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Speaker 1: This blurring of channels, which I find exciting. I like

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Speaker 1: change in the dynamics. I always thought food service and

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Speaker 1: retail were close cousins of each other, but it always

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Speaker 1: was treated so separate as channels across the industry. There’s

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Speaker 1: a whole new world opening up in terms of that

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Speaker 1: blurring of the channels and what you can get. It

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Speaker 1: is proliferating so quickly, and it’s exciting to me to

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Speaker 1: see that happen.

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Speaker 2: And I think if you’re not.

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Speaker 1: Thinking jointly food service and and retail and that blurring

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Speaker 1: of lines. You really need to think about that and

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Speaker 1: have strategies against that in order to be successful.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to today’s episode of Brave Commerce.

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Speaker 4: I’m Rachel Tippegraph, the founder and CEO of Micmac.

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Speaker 3: I’m Sarah Hofstetter, president of Profitero.

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Speaker 4: And this is a show that talks about what’s relevant

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Speaker 4: in e-commerce for the world’s biggest brands. Welcome to Brave Commerce. Sarah,

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Speaker 4: we’re both in the data and insights business. We just

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Speaker 4: tackle it from different angles. Curious, and I’m happy to

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Speaker 4: share a story on my end, but when you think

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Speaker 4: of a customer who is able to harness data to

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Speaker 4: actually show the organization That within commerce data, you can

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Speaker 4: glean really big business insights that you don’t need to

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Speaker 4: pay consultants for or panel data companies. What customer comes

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Speaker 4: to mind?

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Speaker 3: That is so not fair. A, I’ve got so many answers.

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Speaker 3: And B, I don’t have rights for confidentiality.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I was just going to pull out a customer

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Speaker 4: that we did a public case study with.

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Speaker 3: I’ll give an example that is unfortunately not. But one is.

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Speaker 5: Using product reviews online.

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Speaker 3: To actually modify your product and relaunch within like no

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Speaker 3: time at all. We had a client who had launched

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Speaker 3: a new, actually it was a melatonin gummy and it

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Speaker 3: tasted like absolute garbage. Consumer said as much, you’re not

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Speaker 3: gonna tweet that your melatonin gummy tastes like garbage. So

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Speaker 3: your whole social listening thing, not helpful. But when your

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Speaker 3: ratings and reviews start talking about how that strawberry flavor

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Speaker 3: tastes like Robitussin, you got yourself a problem.

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Speaker 5: But what’s your real story?

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Speaker 4: So the story that I was going to share is

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Speaker 4: with Ollie’s Vitamins, which Unilever had acquired a few years ago.

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Speaker 4: So longtime Micmac customer. And what they saw in their

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Speaker 4: basket level sales data with us is that when consumers

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Speaker 4: were buying Ollie’s Vitamins, they were also putting strawberries into

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Speaker 4: their cart. The woman who was leading e-commerce didn’t keep

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Speaker 4: that insight to herself. She brought it to the R &

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Speaker 4: D team and said, we got to come out with

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Speaker 4: strawberry flavored vitamins. That’s the magic of leveraging this data

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Speaker 4: to drive the business forward.

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Speaker 3: When they did that, like, was there an outcome that

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Speaker 3: they saw as a result of it?

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Speaker 5: How far do they take it all the way, you know?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they created strawberry flavored vitamins. They

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Speaker 4: leaned into that, into the packaging, the creative, the messaging

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Speaker 4: at shelf, and they saw a lift in sales. It’s

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Speaker 4: pretty amazing when you can see that happen. I think

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Speaker 4: the challenge is because of the fact that we work

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Speaker 4: with physical product companies, it’s just the timeline to do that.

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Speaker 4: But talking about insights and man, is everyone about to

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Speaker 4: hear a wealth of insights from Wendy Jean at Tyson.

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Speaker 4: It’s really amazing how you put someone with her background

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Speaker 4: in a leadership role and she really brings like modern

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Speaker 4: day category management thinking to omnichannel commerce.

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Speaker 3: It really is extraordinary because she is taking not just

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Speaker 3: a shopper first mindset, which often people in that position do.

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Speaker 5: It is so much bigger than that.

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Speaker 3: It’s a combination of categories, but it’s also thinking because

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Speaker 3: she comes from a food service background, you also are

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Speaker 3: taking into account just what else you’re competing for in

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Speaker 3: terms of share of stomach. If you’re Ollie Vitamins, you’re

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Speaker 3: thinking about how you’re performing against I don’t know, Smarty

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Speaker 3: Pants or Vitagummies or whatever else is out there in

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Speaker 3: the marketplace. When you sell protein for a living and

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Speaker 3: you sell it in the supermarket, your share of.

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Speaker 5: Something is going against takeout, it’s going against.

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Speaker 3: Restaurants, and it’s going against power bars. So it’s a

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Speaker 3: very different thing than just looking at it against your

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Speaker 3: direct competitors. And you need that wealth and breadth of

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Speaker 3: knowledge and curiosity to get there.

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Speaker 4: Well, let’s bring the OG protein company, Tyson, Wendy Jean,

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Speaker 4: onto the show. We have Wendy Jean Bennett, the vice

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Speaker 4: president of retail commerce leadership at Tyson Foods. Hello.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Rachel and Sarah. I’m so happy to be on

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Speaker 2: the show. Avid listener.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. We love hearing that. Well, to kick it off,

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Speaker 4: Sarah and I were so excited to have you on

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Speaker 4: the show because we don’t do enough within the overall

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Speaker 4: sector of poultry and protein and what that means for commerce,

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Speaker 4: but maybe to kick it off, we don’t often see

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Speaker 4: a title vice president of retail commerce leadership. Like what

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Speaker 4: does that mean at Tyson’s?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that’s a great opening question.

