • “Love your data”: A system (even a spreadsheet automation) can reduce the time you spend on a task if you let it.  We worked with a client who was spending 4-6 painful hours per week finding and cleaning data and putting together analyses to determine what inventory to send to their remote warehouses in their weekly truck.  They implemented a system that literally did this math in 60 seconds.  However, they struggled to trust the suggested transfers because there was something that always looked wrong.  They would say “the system doesn’t work” so they went back to calculating the transfers by-hand.  Sound familiar? 

Trust us, the system works.  But if you give it incorrect settings or bad data, it’s going to solve the wrong problem correctly.  When you implement a system, your role and responsibility changes from being the mathematician to being a programmer.  You’re no longer the calculator.  You’ve been replaced.  You need to employ a programmer mindset – you have to tell the system the right way to solve the problem.  Many people struggle to make the transition, and it’s costing them precious time and wasted dollars.

  • Know your processes:  The other error-trap we observe is that business processes are scattered or undefined.  For example: If you have 5 buyers on your team and each one manages 20 vendors, and each one has a slightly different process for how they plan/submit/track purchase orders and pay vendors, you have some work to do.  A system can be designed to only accommodate one way.  Everyone has to move to the same process.  Your teams will need to define the best process, address change management challenges, and re-train.

If you allow drift in your processes, you will inevitably end-up with a system that cannot be used very well. Companies we’ve seen that have not been able to capture the value of a system implementation did not do the front-end work to affirm their processes before they designed a system.  As a software developer once said: “You cannot automate bad processes.”

You can undoubtedly overcome these pitfalls with the right talent and expertise in your teams.  We highly recommend partnering with organizations that have deep experience in these activities and are able to quickly understand your business, help you fix problems, and enable you to solve the problems independently when they leave.

Check out waypostadvisors.com or our LinkedIn page at Waypost Advisors LLC to get connected and for a free consultation with a knowledgeable advisor.

What Does A Sustainable Food Industry Look Like in 2021?

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Woman in a field taking notes

“As goes the fate of women, so goes the fate of the world”

Mars, Danone, McDonalds… all household names. And yet, we’ve had no idea how sustainable or environmentally friendly they truly are. For many years the food industry has been held unaccountable for its environmental impact, or at least far less accountable than its counterparts in oil, gas and transportation.

No longer. The 3 major corporations I just mentioned all boast exceptionally demonstrative Directors of Sustainability. What’s more? They are all female!

So what does 2021 bring the changing landscape of the food and beverage industries? The founder and Chair of the UK’s Meat Business Women, Ms. Laura Ryan, has highlighted that “diversity and gender balance should be at the heart of any sustainable and profitable business.”

Ryan, like many other industry leaders, cites equality as a pivotal influencer in the development of a more sustainable future. The UN itself has made gender equality the fifth agenda under their Sustainable Development Goals, explaining that “women often have a strong body of knowledge and expertise that can be used in climate change mitigation, disaster reduction, and adaptation strategies. Furthermore, women’s responsibilities in households and communities, as stewards of natural and household resources, positions them well to contribute to livelihood strategies adapted to changing environmental realities.”

Companies such as Hain Celestial are already leading the way, supporting farms, independent growers and food production plants in sustainable ways across the globe. One of the best examples is a Diana Food banana production site in Pasaje, Ecuador. Diana Food applies high standard sustainable farming methods (organic, community well-being, environmental footprint) in close collaboration with their producers: “Quality, food safety, and transparency are all part of our production process, from farm to fork.” If one of the biggest banana producers in the world can support a sustainable future for its workers and it’s wider environment, surely more can follow suit.

In fact, some have! An editor’s favorite is Copper Cow Coffee. Brainchild of Vietnamese-American, Debbie Wei Mullin, based in LA – Copper Cow Coffee is waving the flag for both female-run and sustainable businesses.

“Sustainability is extremely important to Copper Cow Coffee and what sets us apart from many other consumer coffee brands out there. We exclusively source from socially responsible, sustainable, organic farms in Vietnam and pay above the market rate to ensure that these farming communities can thrive and grow. We also use 100% biodegradable filters and recyclable packaging to drastically reduce our environmental impact.”

