When you have a question about your job, you go to HR. When you want to make a complaint about a colleague, you go to HR. When you need support in your workplace, you go to HR. But… who does your HR person go to? On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we invite special guest and HR expert Jennie Beasley to shine a light on another underappreciated role in the UK food industry: the HR specialist. 

Jennie gives us a walk through her HR career journey, covering her time in a job share partnership and how she transitioned from being an HR employee to the position of Head of HR. She weighs up the merits of working part-time against being in a job share scheme and unpacks some of the unique challenges of working in HR in the food industry. You’ll learn what HR is actually responsible for and why you shouldn’t try to load extra duties onto your HR representative’s plate! At the end of the episode, Jennis gives advice to other HR staff about how and why they should take care of themselves and she runs us through some of the services that she offers in her new HR coaching business. 

Jennie, thanks so much for coming onto the podcast and sharing your wisdom with us! If you work in a role in the food industry that we should know more about, please get in touch with the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast via our Facebook or LinkedIn page. We always love hearing from you!

Timestamps

[1:40] Welcome to Oh For Food’s Sake, Jennie!

[2:43] Jennie tells us her mission in the food industry

[5:53] Jennie’s potted career story

[8:37] The early days of job sharing

[10:47] Job share vs part time: Which is better?

[15:29] “A totally different feeling”: Changing jobs and moving to a smaller company 

[17:23] Clashing priorities: What HR looks like behind the scenes

[20:08] Unpacking the challenges of HR workers in the food industry 

[21:31] What is HR actually responsible for?

[24:50] “Can you just…?” Actually, no! 

[26:07] The fine line of working in HR

[28:44] Why HR workers need to look after themselves too 

[30:12] The unique position of HR during the pandemic

[32:18] What advice would you give to HR leaders, Jennie? 

[34:26] How will the food industry adapt to flexible working?

[36:48] “It’s a choice”: Dedicating time to your personal development 

[39:05] HR needs to be able to ask for help too!

[41:45] Making a safe place for HR: Jennie’s career coaching services 

[45:30] How to get in touch with Jennie

Links and Resources

Jennie Beasley on LinkedIn

Email: [email protected]

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

It’s one of the most common reasons why teams (and even businesses) fail: a lack of trust between people who are supposed to work together. But trust doesn’t happen automatically and it’s not an infinite resource. So on this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we take a look at Brené Brown’s BRAVING framework to help your team to trust each other. Listen to the end to find out more about your podcast homework! 

We begin by defining what trust is and, more importantly, what it isn’t. Using Brené Brown’s marble jar story, we flip a common perception about trust on its head and explain why trust lives in small actions, not big sweeping gestures. Then we unpack the BRAVING framework and go through each aspect of trust, sharing examples of how we see this played out in the food industry. And we tell you about how you can use this knowledge to create a trusting team in your workplace! 

We’d love to hear your results from the BRAVING Inventory – how trusting are you and your team? Get in touch with us to share your trust stories via our Oh For Food’s Sake Facebook or LinkedIn page!

Timestamps

[1:33] Hello! On today’s episode, we’re talking about building up trust in your team

[2:53] Trust is at the bottom of the pyramid

[3:51] How should we define trust and distrust?

[5:47] “That isn’t how trust is built”: What research says about building trust

[9:07] Brené Brown’s BRAVING framework

[10:10] B is for Boundaries

[10:43] R is for Reliability 

[11:35] A is for Accountability

[15:28] V is for Vault

[18:06] I is for Integrity

[20:13] N is for Non-Judgement

[23:40] G is for Generosity

[25:38] So how do you apply this in your team? 

Links and Resources

Brené Brown’s BRAVING inventory

Watch Brené Brown explain the marble jar

Our previous episode on the 5 dysfunctions of teams

The Thin Book of Trust by Charles Feltman on Amazon UK

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

You might think that you know about all the different teams that are involved in food development and production, but think again! On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we talk to the smart, engaging and incredibly driven Phil May who’s on a mission to educate the food industry about the important role that the food hygiene team plays every night. 

Phil tells us how he got his start in food hygiene and campaigned to turn his job into a full-time role. He explains what it’s like to work in food hygiene and discusses some of the problems that arise from being an overlooked part of the picture. We learn about the pressures of being a hygiene manager and what happens when you engineer a good working relationship between your hygiene and operations teams. At the end of the episode, Phil gives us exciting news about his upcoming podcast that’ll dive even deeper into the world of food hygiene!

We learnt so much from hearing Phil talk and we really hope that you did too. If you represent an undervalued part of the food industry and would like to make an appearance on the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast just like Phil, then please get in touch with us via our Facebook or LinkedIn page. 

