What attracted you to a good food job?
I got into the food business because a friend of mine was a trained pastry chef - he invented and baked these amazing peanut butter and jelly cookies for Neiman Marcus. When one of my favorite tea houses said they were looking for some tea infused chocolate truffles because there was so much demand that their previous supplier couldn't keep up, my friend convinced me to start a wholesale confection and baking company with him. Before I jumped into the baking venture, I had decided to take some time off from the high tech world: one day it just felt less satisfying to close yet another deal. I hired a career coach, took 6 months off, and decided that I was going to spend more of my time doing what I actually wanted ? works takes too many hours to not love it. The food business is full of like-minded people who are fulfilled by working on something that is meaningful and special, and of course great fun!
Soon after we started, my partner decided he couldn't deal with the uncertainty of a start-up. I was having fun and enjoying the switch to doing something with my hands (I was a desk job person before this), so I decided to continue running the company on my own. We sold products to grocery stores, cafes, and restaurants - all wholesale. Of course, after a while I got bored doing the same thing over and over again every day, so sold the business. Meanwhile, I had established a lot of contacts in the food business through my bakery, and just as I sold the business, Chuck Siegel at Charles Chocolates called to let me know that he was looking to hire someone to run sales in growing his chocolate company.
Other industries intrigue me, but the food industry appeals to me because premium food is really coming into its own and is experiencing huge growth. My job in the food biz is also great cocktail party conversation, and I like being a connector - someone who can help buyers and sellers meet and do business with each other more efficiently. I enjoy coaching and consulting, and significantly contributing to the success of food manufacturers is fulfilling for me - whether it's connecting someone to a great hire, getting a new brand into Whole Foods, or helping to design a sales brochure.
How did you get your current good food job?
I've always been an accidental entrepreneur, meaning this is the 4th time in my career that I've created a job for myself. In college, I was running a web design & web development school out of my apartment, then I started my own wholesale bakery, then I started my own food broker firm, and finally Buyer's Best Friend (BBF for short), an online catalog and ordering system for wholesale food buyers. In addition to Buyer's Best Friend, I am the founder of California Girl Foods, the San Francisco-based food broker firm I run. When California Girl Foods hit some limits in growth/scaling, I did a careful analysis of how I was spending my time - turns out too much time managing hundreds of accounts, and the logistics of getting orders from customers. I also spent a lot of time driving to visit accounts. My passion is working with customers, helping them be more successful, and introducing them to great products. I also noticed that the nature of food sales was changing - with more info being available online, buyers were relying less on salespeople and brokers, and doing more of their own research. I find that trend fascinating, and wanted to support it. I like to be in roles that undeniably provide high value - and there seemed to be a lot of opportunity in helping buyers discover new products (especially since the number of food brands and products has exploded over the past few years), and in facilitating the logistics of processing orders.
By most measures, my broker business is a successful one - salesforce.com created a video success story about my firm as an example of a successful salesforce.com user, but I wanted more. My co-founder in Buyer's Best Friend (and life partner!), Adam has been in the tech business for over 20 years, including the last 5 years at Google, where he invented and launched Google Gadgets. For fun, he built the initial version of Buyer's Best Friend to help me work more efficiently with my buyers. When wholesale buyers and sellers saw the system, they all wanted it. We incorporated in July 2010 and haven't looked back- these days, BBF is growing fast and will soon eclipse the broker business. That's how I got my current job.
How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?
Many food businesses are lean in terms of staffing; I've always worked for small businesses and startups, which trained me well to wear many hats, be comfortable "doing a little bit of everything", and accept chaos as the norm. In addition to the companies I founded, I've worked for tech startups and was also employee #1 on the business side at Charles Chocolates. I've been lucky to work with many great executives over the years, whose mentorship helped me learn about best practices, how to build good process, and more. In all the roles where I've been a leader I used that knowledge to organize chaos, delegate projects, and efficiently scale myself and the business. I feel lucky to have had opportunities to participate in running those businesses, so that I can be an effective manager and leader now.
What advice do you have for others in search of a good food job?
One of the most exciting trends in the food business (probably due to the fact that premium food is making this industry more lucrative) is that the people behind food companies are more savvy than before. It used to be that selling food was a highly manual process - these days it's about creating an awesome product, and then working smarter, not harder to get it into the market, and brand has become much more important. A lot of food companies co-pack their products, so the founder(s) are really smart sales and marketing people who don't need to know how to run a factory. Thus, the most successful employees aren't workers doing the same task over and over again - they are people who know how to think. Specifically, the people who know how to achieve scale, run businesses, run the numbers, and who know how to create extreme value at a fraction of the cost are going to win.
Tips for the job search:
- think about how you can provide value to the organization
- let your enthusiasm show through
- be flexible about the types of work you're willing to do
- many food companies are small and thus people with a range of skills will be most successful and hire-able
- know something about food - when we get applicants for jobs at Buyer's Best Friend, everyone says they love food and they're a foodie, so it takes some specific knowledge/passion to stand out
A couple of examples: The needs at BBF change every week - we're signing up hundreds of new wholesale buyers and hundreds of new wholesale sellers every month, and we're just getting started. Thus, the most appropriate team members for us are people who are highly flexible - a project that was small this month might become a full time job next month! Culture fit is also important for us - for instance, everyone at BBF is constantly checking email and IM, and we communicate 90% electronically with our buyers, sellers, and brokers- we even IM between floors of the office. When you communicate electronically, everyone involve expects a faster response, so it's important for us to have team members who like to work in a fast-paced environment.
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
Interesting, inspiring experiences. It's always been my dream to be an artist, but an aptitude for business dragged me away. I'd love to have time write, paint, draw and see more of the world.
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