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Speaker 1: So we feel like the world has changed with the

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Speaker 1: intersection of connected commerce or omni-channel. So we took our

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Speaker 1: e-commerce group and our shopper marketing group and kind of

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Speaker 1: combined that. So I manage both those teams and it’s

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Speaker 1: commerce marketing and And then the other important element of

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Speaker 1: that is what is the insights? What are we going

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Speaker 1: to bring to fruition for our retailers and for our consumers?

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Speaker 1: And that’s the insights part of it’s the category management.

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Speaker 1: So it’s that kind of tripod of departments kind of

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Speaker 1: put together to have this commerce leadership outlook that we

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Speaker 1: still have the consumer very relevant, very center of mind

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Speaker 1: as we work through traditional shopper marketing and and this

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Speaker 1: omni-channel and blurring of food service and retail that we

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Speaker 1: can get into more from an e-commerce landscape.

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Speaker 4: You bring up a great point, which is your history

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Speaker 4: at Tyson’s, it goes back 20 years. If I’m reading

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Speaker 4: your LinkedIn correctly, you started in the food service and

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Speaker 4: retail business and then moved into category management, shopper marketing,

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Speaker 4: now obviously everything you just explained around commerce marketing. In

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Speaker 4: that 20-year history that you’ve been at Tyson, a lot

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Speaker 4: has changed in terms of how consumers shop, their taste preferences.

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Speaker 4: Where we are right now in 2024, what do you

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Speaker 4: consider the market headwinds and tailwinds within your category?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent question. And I have seen a lot over

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Speaker 1: those 20 years. I mean, I don’t want to refer

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Speaker 1: to the kind of pandemic anymore. This will probably be

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Speaker 1: my only reference. But one thing that I don’t hear enough,

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Speaker 1: and I heard Diego talk about this a little bit

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Speaker 1: in the CBG, is people are worried about brands and

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Speaker 1: brand identities. The value perception for consumers has permanently changed. Meaning,

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Speaker 1: I have a friend who’s a produce buyer for an association,

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Speaker 1: for a retailer. And he said, people in this inflationary

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Speaker 1: market are still not buying whole heads of broccoli. They’re

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Speaker 1: still buying produce. bags of pre-cut broccoli florets. I see

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Speaker 1: you guys nodding. I’m sure you’re doing the same, right?

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Speaker 1: So why is that? Because it’s worth it to you

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Speaker 1: because we learned the essence of the criticalness of time.

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Speaker 1: So there is a value proposition that has changed compared

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Speaker 1: to previous, I’m saying 2008 inflationary times. And we’re doing

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Speaker 1: some primary research against that, but we are noticing consumer attitudes.

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Speaker 2: And behaviors are different.

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Speaker 1: And it’s just what’s that price elasticity and being really

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Speaker 1: centered and focused on that to understand your differentiation, your value,

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Speaker 1: what you bring to the table, and what that consumer

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Speaker 1: is willing to pay. And there is something there to

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Speaker 1: unlock instead of this panic I feel over brands with

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Speaker 1: a little bit of private label, which we supply some

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Speaker 1: private label. I know other large companies do too, but

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Speaker 1: I don’t think you should be pushing the panic button.

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Speaker 1: I think you should be looking at your data and

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Speaker 1: insights which is why it’s great that I have that

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Speaker 1: category focus that we can pull that type of data

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Speaker 1: across many different departments, not just my own, to derive

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Speaker 1: these key insights of behaviors we’re seeing of what shoppers

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Speaker 1: are doing.

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Speaker 4: I like the stems of my broccoli. So I go

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Speaker 4: for the whole head, but I see everyone grabbing the florets.

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Speaker 1: And the other big change when you were asked about changes,

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Speaker 1: this blurring of channels, which I find exciting.

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Speaker 2: I like change in the dynamics.

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Speaker 1: I always thought food service and retail were close cousins

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Speaker 1: of each other, but it always was treated so separate

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Speaker 1: as channels across the industry. I’m very excited to see

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Speaker 1: this blurring and how it’s morphing into. And just to,

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Speaker 1: I went to grocery shop and I saw Uber Eats present.

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Speaker 1: And you think, well, Uber Eats, they’re going to suffer

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Speaker 1: during this inflationary period. And they announced in there that

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Speaker 1: they get permission to, to go ahead and deliver from

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Speaker 1: using Medicaid and Medicare, right? So they’re going to unlock

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Speaker 1: different ways to growth and be of value. And they

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Speaker 1: are now, anyone who’s ordered from those types of services,

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Speaker 1: Uber Eats, Grubhub, any of those, is they’re willing to

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Speaker 1: stop now, not only at the grocery store, but on

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Speaker 1: the way at a restaurant or restaurant and grocery or

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Speaker 1: even pharmacy or So there’s a blurring of the lines

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Speaker 1: of where they’re going and it’s already happening. And people

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Speaker 1: like Instacart, which is just a delivery service, but it

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Speaker 1: carries our brand, is really helping with that last mile.

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Speaker 1: And even though they’re not a grocer, it’s really interesting

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Speaker 1: to see what they can bring to the table. They

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Speaker 1: are partners with grocers, but they also help brands. And

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Speaker 1: another example is, even though I live in Arkansas, as

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Speaker 1: you were saying, in the poultry beef segment, and we

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Speaker 1: don’t have a ton of variety here, There’s things like

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Speaker 1: Hungry Root, which delivers brands to me that I would

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Speaker 1: never be able to get in my area.