Timestamps

[1:34] Welcome to the episode, Phil!

[3:29] Phil tells us how he got his start in food and food hygiene

[8:24] An open letter about the magical cleaning fairies

[11:19] Some of the problems that hygiene teams face

[13:37] “That’s always sat quite heavily with me”: The pressure of being a hygiene manager

[17:28] The typical profile of someone who works in hygiene 

[20:06] So what is the hygiene team actually responsible for?

[23:05] Hygiene and operations: The partnership that your food business needs to get right 

[27:34] Getting a peek behind the scenes of The Hygiene Hustle Podcast

[33:33] The #1 thing that Phil wants you to know about hygiene 

[35:58] Why hygiene needs a seat at the NPD table

[40:08] Factoring hygiene into your carbon footprint 

[43:06] Where to go to get in touch with Phil

Links and Resources

Phil May on LinkedIn

The FoodClean Experience Centre

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

How many times have you slogged through a top-priority team project and pulled out all the stops to make sure that you get your part done… AND everyone else’s too? And then you get to the delivery meeting and find yourself saying “It was a team effort”? Ok, so it’s definitely not just us then! On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we explain why you shouldn’t let everyone take credit for your work and how to make others aware of your own contributions. 

We tell you why it’s problematic for you to allow others to benefit from your hard work and unpack the difficult team dynamics that can come from overusing the word ‘we’. Then we give you four great reasons to recognise and highlight your successes so that you’re inspired  to do it more. Stay tuned until the end of the episode when we tackle the thorny issue of how to tactfully call out team members who didn’t pull their weight. 

We hope that this episode will encourage you to self-promote your success at every chance you get! Get in touch with us via our Facebook page to let us know how it works out for you in your next big meeting or performance review. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast to hear more advice about flourishing in your career in the food industry. 

Timestamps

[1:32] Welcome! On this episode, we’re changing your mindset on career success

[2:48] Why it’s problematic to say ‘we’

[5:25] The passive-aggressive form of ‘we’

[6:34] Getting specific: Acknowledging your efforts

[10:02] Getting specific: Highlighting your impact

[13:13] Getting specific: Growing your confidence 

[16:56] Getting specific: Helping others 

[19:20] How to handle it when one person under contributes

[22:11] “Embrace your self-awareness”: Ditch the guilt and celebrate your success

Links and Resources

Buy the Ta Da list journal on Amazon UK

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

You might have a great food product idea with a secure supply chain, a reliable manufacturing process, a competitive price point and a small army of fans… But does that mean that your product will get picked up and sold in a major retailer? Not always, and that’s where Karen Green comes in. She’s a food mentor who specialises in helping young food brands take their products to market. Join us for this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast where we get to pick Karen’s brains about what makes a buyer interested in your food product. 

Karen gives us a walk through her career in food and her transition into launching her own company as a food mentor. She recounts her experience helping companies in the UK, and in Ghana to develop and sell their food products. We learn insider tips on how to sell to buyers, including how to decode what makes them tick and how to keep the conversation going over time so that you’re always on the buyer’s horizon. At the end of the episode, Lucy & Karen share some exciting news about their upcoming retreat for ambitious food company founders! You can find out more about The French Escape here

We learnt so much from talking to Karen and we hope that you did too! Drop us a line via our Facebook group or LinkedIn page to let us know what stood out to you. We always enjoy hearing from you! 

Timestamps

[1:35] A big welcome to The Food Mentor, Karen Green! Karen introduces herself

[7:28] Karen’s work with the UN and her trip to Ghana

[11:46] What makes Karen’s UK and Ghana-based clients similar and different

[13:00] The key principles of bringing a product to market… and a few logistical nightmares!

[17:33] Do you have to have a certain personality type to succeed in the food industry? 

[21:31] Why Karen starting mentoring food brands  

[24:01] Recipe For Success and Buyer-ology: Karen’s books

[27:20] What is Humantic AI? 

[30:37] Profiling food industry roles with Humantics

[32:10] Analysing the relationship between the buyer and the company they work for

[34:47] The nitty gritty of applied buyer-ology

[36:45] Founder mindset vs. CEO mindset

[42:28] Karen’s three pieces of advice on getting a listing with a retailer in today’s market

[46:45] How many contacts is too many to make a sale?

[51:08] A buyer success story

[52:23] “So what else can we do?”: It’s not all about getting products in retailers

[55:25] Exciting news! Karen’s amazing upcoming food retreat! 

