Consumer Foods to Go

In early 2019, we recorded a podcast on the role of plastic packaging in food with supply chains strategist Susan Hansen. Since then, the world has changed because of Covid-19, and, as Susan says in the podcast, it has been a very interesting time for plastics. The use of plastics in retail has increased, and consumers' attitudes toward plastic have changed due to fears of contamination. In this episode of Consumer Foods-to-Go, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott discuss with Susan the impact of Covid-19 on the use of plastic and if the future role of plastic packaging in food has changed.

In the last few years, a lot of money has flowed into ghost kitchens across the globe. Interestingly, India and Southeast Asia have been leading the charge, with, for example, the number of ghost kitchens in India growing from 200 to 1,500 in 2019. In this episode, Cyrille Filott and Maria Castroviejo quiz Rabobank's Umesh Madhavan on the growth of ghost kitchens. They talk about the flexibility of the model and how companies operate to find growth quickly. However, margins could be under pressure for the foodservice industry as a whole, and companies that have huge scale may be the winners.

In May, the European Green Deal's 'Farm to Fork Strategy' was announced. Among other things, the deal in general strives for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. The farm-to-fork part is much more specific, spelling out the use of antibiotics and nutrients in farming, along with nutrition on the consumer level. So high time for Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott to roll up their sleeves and engage in a lively discussion with analysts Harry Smit and Stefan van Merrienboer. What exactly are the specifics of the strategy? And just what does this all mean for the consumer foods sector?

At the end of May, news reached us that Brian Sharoff, president of the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), had sadly passed away. Brian led the PLMA for almost 40 years – and as loyal listeners might recall, we interviewed him for our 'PLMA Live' episode, which we launched after the 2019 Amsterdam PLMA show. For this new episode, in memory of Brian, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott interview Rabobank analyst Sebastiaan Schreijen on the past, present, and future of private label in food. At the end of the episode, we revisit the piece we recorded with Brian last year.

As loyal listeners to the podcast know, we have spent a lot of time thinking through what might change in food as a result of the corona crisis. The previous episode was dedicated to purpose-lead business. This episode is dedicated to Nutrition. Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott invited Nard Clabbers of TNO to discuss the future of nutrition. Nard Clabbers is one of the leading authorities in the field of personalized nutrition. He discusses recent developments in personalized nutrition, and he shares his views on how Covid-19 might impact consumer choices and perspectives regarding food.

We at Rabobank believe that we will see some profound changes in food in the post-Covid environment. One of them is that food companies may move (further) toward becoming purpose-led instead of being driven by financial returns. This is an important change of the primary focus, and as a result, strategies may change as well. In this episode of Consumer Foods-to-Go, Cyrille Filott and Maria Castroviejo interview Ylenia Tommasato, Global Brand Sustainability & Communication Manager at Barilla, on sustainability issues and on strategies in food companies in general and Barilla in particular.

Fresh fruits and vegetables were performing well in foodservice up until the Covid-19 crisis. However, the Covid-19 crisis and the subsequent closure of a lot of restaurants led to demand crashing for some products, whereas other products sold really well. But even in that period, "weather was more important than Covid." This is a quote by Cindy van Rijswick, Rabobank's resident fruit and vegetable expert. Cyrille Filott and Maria Castroviejo interview Cindy about the past but also about structural changes in the imminent future. Many of the themes that were discussed in previous editions of the podcast series reappear in this episode, tied to fruits and vegetables.

Europe and the US are on the verge of ending lockdowns, and, in some cases, have done so already. For restaurants, this is an exciting time, but for food retail, perhaps less so. In China, lockdowns ended a few months before the rest of the world. Therefore, we believe it is helpful to have a look at what lessons can be learned from China. Maria and Cyrille quiz Rabobank colleague Michelle Huang on the latest developments in foodservice and food retail.

Artificial intelligence and food – a very interesting combination! In recent episodes of the Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast series, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott discussed the current impact of the coronavirus on food businesses. One of the recurring themes was the potential acceleration of digitization in food. In this episode of the series, Maria and Cyrille explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in food production and sales. AI can be used for planning purposes, for reducing waste in production, and many other applications. As Maria and Cyrille are no experts on the matter, Paul Staples and Stephen Kinns from the startup CatsAi explain what AI is, why it may have failed in some cases during the disruption at the start of the 'corona crisis,' and what AI could bring to food production in the future.

Recently Consumer Foods-to-Go host Cyrille Filott was part of a webinar organized by Rabobank's start-up innovation platform FoodBytes! on the impact of Covid-19 on food. In this episode, Cyrille and co-host Maria Castroviejo answer the most interesting questions from the webinar that are relevant to anyone curious about the effects of the lockdowns on food business.

The webinar can be found here: https://www.foodbytesworld.com/foodbytes-webinar-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-food-ag-companies/