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Speaker 2: And Gold Belly, which delivers restaurant foods.

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Speaker 1: There’s a whole new world opening up in terms of

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Speaker 1: of that blurring of the channels and what you can

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Speaker 1: get and what the category set looks like and what

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Speaker 1: you get in your area. So it is proliferating so quickly.

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Speaker 1: And it’s exciting to me to see that happen. And

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Speaker 1: I think if you’re not thinking jointly food service, and

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Speaker 1: retail and that blurring of lines, you really need to

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Speaker 1: think about that and have strategies against that in order

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Speaker 1: to be successful.

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Speaker 5: I couldn’t agree more.

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Speaker 3: I’d love to pull a little bit on that whole

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Speaker 3: idea on the time trade-off. You mentioned it in the

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Speaker 3: context of the bar rats, but you also mentioned it

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Speaker 3: in the context of the whole Uber Eats kind of

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Speaker 3: door dash situation of what are we willing to trade

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Speaker 3: for our time and what are like our own personal

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Speaker 3: hacks to that we as shoppers employ, as well as

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Speaker 3: we as basically brand builders and business drivers employ. I

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Speaker 3: think if we were having this conversation five years ago,

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Speaker 3: let’s say all of the same headwinds would have been

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Speaker 3: in effect, inflation and price hikes and unit pricing driving

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Speaker 3: CPG growth versus actual share penetration. If we were having

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Speaker 3: this conversation a few years ago, we wouldn’t even be

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Speaker 3: thinking about the idea of anybody getting fresh product delivered

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Speaker 3: to their house without you either looking at it, feeling it,

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Speaker 3: smelling it, whatever it is that you’re doing.

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Speaker 5: And now I hope we’re at.

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Speaker 3: The point where people don’t think twice about it because

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Speaker 3: of that time trade-off. I also think there’s another thing

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Speaker 3: that you kind of talked to, which is it’s not

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Speaker 3: just the time trade-off. It’s also talk about food service.

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Speaker 3: If you talk about restaurants and all these other things,

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Speaker 3: there is share of stomach.

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Speaker 5: I’m making a dinner. Would I rather pay a premium

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Speaker 5: to know that I’m getting.

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Speaker 3: Quality Tyson versus getting a rotisserie at the supermarket and

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Speaker 3: then knowing I’m paying a premium for that time? So

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Speaker 3: how do you think about all of those things as

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Speaker 3: you look more holistically at the product?

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Speaker 5: Like what the F should I make for dinner?

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: When we redid our strategy, great question, Sarah.

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Speaker 1: One is you have to look at your strategy and

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Speaker 1: where you want to go after from the channels and

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Speaker 1: the business and how you want to go after that blurring.

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Speaker 2: So you need to pinpoint that. You can’t have everything

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Speaker 2: be a focus.

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Speaker 1: The second thing is, as you guys said it, you’re

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Speaker 1: talking to someone who works in poultry, beef, pork, and

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Speaker 1: CPG type items.

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Speaker 2: So it is harder.

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Speaker 1: We are seeing great e-commerce sales on things like chicken breasts,

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Speaker 1: pretty uniform. and any of our chicken cuts. But on

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Speaker 1: beef and pork, we’re not necessarily seeing it. And it

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Speaker 1: deals with that price point and wanting to pick it

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Speaker 1: out and catch weight versus net weight and what’s in

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Speaker 1: that pack. So where we do see it is ground beef, right?

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Speaker 1: That category is called grinds, but it’s ground beef. One

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Speaker 1: pound of ground beef, if you know you like an

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Speaker 1: 85 point lean, it’s pretty ubiquitous. And so therefore we

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Speaker 1: do see good online sales. We don’t with like a

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Speaker 1: rib by steak. Once it hits that $ 12, $ 14, I’m

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Speaker 1: going to pay for this package.

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Speaker 2: I want to see it and I want to see

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Speaker 2: the marbling.

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Speaker 1: So for us, it is like anything, a spectrum of

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Speaker 1: how that gets adopted and how we can help insulate

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Speaker 1: that quality and that feeling of delivering that to the consumer.

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Speaker 2: But to your point, yes, absolutely.

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Speaker 1: We have strategies against that of how we’re looking at

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Speaker 1: that across those categories. Part of that too will be

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Speaker 1: with innovation. And I think what we saw was there

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Speaker 1: was a lot of innovation. We still see a lot

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Speaker 1: of innovation where it’s like flavors. Sometimes I’m so jealous

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Speaker 1: of like shelf-stable products because everything we sell is perishable.

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Speaker 1: And so therefore it needs space. And as Sarah really knows,

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Speaker 1: there’s only so much space on the shelf. And so

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Speaker 1: it’s a battle. And I can’t have like the newest

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Speaker 1: flavor Oreo cookie and just have an incremental skew and

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Speaker 1: drop a palette display.

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Speaker 2: I cry.

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Speaker 1: I’m so jealous because we just can’t do any of

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Speaker 1: that type of things. And I can’t make any of that.

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Speaker 1: Everything needs space and it has to be perishable. So

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Speaker 1: it’s really critical that we have strong insights that deliver

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Speaker 1: the forms and new forms and not just new flavors

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Speaker 1: to deal with that convenience, like you were saying. And

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Speaker 1: one thing that happened around 2017 is we saw this

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Speaker 1: value equation and everyone quickly jumped to full done meals, right?