Links and Resources

Karen Green on LinkedIn

Recipe For Success by Karen Green on Amazon UK

Buyer-ology by Karen Gree on Amazon UK

Humantic AI buyer intelligence software

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

If there’s one myth that we’d like everyone to stop believing in, it’s this: that working harder will help you to succeed in your career. Food industry workers, you need to stop thinking like this! On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we bust the myth about hard work and unpack the reasons why it’s time to give yourself a break. 

Today, we talk about what happens when you put yourself under too much pressure in your job, from unhappiness at home to total career burnout. We also analyse productivity and look at how you can play with your schedule to maximise your productivity peaks. Then we give you ideas on how you can start to let go of some of the pressures of your job, by carving out time for rest, taking up new hobbies and delegating your responsibilities. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the to-do list for your next big launch, make sure to listen to this episode so that you know how to lighten your load!

We hope this episode gives you permission to look at your job through new eyes and see what you can achieve and what you need to let go of.  Don’t forget to subscribe to the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast so that you don’t miss out on our expert advice on navigating your food industry career.

Timestamps

[1:33] Today’s topic: why you need to stop working so hard!

[2:57] Hard workers in the food industry workers, we see you!

[5:52] Mapping out your productivity peaks

[7:24] Work smarter, not harder! Getting your work/life balance right

[10:32] “You need interests that are not just about work”

[11:53] Why you need to fit more small breaks into your schedule 

[14:32] Finding your “thing” and how it’ll help you to increase your energy

[16:13] The magic of delegation 

[18:54] Our handy recap 

Links and Resources

Our previous episode on delegation

Our previous episode on collaboration

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

It feels like everyone’s trying to get into the healthy food space nowadays but with all the buzz and hype, how do you know which foods are actually good for you? On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we talk with the lovely Corrine Toyn, a registered dietitian who’s set up her own boutique marketing agency for healthy food brands. 

Corrine tells us about her varied career in the food industry, describing what she learnt from each of her roles and how she used her network to leverage herself into the jobs that she wanted to have. We then unpack her journey of starting her own food marketing agency and moving into the niche of healthy food brands. You’ll hear us discuss some of the challenges of marketing healthy foods in the UK and what Corrine thinks of measures that the government has introduced to tackle obesity. And if you’re a dietitian, make sure to listen out for Corrine describing her work with the British Dietetic Association Industry Group to help dietitians to develop in their careers! 

We love talking to the bright, talented people who are forming the next generation of food industry workers. If you enjoy listening to these episodes as much as we enjoy making them, then subscribe to the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast to catch our newest episodes every week!

Timestamps

[1:38] Welcome to the podcast, Corrine!

[3:00] Corrine tells us how she got her start in food

[7:57] Why Corrine left product development and what her next step was

[10:24] The magic of career networking

[12:50] Corrine’s mission with Chickpea Marketing

[15:44] Some of the challenges of marketing a healthy food brand 

[20:14] “There’s been a lot of conversation about this”: Tackling obesity in the UK through food marketing

[23:20] Playing the blame game with diet and obesity  

[25:22] Should we stop incentivising the purchase of high fat, salt and sugar foods? Corrine gives her thoughts

[29:32] What Corrine’s doing through the British Dietetic Association Industry Group  

[34:58] How do you translate your passion into your career and get others on board?

[39:30] “If I can make a little bit of a change, that’s what gets me up in the morning”

[43:47] Where to go to find Corrine online 

Links and Resources

Corrine Toyn on LinkedIn

Chickpea Marketing

Chickpea Marketing on Instagram

BDA on Twitter

BDA on LinkedIn

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

“Self-confident people are just born that way. They’re naturally good at everything they do and they know it. And you’re not like them, you’re stuck being you”. Does any of this sound like the voices in your head? Then you need to listen to this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, where we’re busting popular myths about self-confidence and giving you five steps that you can follow to build your own confidence!

We follow on from our popular early episode about confidence to give you a step-by-step process to becoming more confident. Tune in as we define confidence, tackle some common misconceptions about who can be self-confident and prepare you for some of the bumps in the road of your journey to self-confidence. At the end of the episode, we also share some handy resources that’ll help you to learn more and celebrate your wins along the way. 

We really hope that this episode will inspire you to reflect on your self-confidence and take steps towards believing in yourself. If you’d like to share your wins, big or small, please reach out to us via our Facebook or LinkedIn page—we always love hearing from you! Don’t forget to subscribe to the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast to catch more episodes that’ll help you grow into your food industry career.