As one of the 2% of female-owned companies, globally, Copper Cow Coffee is the prodigy of combining female food industry mavericks, with sustainable and future conscious agendas. 

Fortunate enough to be exposed to all facets and nuances of this industry – we’ve seen a plethora of highly-qualified and exceptionally effective women take the sustainability baton and wield it with pride… now, we want you to know about them too! Get ready to be fired up, inspired and sending off LinkedIn connection requests left, right and center….

Paloma Lopez – Global Strategy Lead, Kellogg’s Masterbrand at Kellogg Company @palomalpez

Paloma is an incredible leader using innovation, brands, and people power to drive sustainable growth. With an expertise in the food industry, she works to create value for people along the supply chain and for the natural places that are touched along the way.

Jessica Sansom – Former Head of Sustainability for Innocent Drinks

Jessica is a leader in building sustainability strategies for the food and beverage industries and balances looking at packaging, water management, carbon management, workers’ rights and sustainable agriculture, just to name a few.

Elaine Strunk – Director of Global Sustainability for McDonald’s @ElaineStrunk

Elaine is driving change at scale through McDonald’s global network. Elaine’s expertise is at the intersection of technology, business and design to create positive change in the food industry.

Kate Wylie – Global Vice-President of Sustainability for Mars

Kate leads Mars Inc sustainable sourcing framework, socioeconomic impact strategy, work with the €120 million investment fund, Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming, and sits on Mars’ Sustainability Strategy and Policymaking Group.

Helen Browning OBE – organic farmer and chief executive, Soil Association (UK)

Helen was championing organic long before it went mainstream, ever since taking over her family’s farm in her twenties. Three decades on and she hasn’t looked back. Helen continues to run Eastbrook, a 1,500 acre mixed-holding organic farm, and is passionate about providing her animals with the best life possible. Alongside her role as a farmer she is also Chief Executive of the Soil Association, the UK’s leading food and farming charity. Helen has also put her name to two local ventures just around the corner from her farm in Swindon – the Chop House and the Royal Oak, both of which serve down-to-earth organic food sourced straight from the farm.

Kalpna Woolf – business leader and award-winning food writer

A former Head of Production for the BBC, Kalpna has founded her own media company, sat on the boards of charities and business partnerships and launched a program to help organizations promote diversity at the highest levels. But alongside her business credentials, Kalpna has a passion for food and has been driven to share this passion with others. She has been at the helm of food festivals, judged food awards, and is the founder of 91 Ways to Build a Global City, a Bristol-based initiative bringing the city’s 91 language communities together by using food to tell the stories of their traditions and culture. Kalpna is also the author of Spice Yourself Slim, a best-selling book on food and health that draws on her childhood of healthy, flavourful Asian cooking.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

Globally, women are the core food purchasers. As ‘stewards of natural household resources’, women must be part of creating sustainable solutions in the supply chain. Over 70% of food buying decisions are made by women – making us vital change influencers in the ways in which we grow, manufacture and sell our consumable products. The women listed above are just a handful of those who are igniting the flame for our sustainable food future.

Do you know some more? We’d love to hear about the women YOU admire in the food and beverage industry, when it comes to creating a bold & bright future. Send us a note at contact@femalesinfood.community

7 Cool Jobs In The Food Industry & The Women Behind Them

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Women in Food Industry

Whether you’re looking to get started in the food industry or are exploring what opportunities are available to you, we have seven food industry jobs for you to check out. Plus, we have career stories from the awesome women behind the roles. The possibilities are endless!

Quality Engineer

What does the role do: A quality engineer oversees an organization’s manufacturing and engineering processes. They are responsible for designing and testing the company’s quality standards and processes.

The woman behind the role: Kathleen Trivette at General Mills. Learn more about her career journey into the food industry here.

