Another great edition of Gamechangerz in Food was scheduled for Wednesday, June 12, 2024. This time organized in cooperation with Sligro Food Group at the ZiN Inspiration Lab. Gamechangerz in Food brings board and senior management of food companies together several times a year for inspiration, networking and good discussion on changing and current topics within the food sector.
Theme: Convenience
This edition of Gamechangerz in Food was all about convenience as a driver of many innovations in the food chain. While there are tremendous opportunities, companies face stiff challenges such as rising costs and increasing complexity driven by sustainability, laws and regulations, scarcity of resources and qualified employees.
Affordability of convenience has been under pressure as a result for some time, while the need will only increase in the coming years. So the central question during the event was: how do you stay relevant and what does this mean for my operation?
The day was opened by Bas van Eekelen of Gwynt who, after a warm welcome, emphasized the importance but also the complexity of convenience in today’s market. Dries Bögels, as host, then welcomed all attendees on behalf of Sligro Food Group. After this, Brenda Vogd of GfK took the floor, providing a good base of market insights for the rest of the day.
After the first break, participants split into different groups for the first round of workshops. In it, participants engaged in a discussion about the question: how do you stay relevant in convenience? Always starting from the specific challenges presented by experienced professionals on behalf of the following leading companies:
- Domino’s – Bram Verhoeve
- StarCuisine – Fernand Molenschot
- SushiPoint – Hajo Bertrand
- Sligro Food Group – Annejet van Kessel & Loes Scheijven
- Albron – Jan Willem Hilbron
After the first round of workshops, it was time for an exquisite three-course lunch provided by the ZiN Inspiration Lab team. Of course, in the meantime there was ample opportunity to network and exchange new ideas.
A second and thus final round of workshops followed in the early afternoon. This time focusing more on the practical challenges of food companies: staying relevant in convenience, what does this really mean for my operation? With a new group format, five teams again went to work with the aforementioned companies.
At the conclusion of the day, the main outcomes of each workshop were shared in plenary, after which the day ended with snacks and drinks.
Our conclusion after a successful event: being and staying successful in convenience is absolutely top sport, where focus and doing things really well ultimately make the difference. So this means that, as a company, you need to have a good understanding of what you are good at, but also where exactly you need to work with partners to make an impact together. Differentiation, consolidation and chain cooperation are thus particularly important conditions for remaining competitive as a food company. Precisely in this sector, then, is not choosing, clearly losing.
A day of inspiration on such an essential topic requires concrete translation within the strategy and execution of individual companies. Not easy but crucial to be ready for the coming years as well. After all, we know all too well how difficult it sometimes is to arrive at supported plans and breakthroughs, let this be something we as Gwynt are very good at.
All in all another fantastic event with strong speakers, great discussions and an inspiring venue with of course good food and engaging guests. We thank everyone for their contributions.
Want to learn more about the content of the presentations, or want to take the next step but aren’t quite getting there? We would love to help you turn these challenges into opportunities and achieve sustainable growth. So feel free to contact us and find out how together we can make business ambitions come true.