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Speaker 1: And some were successful and some were not. There was

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Speaker 1: a lot over the $ 20 price point that were not successful.

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Speaker 1: And then there’s some individual meals out there. So it’s

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Speaker 1: evolving very quickly. And I will say, I see a

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Speaker 1: day it’s going to be more componentized and with those forms.

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Speaker 1: because there’s too much polarization, right? Like I hate mayo,

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Speaker 1: I love mayo. Yeah, I’m not gonna eat bok choy,

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Speaker 1: so I don’t want this Asian stir fry. And there’s

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Speaker 1: things that vote you out and vote your households out.

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Speaker 1: But if you componentized it, I’ll get out of like

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Speaker 1: our category or combine it. Like I would love to

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Speaker 1: walk in and have a choice of Caesar or Cobb

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Speaker 1: or a nice, you know, Southwest and the top salads

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Speaker 1: and pick my own topping. Maybe it’s salmon, maybe it’s chicken,

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Speaker 1: maybe it’s beef. And it’s already done and I mix

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Speaker 1: and match and componentize those items. That’s where I think

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Speaker 1: we’re going to go as long as, again, it has

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Speaker 1: that right price value equation.

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Speaker 2: And I think it will be different.

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Speaker 1: I also think we’ve been talking about the perimeter and

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Speaker 1: every retailer will talk to you about the importance of

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Speaker 1: the perimeter. I think it hasn’t changed in 50 years.

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Speaker 1: I think you are going to see some change in

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Speaker 1: the next decade like you’ve never seen before.

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Speaker 2: And I’m excited for that and excited to see those changes.

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Speaker 4: When you say perimeter.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Just for listeners.

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Speaker 1: I must say the outside of the store, all the

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Speaker 1: refrigeration areas. So that’s typically dairy. It’s the meats, seafoods.

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Speaker 1: It’s your deli areas and cases, yogurts. That’s part of

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Speaker 1: that dairy section. I think that’s everything. I don’t know

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Speaker 1: if I’m missing anything, guys, but everything along the aisle

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Speaker 1: ways that it causes refrigeration from that standpoint.

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Speaker 3: Earlier in my career, I took my team to their

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Speaker 3: first Walmart. So you’re sitting here in Arkansas and I’m

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Speaker 3: sitting here in Manhattan and I was running an ad agency.

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Speaker 3: These folks had not been outside of the Garcetti’s. Like

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Speaker 3: that was the biggest store they’d ever been to. I

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Speaker 3: remember taking them out to a Walmart super center. Like

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Speaker 3: we rented a bus and we went out there and

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Speaker 3: I was like, let me explain to you why.

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Speaker 5: The perimeter of the store is the perimeter of the store.

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Speaker 3: Let me explain to you when you see a brief

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Speaker 3: that says center of store, what it means and how

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Speaker 3: the mechanics of delivery systems work. I love your idea

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Speaker 3: of the componentizing thing. I think there’s a really interesting

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Speaker 3: correlation between the componentizing.

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Speaker 5: And by the way, I don’t know if that’s a word,

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Speaker 5: but I’m totally adapting it or adopting it. And the

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Speaker 5: idea of the value shopper.

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Speaker 3: So if you think about it, you’re not going to

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Speaker 3: put a rib steak on top of your salad to

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Speaker 3: your point.

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Speaker 5: So the marbling is not going to be nearly as important.

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Speaker 3: As you think about the idea of componentizing, but also

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Speaker 3: being mindful of the value shopper, Where does it get

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Speaker 3: too genericized where it’s like the simplest of components? Where

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Speaker 3: does it get too detailed to.

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Speaker 5: Your point that I’m a male person? I’m not a

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Speaker 5: male person.

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Speaker 3: How do you identify where the lines stop being as

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Speaker 3: fluid as too fluid that you get yourself caught up

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Speaker 3: in the varietal outside of.

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Speaker 5: The game plan?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I’m going to use a real life example. I

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Speaker 1: like using other examples. If you can’t tell Elizabeth Rosin’s

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Speaker 1: a chef. And she has foundational elements of cooking, right?

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Speaker 1: So if you wanna go Italian, you have like garlic

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Speaker 1: and tomato and basil. And if you wanna go Mediterranean,

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Speaker 1: you add lemon with your basil and your garlic. And

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Speaker 1: it’s not all the way done to this Southwestern seasoned

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Speaker 1: steak or this Northern Italian, Southern Italian. And it has

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Speaker 1: so much in it that then it becomes polarizing. So

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Speaker 1: you go for these more foundational elements Elements, when you

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Speaker 1: say Asian, right, it’s ginger, garlic, soy is the, you know,

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Speaker 1: you can add a citrus and make it ponzu. So

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Speaker 1: it’s these foundational elements that doesn’t go all the way,

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Speaker 1: maybe up to a teriyaki or a szechuan where it

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Speaker 1: might be, you know, some like hot and some like

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Speaker 1: it don’t hot and some like an extra hot. And

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Speaker 1: you get to then customize. And we know from research

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Speaker 1: we’ve done, people do like to add their own little

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Speaker 1: hints and seasonings and customization to make it feel like

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Speaker 1: their own. and have ownership of that meal. So I

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Speaker 1: think you’re going to see a lot more of this

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Speaker 1: in the componentizing, like I was saying, more foundational than

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Speaker 1: it is the starter for any type of cuisine that

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Speaker 1: you wanted to then cook from there.

