Three Little Birds…; Taste, Sustainability & Well-being by Dr. Clive Black
The great, sadly late, Bob Marley sang, ‘don’t worry about a thing, ‘cos every little thing is gonna be alright’.
Maybe Prime Minister, Theresa May, and the swamp creatures within her Cabinet alongside the likewise creatures sitting on the soft green leather at the Palace of Westminster feel that this is the way to run a country. At times it is all that many business folks can draw upon as a modus operandi to navigate their way through the UK’s supposed exit from the EU.
Fatigue is an understatement for the nation’s mood on how the political process has panned out. The term ‘national interest’ has been much used but totally abused by every shade of UK politician. And so who knows how things are going to progress but it is an exercise in mis-management of literally the highest degree. Due to that incompetence, the nature of any split and the time that is likely to take looks like it is going to be more costly, extensive and distracting than necessary.
“Fatigue is an understatement for the nation’s mood on how the political process has panned out.”
Whilst venting one’s spleen can have a modest if very temporary palliative effect, the reality is that the food & beverage industry in the UK has to operate within this chaotic environment. Indeed, through the extensive short-shelf life composition of many products, the food industry is absolutely at the forefront of the economic impact of UK-EU relations and, within the wider context, most particularly the positions of the respective industries in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where one has to be worried that chaos could prevail. More broadly, food & agriculture are likely to be a central challenge for any trade deals that the UK engages within, if ever.., most notably the USA, where the Irish border, again, will be a key axis.
Beyond all this macro-political and global trade ‘stuff’ it is important not to lose sight of real people, shoppers, consumers… Like me, maybe you, they are sick & tired of ‘Brexit’. Indeed, many have stoically got on with their lives despite the self-centred, attention grabbing and detached operating in the House of Commons. And those shoppers continue to display behaviours that represent considerable opportunities that it is great to see entrepreneurs in the UK seize upon and see-through.
Most particularly is the shoppers’ appetite to pay more attention to what they are consuming. Good taste remains at the forefront of their behaviours, a simple human trait that is a key contributor of added value food – premiumisation amongst proprietary brand (PB) and private label food & beverage is, therefore, a structurally important underlying feature of the market. Good taste rarely is a function of chance though as opposed to the quality of ingredients, processes and the story around a product. Increasingly, therefore, we see growth in the British food market revolving around a joined up story with new lines taking share from legacy brands that have overgrown and at times overstayed their welcome.
Deeper into these market developments is a process that is now and will be more so in the future central to the prospects of shoppers, society and the food industry; well-being. Awareness around the nutritional composition of foodstuffs is rising albeit there is much more for public policy and the industry bodies to do to take matters a good deal further. Such awareness, predicated upon curiosity, interest and need, is influencing behaviours around diet and health. We are not at the start of this journey but it has a long, long way to go, centred upon structural changes to nutrient consumption with less salt, saturated fat and salt and more protein, omega-3, and the constituents of fruit & vegetables, pulses and legumes.
Beyond nutrients there is the level of engineering in food, simple is becoming more virtuous, natural is preferred to synthetic and then there are the issues that are driving vegetarian and veganism, which seems to be more about personal nutrients than animal welfare. Beyond food there is the matter of sustainability; how one man, an atom, changed the structure.., David Attenborough and plastic, doing in one television programme what environmental campaigners have worked for half a century on with lesser impact.
“…we see growth in the British food market revolving around a joined up story with new lines taking share from legacy brands that have overgrown and at times overstayed their welcome.”
So, whilst we sit amongst the stench of what appear to be rotten politicians in these Isles, small minded and what increasingly appear self-centred folks, there remain real decent people out there that need the British food industry to continue to meet their needs, continue to be entrepreneurial and to continue to innovate. A glance at a supermarket shelf shows how good taste, well-being and sustainability to mention but three are structural drivers of change, opportunity and growth that the UK industry is rising too and where the future appears bright.
At Coriolis there is a team of folks that focus upon delivering cost leadership and manufacturing excellence that enable the concepts, ideas and products developed by British food entrepreneurs to also be generators of free cash flow and wealth.
As the 29th March 2019 approaches here is to a competitive, innovative and entrepreneurial British food & drink industry whether our politicians are with or without us.
Dr Clive Black
Advisor
Coriolis Consulting
March 2019