How to get started: It’s best to have, at a minimum, an associate’s degree, but a bachelor’s degree is preferred. To move up the career ladder, you may need to obtain a master’s degree. Quality engineers acquire most skills through on the job training, including learning about the company’s processes and procedures. If you’re looking to grow in this role, starting in an entry-level position and working your way up would be the best place to start.

Senior Scientist

What does the role do: A senior scientist oversees a lab or the development of food products. They’re a research professional who demonstrates a strong understanding of the business, operations, food science, and the commercialization process. They assist in creating new products or technologies to help the business achieve its goals.

The woman behind the role: Gabriela Eyng at Rattin Mondelēz International. Learn more about her career journey here.

How to get started: A bachelor’s degree in food science, food process engineering, or chemical engineering is needed with a master’s degree setting you apart from other candidates. Previous experience with consumer packaged goods is usually desired.

Instructor and/or Private Chef

What does the role do: Instructors teach the art of cooking, including preparation techniques and cuisines, to those seeking degrees in culinary arts or those who are interested in expanding their cooking skills. Instructors can often leverage their expertise to also work as private chefs. Private chefs work independently to create meals and experiences for individuals or events.

The woman behind the role: Rachel Brumitt at Kinship Cooking. Learn more about how she got her start as an instructor and private chef and her perspective on the food service industry here.

How to get started: To become a cooking instructor or private chef, you’ll likely need formal culinary training. Depending on your state, you may also need a business license or catering license. Working in a restaurant to gain experience and expertise is a great place to start your career journey.

Category Manager

What does the role do: A category manager sells goods to the public or retailers. They work with marketing, research companies, supply chain, and commercial departments to implement and educate others on a common message and strategy. They’re responsible for vendor manager, product selection, product mix, product pricing, product display, marketing, planning, and inventory control.

The woman behind the role: Daniela Nath at CSCS. Learn about her career path and what accomplishments she’s most proud of here.

How to get started: Becoming a category manager typically requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in business, retailing, management, sales, or marketing. An MBA or master’s degree will set you apart from other candidates. Having previous experience in category management, merchandising, vendor relationships, product purchasing, financial analysis, or inventory control is preferable.

Owner

What does the role do: The possibilities are endless when it comes to being an owner. You can start your own restaurant, bakery, coffee shop, catering company, or whatever else your heart can dream.

The woman behind the role: Christina Whitney at The Confectionist. Learn more about how she started her own business here.

How to get started: The most significant thing you need to become an owner is passion and experience. There usually is no perfect or ideal time to start your own business. If you have the drive and the expertise, you can figure it out as you go.

Product Development

What does the role do: Product development involves a series of steps starting from the conceptualization of a product, and moves through the design, development, and marketing of a newly created or newly rebranded or design good or service. Designing or redesigning these products helps to meet the customers’ needs more effectively. Collaboration with multiple departments is needed throughout the process.

The woman behind the role: Liz Schmit at General Mills. Learn more about her role and expertise here.

How to get started: A bachelor’s or master’s degree in food science, food engineering, chemical engineering, or biology is most often required. You can begin at an entry-level position, like a Product Development Specialist, where any experience in product, packing, or process development will set you apart from the competition.

Director of Global Operations

What does the role do: A Director of Global Operations oversees and drives optimization for internal processes. They focus on global analysis, sales, and customer service. Since their role oversees all operations, they need to have a strong understanding of everything going on in the business. The range of responsibilities can vary based on the size of the organization.

The woman behind the role: Alyssa Badger at Highground Dairy. Learn how she became interested in the food industry here.

How to get started: A bachelor’s or master’s degree in a food industry-related field or business administration is most often needed. Previous experience in managerial positions is preferred, as is previous food industry experience. Working your way up the ladder within a company can help prove your skills and value.

Are you looking to network with professionals in the food industry? Join the Females in Food community! It’s a great opportunity to connect with women, learn more about jobs within the industry, and how women just like you got to where they are today.

We accelerate careers and connect women with female-forward companies.

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Females in Food strives to provide an inclusive environment and defines ‘women’ and ‘female’ as including all individuals who identify, or have been identified as women or female. No matter your age, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs. Whether you identify with any of these or none, we invite you to join our community. 

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