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Speaker 4: We talked about one strategy that potentially could drive growth,

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Speaker 4: which is the modularization of the product and have it

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Speaker 4: be more reflective of how consumers actually want to consume meat.

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Speaker 4: The big elephant in the room, is the fact that

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Speaker 4: there is a trend right now of less meat consumption,

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Speaker 4: and it’s been going on for quite some time. So

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Speaker 4: when Tyson thinks about growth against changing consumer preferences, where

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Speaker 4: are you placing the bets?

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Speaker 2: Very true. So I will say this.

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Speaker 1: One, we have three growth pillars, and one of them

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Speaker 1: is being more global and going international. We do have

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Speaker 1: joint ventures, like we have a joint venture in India

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Speaker 1: that And I’ve actually been engaged that group on a

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Speaker 1: project that we’ve worked on for the last several months.

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Speaker 1: So that has been really interesting, understanding those dynamics and

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Speaker 1: looking at the products. So yes, we know we want

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Speaker 1: to expand. We already have strong foothold in China, but

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Speaker 1: we want to keep growing where the population is growing, right?

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Speaker 1: So China, India, et cetera. Middle East is also something

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Speaker 1: we’re looking at hard right now with some of the

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Speaker 1: conflicts going on. But we are growing our international footprint.

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Speaker 1: I do wanna say, I’ll say it here on the podcast,

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Speaker 1: that protein isn’t dead. More and more people wanna consume protein.

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Speaker 1: The thing that sometimes makes me cry Like chicken is

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Speaker 1: the OG of protein. And when we ask consumers what’s

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Speaker 1: got protein in it, they go for protein bars and

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Speaker 1: cereal is like number one and two. They don’t even

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Speaker 1: mention the OG chicken. So let me just tell people, chicken,

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Speaker 1: very lean, really good for you. You can have a

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Speaker 1: lot of that and get protein. Pork, they used to

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Speaker 1: call it the other white meat through the pork board.

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Speaker 1: So good for you. Very low in calories and energy.

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Speaker 1: like an average of like 30 grams of protein in

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Speaker 1: like a pork chop. So you can have that pork

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Speaker 1: chop or you can have a power bar. So that’s

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Speaker 1: up to you. But I think people forget they are

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Speaker 1: trying to get more and more protein into their diets.

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Speaker 1: So like you said, overall consumptions down, we are trying

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Speaker 1: to educate. And now if you look, if you go

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Speaker 1: into stores, I want everyone to pay attention to that.

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Speaker 1: A lot of companies, not just yourself, are putting out

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Speaker 1: big grams of protein on on per serving because it

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Speaker 1: feels like consumers don’t even realize we’re the OG of

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Speaker 1: protein going back.

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Speaker 2: But you’re right. So therefore, we do need to increase

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Speaker 2: our international footprint.

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Speaker 1: We’re also seeing, you guys talked about it a little bit,

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Speaker 1: and Sarah, I’m sure you’re very familiar, the polarization of

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Speaker 1: the have and have nots. We’ve talked about it for

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Speaker 1: the last 10 years. We’re really seeing it start to proliferate.

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Speaker 1: I think with a lot of retailer partners and their

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Speaker 1: data We’re going to see that if I have a prediction,

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Speaker 1: I’ll use my crystal ball. They’re going to double their

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Speaker 1: amount of consumer segments that we work on today because

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Speaker 1: we used to just talk in three tiers of.

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Speaker 2: Good, better, best. And if you go and look at, again,

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Speaker 2: I like to talk not about our categories. Go look

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Speaker 2: at butter.

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Speaker 1: You have everything from margarine to regular butter to Kerrygold

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Speaker 1: grass-fed butter to European Kluge butter. So you have six

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Speaker 1: tiers of dairy butter happening right now. I think you’re

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Speaker 1: going to see these proliferation of tiers throughout many categories.

421
00:21:55,109 –> 00:21:57,710
Speaker 1: And then it’d be very honed in by the consumer

422
00:21:57,730 –> 00:22:02,230
Speaker 1: and by the store and by increased segmentation. So I

423
00:22:02,270 –> 00:22:05,290
Speaker 1: think I’ve already felt like 10 years ago, there’s a

424
00:22:05,290 –> 00:22:07,949
Speaker 1: lot of segmentation and we’re doing modulars, which is my

425
00:22:08,020 –> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 1: category management, how your store is set up, how the

426
00:22:11,359 –> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 1: shelf is set up by category. I think you’re going

427
00:22:14,260 –> 00:22:18,030
Speaker 1: to see a further proliferation and it’d be much more intelligent.

428
00:22:18,570 –> 00:22:21,010
Speaker 1: AI is going to help with that a lot of

429
00:22:21,330 –> 00:22:24,210
Speaker 1: using the data, what is selling and being.

430
00:22:24,030 –> 00:22:26,729
Speaker 2: Able to hone in on that stronger than ever before.

431
00:22:27,170 –> 00:22:29,570
Speaker 3: First of all, you guys have had the target on

432
00:22:29,609 –> 00:22:32,540
Speaker 3: your back for so long on protein. It’s almost like

433
00:22:32,580 –> 00:22:36,699
Speaker 3: the switch is flipped. What’s really interesting to me is

434
00:22:36,720 –> 00:22:40,860
Speaker 3: the fact that because so many people are starting their

435
00:22:40,900 –> 00:22:44,530
Speaker 3: shopping journey online, It’s more about the keyword than it

436
00:22:44,590 –> 00:22:47,610
Speaker 3: is about the aisle. So when somebody is looking for protein,

437
00:22:48,150 –> 00:22:51,500
Speaker 3: obviously PowerBar is going to be buying those keywords when

438
00:22:51,640 –> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 3: even though you’re the OG, like now you’ve got to

439
00:22:55,119 –> 00:22:59,510
Speaker 3: spend to get ahead of where you really have every right.