Timestamps

[1:34] Hello! Today we’re talking about how to build your self-confidence

[2:45] The definition of confidence, plus some popular myths about confidence

[6:35] Step #1: Unpack your beliefs about confidence

[8:28] Step #2: Identify your strengths

[10:13] So, how do you know what your strengths are?  

[10:53] Step #3: Set yourself an achievable goal

[13:31] Yes, you can be confident! 

[15:30] Step #4: Plan for self-doubt 

[19:20] Step #5: Take action! 

[22:27] A helpful recap

[23:43] Some handy recommendations for your confidence journey!

Links and Resources

Our previous episode on confidence

Take the free VIA character strengths test

Brave New Girl by Chloe Brotheridge on Amazon UK

Amy’s Ta Da List journal on Amazon UK

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

This episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast features the wonderful Claire Hughes, Director of Product Development & Innovation at Sainsbury's. She joins us to talk about squiggly career development, balancing innovation and commercial success in NPD, the benefits of the Sainsbury’s Thrive programme and how she feels about the future of the food industry. Listen out for her thoughts on the new Sainsbury’s mince packaging too! 

Claire begins by telling us how moved over to the food industry from her start in parasitology (once she told us what parasitology is!). We go over some of the many challenges that NPD teams deal with on the long road to taking a product to the shelves and Claire explains why not every food product launch should be a commercial success. You’ll hear her advice for food start-up brands and what Sainsbury’s is doing to promote sustainability and healthy eating in the UK food industry. Listen to the end to find out how she balances the demands of her job around her own well-being. 

Conversations like this are why we launched the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast and we love connecting with other passionate people who are shaking up the food industry. If you’d like to hear more episodes featuring fabulous food industry guests, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a colleague to spread the word. 

Timestamps

[0:45] Welcome to the podcast, Claire Hughes! 

[3:40] How Claire moved from parasitology to nutrition to the food industry, with a few other jobs in between!

[8:55] Switching over to Sainsbury’s

[12:01] Connecting the dots in product development

[16:30] How do you build better relationships with your manufacturers?

[18:42] “It’s also about the commerciality” 

[20:44] Innovation vs commercial success

[22:04] Getting the whole team on board with a new food product 

[26:26] Claire’s advice for food start-up brands

[33:08] What new brands get out of the Sainsbury’s Thrive programme 

[36:48] Getting the lowdown on the Sainsbury’s packaging changes

[40:20] What else is Sainsbury’s doing for sustainability? 

[43:42] Our relationship with healthy eating and the food system

[46:41] Approaching the problem from a collaborative angle 

[48:54] “Scare-cited”: How Claire feels about the future 

[50:37] How Claire manages her own well-being and her demanding job 

[55:07] Claire’s career advice 

[56:34] Where to go to get in touch with Claire 

Links and Resources

Our previous episode of Mindfulness with Amy Polly

Claire Hughes on LinkedIn

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!

There’s been a lot of chat about burnout online and in society but not all of it is helpful, especially if you think you’re already in burnout. So on this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we decided to do a deep-dive on burnout, explaining what it is, how to spot it and how to treat it, because you deserve a life free from burnout!

We explain the four signs that you might be in burnout, covering the physical symptoms, how burnout feels mentally and what impact it might have on your life at home and at work. Amy shares details of her burnout story and how she retrained her brain to deal with the negative thoughts that arose from burnout. We also give tips on how to reconnect with a sense of joy and purpose so that you can start to tackle your burnout. 

We really hope that this episode inspires you to treat your own burnout and spot the signs of burnout in the people around you. Don’t forget that burnout isn’t a life sentence and that help is available. If you’d like to reach out to us and talk about your burnout symptoms and experience, you can find us online via our Facebook and LinkedIn pages. 

Timestamps

[1:30] Today, we’re identifying the four signs of burnout

[3:29] Myth busting: You don’t have to be working to burn out

[4:48] Sign #1: The physical symptoms of burnout 

[9:05] What does “Listen to your body” actually mean?

[11:50] Sign #2: Emotional exhaustion

[14:28] Sign #3: A drop in productivity and creativity

[18:25] Sign #4: Feeling like something’s missing

[19:04] Can you do anything about burnout? Yes! 

[22:20] Why you need to see a GP

[23:18] What happens when you start to talk things through 

[24:25] The magic of doing nothing

[25:53] Retraining your brain and reframing your thoughts 

[27:05] Believe us, burnout does get better!

Links and Resources

If you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: 

Daymer

Daymer on LinkedIn

Daymer on Twitter

Email: [email protected]

You can follow us here on instagram

If you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedIn

For food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedIn

See you next time!