Tesco

We are a team of food and packaging experts that sit within the Technical Division, our mission is to support the business to drive customer-focused innovation and passion for product.

At present, my particular role is focused on delivering our annual Food Trends Book and coordinating our Graduate Food Training courses.

Our objectives within the Food Academy are to lead on product and packaging research, food training and foresight and passion.

Product and packaging research spans from macro food trends to new ingredient/packaging technologies that will enhance our customers’ experience of the Tesco brand. Food training is about investing in the continuous development of all our colleagues, and foresight and passion is how we stimulate creativity and facilitate cross-category product development.

GNPD is a great tool, and I often use it to support some of the work we do for the categories. When used properly, it can stimulate creativity and generate new ideas, verify if any new ideas we come up with have already been launched elsewhere, and illustrate how other brands and retailers are solving specific customer needs or interpreting trends

We sit outside the categories and so when we are running a workshop or course for a particular area of the business, the Mintel Annual Reports are a great tool for getting you a feel for the dynamics of that specific category. Whether it be market or consumer data or a look at who is innovating, a quick read of the report is very valuable.

The way in which the reports are presented means you can jump straight to the sections that are most relevant to you, or indeed just read the Executive Summary.

The thing I love about the reports is that they don’t just throw data at you, there is always some dialogue about how Mintel think a category will perform in the future or the type of innovation they feel could invigorate the market.

One of the most useful services that Mintel provides for us is pulling together bespoke pieces of work to support our projects.

This ranges from them collating flavour trends data tailored to specific categories to support our trend book to them coming in and presenting at some of our cross category Blue Sky innovation workshops.

Overall, Mintel offers us flexibility, a global view and information that passes the ‘So What?’ test.

In my role, I mainly use GNPD, the annual reports, Mintel Trends and bespoke services tailored to our needs, such as presentations at our internal workshops.

Last year, we ran a cross category Blue Sky innovation workshop focused on a certain part of our food offer. Our aim was to unlock market leading development opportunities and differentiate our range. We provided stimulus about the market from a number of different sources, one being a presentation delivered by Mintel.

The great thing that they brought to the table was a global overview of the market – presenting us with product opportunities we may not necessarily have been aware of otherwise. The feedback from the attendees was extremely positive. The ability of Mintel to tailor their services to our specific needs means they are a valued resource for the Tesco Food Academy.

The Food Academy exists to support all of the complex and diverse food categories in the business. No two categories are the same, and keeping up to date with the latest trend, product and packaging developments across them all is one of our main challenges.