440
00:22:59,330 –> 00:23:01,679
Speaker 5: To play in the first place. Like, I don’t mean

441
00:23:01,720 –> 00:23:03,420
Speaker 5: to sound like your therapist, but it has to make

442
00:23:03,440 –> 00:23:05,480
Speaker 5: you feel.

443
00:23:05,920 –> 00:23:06,979
Speaker 2: Sarah, it is tough.

444
00:23:07,080 –> 00:23:10,090
Speaker 1: It makes me want to cry at times because this

445
00:23:10,190 –> 00:23:13,190
Speaker 1: is why for the audience, we’re a publicly traded company.

446
00:23:13,270 –> 00:23:17,429
Speaker 1: We lost money two quarters last year. We have thin margins,

447
00:23:17,550 –> 00:23:21,670
Speaker 1: single digit margins on those proteins that Sarah just mentioned.

448
00:23:22,230 –> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 2: It’s a cost to serve.

449
00:23:23,400 –> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: The total investment we make with anything retailer, or any

450
00:23:27,359 –> 00:23:29,740
Speaker 1: customer of ours, there’s a total cost to serve. We

451
00:23:29,780 –> 00:23:33,070
Speaker 1: only have so much when you’re talking thin margins. So

452
00:23:33,609 –> 00:23:35,850
Speaker 1: it doesn’t bug me as much from the paid search

453
00:23:35,890 –> 00:23:38,810
Speaker 1: that they keep lobbing down some money. It bugs me

454
00:23:38,850 –> 00:23:41,270
Speaker 1: from the organic search side, right? When we do the

455
00:23:41,310 –> 00:23:45,630
Speaker 1: content setup and syndication, we’re trying to capture all of that.

456
00:23:46,070 –> 00:23:47,230
Speaker 2: I couldn’t agree with you more.

457
00:23:47,250 –> 00:23:50,980
Speaker 1: It is upsetting at times from that standpoint of my

458
00:23:51,020 –> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: e-com team, we’re trying to think of ways where we

459
00:23:53,119 –> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 1: can overcome that. to be more front and center. Because

460
00:23:56,580 –> 00:23:58,639
Speaker 1: you’re right, that is the future too. It’s all going

461
00:23:58,660 –> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 1: to be about search and paid search and organic search.

462
00:24:02,240 –> 00:24:04,850
Speaker 1: But the paid search beats us every time.

463
00:24:04,950 –> 00:24:06,129
Speaker 5: No, it’s a pisser.

464
00:24:06,550 –> 00:24:08,250
Speaker 2: Say in the Northeast, a wicked pisser.

465
00:24:08,490 –> 00:24:12,870
Speaker 1: I love it, especially for my full team back in Boston.

466
00:24:13,210 –> 00:24:16,770
Speaker 5: You are so clearly passionate about the space. I love

467
00:24:16,790 –> 00:24:18,359
Speaker 5: your examples from all over the place.

468
00:24:18,760 –> 00:24:21,460
Speaker 3: I also know another key passion point of yours is

469
00:24:21,520 –> 00:24:25,100
Speaker 3: grooming the next generation of leaders. you’re in a position

470
00:24:25,130 –> 00:24:28,500
Speaker 3: of mentorship now, when you were in a position of menteeship,

471
00:24:29,140 –> 00:24:33,139
Speaker 3: what do you wish you knew then to help you

472
00:24:33,160 –> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 3: or to help that next generation?

473
00:24:35,320 –> 00:24:37,260
Speaker 2: Yeah, good, good question.

474
00:24:37,280 –> 00:24:40,379
Speaker 1: I think what I didn’t know then, part of it’s

475
00:24:40,560 –> 00:24:43,770
Speaker 1: gender bias as a woman. So I am a very

476
00:24:43,810 –> 00:24:46,649
Speaker 1: transparent person, I’m going to be honest. So part of

477
00:24:46,710 –> 00:24:48,830
Speaker 1: that was I thought if I just worked really hard,

478
00:24:48,869 –> 00:24:52,740
Speaker 1: people would notice. And there’s things about what’s your brand?

479
00:24:52,780 –> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 1: What does your brand represent? And I really didn’t know that.

480
00:24:55,680 –> 00:24:58,550
Speaker 1: And it wasn’t talked about as much back then. And

481
00:24:58,660 –> 00:25:00,530
Speaker 1: one of the best lessons I ever heard, so I

482
00:25:00,570 –> 00:25:03,370
Speaker 1: can’t take credit for it, is it’s kind of like

483
00:25:03,390 –> 00:25:06,610
Speaker 1: the musical Hamilton. You’re not in the room where it happens.

484
00:25:06,670 –> 00:25:08,670
Speaker 1: When they talked about you, when you get a promotion,

485
00:25:08,710 –> 00:25:10,830
Speaker 1: when things are going to happen, you’re not in the

486
00:25:10,869 –> 00:25:13,670
Speaker 1: room where it happens. So one of the good lessons

487
00:25:13,710 –> 00:25:16,890
Speaker 1: was what are the three things you want said about yourself?

488
00:25:17,619 –> 00:25:20,060
Speaker 1: And then go ask your peers, what are the three

489
00:25:20,160 –> 00:25:22,350
Speaker 1: things that come to mind when they think of you

490
00:25:22,640 –> 00:25:24,570
Speaker 1: and see if they match. And if they don’t match,

491
00:25:24,990 –> 00:25:27,270
Speaker 1: then you have some work to do of what you

492
00:25:27,330 –> 00:25:29,310
Speaker 1: want to be known for. I think a lot of

493
00:25:29,350 –> 00:25:32,090
Speaker 1: people feel like they get pigeonholed in certain jobs because

494
00:25:32,109 –> 00:25:34,869
Speaker 1: there’s certain specialists at things and they want to grow

495
00:25:34,950 –> 00:25:38,390
Speaker 1: and they have other passions. I say, follow your passions.

496
00:25:39,560 –> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 1: In hindsight, half the jobs I’ve had at Tyson didn’t exist.

497
00:25:44,060 –> 00:25:46,280
Speaker 1: I made the business case and I showed why it

498
00:25:46,320 –> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 1: should exist.

499
00:25:47,510 –> 00:25:49,770
Speaker 2: So don’t get stuck in, well, this is how the

500
00:25:49,890 –> 00:25:50,750
Speaker 2: org is formed.

501
00:25:51,690 –> 00:25:56,060
Speaker 1: And then influence is way more important than title. So

502
00:25:56,390 –> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: you don’t care if you’re an introvert or extrovert, have

503
00:25:58,600 –> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 1: your network, however small or large that is, and use

504
00:26:02,400 –> 00:26:03,200
Speaker 1: your influence.

505
00:26:03,640 –> 00:26:05,060
Speaker 2: That is critically important.

506
00:26:05,100 –> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 1: So those are the top things that come to mind

507
00:26:07,560 –> 00:26:09,160
Speaker 1: that I wish I knew back then.

508
00:26:09,490 –> 00:26:12,820
Speaker 4: I think that’s fantastic, especially the advocating for yourself. And

509
00:26:13,040 –> 00:26:15,060
Speaker 4: in a work environment where more and more is happening

510
00:26:15,080 –> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 4: virtual as well, there’s so much that’s not being seen.

511
00:26:17,460 –> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 1: And I think it got kind of lost during the pandemic.

512
00:26:20,740 –> 00:26:24,470
Speaker 1: I’m not seeing as much mentorship happen. So challenge your

513
00:26:24,530 –> 00:26:27,030
Speaker 1: leader and say you want to be mentored. And please

514
00:26:27,070 –> 00:26:32,250
Speaker 1: know there’s a difference between sponsorship and mentorship. Mentors, you

515
00:26:32,290 –> 00:26:34,489
Speaker 1: have skill sets that you want to hone in on

516
00:26:34,550 –> 00:26:37,330
Speaker 1: and you’re willing to work on them. Sponsorship is you

517
00:26:37,350 –> 00:26:39,410
Speaker 1: just want to be known and recognized and you want

518
00:26:39,450 –> 00:26:42,270
Speaker 1: someone to help sponsor you if a job opens that

519
00:26:42,310 –> 00:26:45,090
Speaker 1: you want and they can help do introductions and help

520
00:26:45,490 –> 00:26:49,850
Speaker 1: open the door potentially. But all my mentors, it has

521
00:26:50,010 –> 00:26:51,879
Speaker 1: paid off 10 to 1.

522
00:26:51,880 –> 00:26:53,090
Speaker 2: I highly recommend it.

523
00:26:53,580 –> 00:26:56,300
Speaker 1: And if people are telling you like, oh, you’re doing

524
00:26:56,320 –> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: a good job, Rachel, just keep doing what you’re doing.

525
00:26:59,180 –> 00:27:01,550
Speaker 2: No, there’s something there. Push for feedback.

526
00:27:01,630 –> 00:27:04,149
Speaker 1: If you’re not getting feedback, you have to be, as

527
00:27:04,190 –> 00:27:06,770
Speaker 1: you just said, Rachel, your own advocate, because I got

528
00:27:06,810 –> 00:27:09,149
Speaker 1: a lot of you’re doing great work. Just keep on

529
00:27:09,190 –> 00:27:10,969
Speaker 1: doing what you’re doing. But I’m like, why aren’t I

530
00:27:11,010 –> 00:27:14,609
Speaker 1: breaking through? What is happening? And I wasn’t getting what

531
00:27:14,690 –> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: Kim calls radical candor, candid feedback. And then it was

532
00:27:18,160 –> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: some things. And I will tell you, it was my

533
00:27:19,900 –> 00:27:22,770
Speaker 1: northeast when I first came to Arkansas. I might have

534
00:27:22,790 –> 00:27:25,370
Speaker 1: been a little harsh, right? It’s the whole New England, upper,

535
00:27:25,410 –> 00:27:28,050
Speaker 1: you know, northeast. You guys know we have time quick.

536
00:27:28,090 –> 00:27:29,590
Speaker 2: Let’s go. Let’s get this, this, this.

537
00:27:29,950 –> 00:27:32,820
Speaker 1: And people in the south were like, hey, slow down

538
00:27:32,880 –> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 1: a little bit. Listen to what we have to say

539
00:27:34,800 –> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 1: and take that in. So then I started asking questions

540
00:27:38,460 –> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 1: instead of giving an opinion. So like, Rachel, why do

541
00:27:42,680 –> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 1: you think that instead of, well, that’s not going to work?

542
00:27:45,520 –> 00:27:48,260
Speaker 1: You know, it was a big change in my career

543
00:27:48,320 –> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 1: at Tyson.

544
00:27:49,060 –> 00:27:52,550
Speaker 4: I love your definition of mentorship versus sponsorship. That is

545
00:27:52,730 –> 00:27:55,570
Speaker 4: such a strong delineation. And don’t worry, when you have

546
00:27:55,609 –> 00:27:57,709
Speaker 4: the title founder and CEO, the only thing I get

547
00:27:57,770 –> 00:28:03,369
Speaker 4: is feedback. Which I appreciate. Wendy Jean, we could talk

548
00:28:03,390 –> 00:28:06,290
Speaker 4: to you for another 30 minutes, but this podcast is

549
00:28:06,330 –> 00:28:09,270
Speaker 4: supposed to last a daily commute time. So we have

550
00:28:09,290 –> 00:28:12,070
Speaker 4: to ask you our famous last question, which is what’s

551
00:28:12,109 –> 00:28:13,350
Speaker 4: the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

552
00:28:13,940 –> 00:28:15,910
Speaker 1: I thought about this since I listened to the podcast

553
00:28:15,950 –> 00:28:18,190
Speaker 1: and I knew this question was coming. And I want

554
00:28:18,210 –> 00:28:23,409
Speaker 1: to really say every single day getting up and living

555
00:28:23,490 –> 00:28:27,290
Speaker 1: my life, putting the fear in the devil is really brave.

556
00:28:27,410 –> 00:28:28,290
Speaker 2: And that’s what I do.

557
00:28:28,690 –> 00:28:30,830
Speaker 1: And I think because I lost my mother when I

558
00:28:30,869 –> 00:28:34,100
Speaker 1: was young, you realize you need to live each day

559
00:28:34,130 –> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 1: to the fullest. So I don’t mean to get upset,

560
00:28:36,420 –> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: but I went rock climbing last week. I am learning Italian.

561
00:28:42,050 –> 00:28:45,830
Speaker 1: I am doing brave things every day and living my life.

562
00:28:46,250 –> 00:28:49,610
Speaker 1: So I challenge everyone out there to get up every

563
00:28:49,630 –> 00:28:51,770
Speaker 1: day and live your life and be brave.

564
00:28:52,410 –> 00:28:54,850
Speaker 4: Wendy Jean, that was so powerful. I wish we could

565
00:28:54,970 –> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 4: be in the same room and give you a hug

566
00:28:56,170 –> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 4: right now.

567
00:28:57,860 –> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 2: I’m good. I’m good.

568
00:28:59,060 –> 00:29:01,220
Speaker 1: It shouldn’t be a moment and it shouldn’t be defined

569
00:29:01,260 –> 00:29:04,040
Speaker 1: by one thing. I feel brave when I mentor people

570
00:29:04,100 –> 00:29:06,100
Speaker 1: and tell them the truth. As a leader, you have

571
00:29:06,160 –> 00:29:09,260
Speaker 1: to be candid and you have to have the leadership

572
00:29:09,340 –> 00:29:10,980
Speaker 1: courage to do what’s right.

573
00:29:11,600 –> 00:29:14,180
Speaker 4: This was an incredible episode. We are so appreciative of

574
00:29:14,200 –> 00:29:17,340
Speaker 4: your time. I think we’ve decided, Sarah and I just

575
00:29:17,360 –> 00:29:19,100
Speaker 4: made the decision live. This is going to be our

576
00:29:19,200 –> 00:29:20,740
Speaker 4: International Women’s Day episode.

577
00:29:20,940 –> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 2: Oh, fantastic.

578
00:29:22,280 –> 00:29:26,540
Speaker 4: Sarah is showing a sign right now, everyone, that says badass.

579
00:29:26,960 –> 00:29:30,470
Speaker 4: Wendy Jean, we’re so appreciative. Go follow her on LinkedIn.

580
00:29:30,930 –> 00:29:31,650
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening.

581
00:29:31,670 –> 00:29:34,170
Speaker 2: Appreciate you guys. Thanks, Sarah. Thanks, Rachel.

582
00:29:36,730 –> 00:29:39,350
Speaker 4: What a wealth of knowledge from Wendy Jean. If you

583
00:29:39,390 –> 00:29:43,300
Speaker 4: want to think more about the general perishable category, we

584
00:29:43,320 –> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 4: certainly have recorded quite a few episodes. But go check

585
00:29:46,400 –> 00:29:49,020
Speaker 4: out one of our latest episodes with the CMO of Chobani.

586
00:29:49,460 –> 00:29:52,660
Speaker 4: Or go way back into the archives and listen to

587
00:29:52,820 –> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 4: our friend Chris Hauser from Sorgento. If you like what

588
00:29:56,040 –> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 4: you’re hearing, tell a friend. Share it on LinkedIn. Let

589
00:29:59,460 –> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 4: us know what you’re thinking. Thanks for listening. Thank you.

590
00:30:34,620 –> 00:30:37,630
Speaker 4: Now on Touch of Truth, we’re coming centre stage and

591
00:30:37,690 –> 00:30:41,010
Speaker 4: sharing the mic to experience stories of truth, insights and

592
00:30:41,050 –> 00:30:42,500
Speaker 4: visions for the future that will.

593
00:30:42,380 –> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 5: Challenge your way of thinking. Touch of Truth is available

594
00:30:45,180 –> 00:30:49,230
Speaker 5: wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out every Tuesday.

595
00:30:49,430 –> 00:30:50,530
Speaker 3: I do hope to see you there.