What are you worth? The question of how much you get paid is more relevant than ever at a time when businesses are cutting back, jobs are at risk and workloads are getting heavier.
Today, fresh produce businesses will need to keep hold of their best staff to navigate them into profitability. This means that salaries should not be forgotten, even in the face of wider economic uncertainty. A job that promises a rewarding career and the chance to be part of a fast-paced and vibrant industry, often with worldwide travel, ticks many of the right boxes. However, negotiating the right salary can make all the difference.
So how much does the person sitting next to you really earn? What about the person across the table in the boardroom, the one who inspects your site or the voice on the other end of the phone as you place an order?
The results of this survey were put together by Eden Search & Select managing director David Macaulay and rounded off into approximate figures. Here, he focuses on one of the key relationships in the fresh produce industry - that between retailer and supplier - which are both facing similar pressures but at the same time work in very different ways.
Fresh produce players tend to move from one side to the other as their career progresses, switching for a change, promotion or more money, as and when new opportunities come up. The close links between the supply and retail side provide a network of contacts and makes the changeover that much easier in theory.
A former supermarket insider says it can be much harder than anticipated to move from either side to the other. “These transitions can be very difficult,” he says. “Some are more successful than others, but the style and approach is so different. Those who make the move become more well rounded and can understand issues from both sides.”
Supermarkets tend to offer the better packages associated with big businesses such as car allowances, share incentive schemes, pensions, family healthcare and life insurance, which suppliers struggle to match. On the other hand, suppliers can offer better bonuses, with senior managers and directors able to earn sometimes as much as 100 per cent of their salary.
The majority of fresh produce salaries have continued to rise, but critical roles inevitably attract the biggest salaries and the biggest increases. A national account manager or an experienced technical manager, for example, would have seen their salaries get a boost in the last three years. More operational roles including production and quality managers, on the other hand, have seen their salaries subdued. However, both retailers and suppliers know that to get the best talent, they have to pay the best money.
“Traditionally, the supply side has paid more for specific talent so they pay higher wages benchmarked against their retail counterparts,” says Macaulay. “Those in retail may lose on salary but gain in terms of the complete package, but the fixed corporate structure can limit bonuses or the discretionary bonuses seen on the supply side.
“Working for a supplier, there is greater opportunity for you to use your experience to make big steps in your career. For example, you can have an account manager aged 30 on £60,000-70,000, who has used their experience and made different moves within the fresh produce industry to get to where they are.
“It is more difficult to get that same speed of change at a retailer. There is more competition for a start, but also a bigger, more structured career path. It can be done, of course, but it takes more time. The ‘but’ is that supermarkets can offer variety - for example, you can get the chance to go from fresh produce into meat and then back again, so there is scope to get experience in other departments.
“That can sometimes stifle reward compared to an individual moving around and steadily gaining experience within fresh produce, but the challenge then is when you get to 35, earning £80,000 and ahead of your peers, where do you go next? This is one of the reasons why people end up with a life-long career in produce. Another is that it is challenging and you can get addicted to that. There are many examples of people leaving the industry and coming straight back.”
But even in roles that work side by side in the fresh produce supply chain, there are gaps in how the numbers stack up when it comes to salaries and benefits and there are similar differences in responsibilities and influence.
The balance of power between retailer and supplier can lead to situations where a senior buyer or director from a supplier (paid around £80,000) ends up man marking a retail technologist or buyer (paid around £30,000) because they feel the pressure to educate newcomers to the role and impress the retailer, which ultimately makes decisions that will affect their business. This creates problems for suppliers as their senior team becomes trapped in this kind of relationship, unable to replace themselves with a more junior member of the team. In some cases, it has even been known for commercial directors to manage stock orders and packaging changes because a supermarket buyer prefers to deal with them over the account manager.
“It’s in the supplier’s interests to have their best person on the job to manage the education process, especially if the retail technologist is fresh out of university,” says Macaulay. “Once this kind of relationship is formed, the retailer can end up leaning back on the supplier for support and it can be difficult to get out of it.
“Of course, every relationship is different but what is important is that the best results are achieved. Sometimes if you have to hand hold a new technologist, that’s what you have to do but I would recommend that suppliers look at the strength and depth of their technical team so that they can help.”
However, many agree that suppliers are getting more savvy and understand that they have to mirror the structure and the recruitment methods of the retailers in order to do the best business.
So is there such a thing as an ideal career path in the fresh produce industry? “What’s interesting is that if you look at senior people in the industry, it’s no coincidence that many have worked in retail before moving into the supply side and really accelerating their experience that way,” says Macaulay. “Ten years in retail will give you so many contacts, huge exposure to different categories and even other areas, which makes you a much broader candidate if you want to make a move.
“At the same time, you don’t want to stay too long and get earmarked as a retailer. Those who have progressed on the supply side have not spent a significant amount of time working for one particular retailer.”
But it is agreed that getting the UK number-one retailer - or in fact any of the big five - on your CV will stand your career in good stead, whether you choose to continue in that field or move elsewhere.
Jonathan Corbett, former Tesco buyer and managing director of marketing collective The Little Big Voice, insists that one of the main reasons people go into retail is to get those names on their CV, and he admits that “nothing stands out more on my CV than Tesco”.
He started out as a chef before moving into procurement at the Virgin Group and then at the Compass Group. Next, he switched to Tesco, where he was a buying manager for three and a half years. He left last year to work on marketing and PR with The Little Big Voice.
“The main thing I learnt at Tesco was how to deal with loads of different characters, from growers right through the supply chain,” says Corbett. “Out of all the jobs I had in produce, there is no better place to learn about it. Moving on has allowed me to do more or less what I was doing at Tesco, but with more freedom and no policy restrictions.”
It is fair to say that a stint in retail offers a number of advantages, from a well-rounded view of the market, experience of different roles and departments and an insight into how retailers really work day to day. Many either stay and forge a career at a supermarket, or switch to a supplier where they can offer an insider’s view when their former employer becomes a customer.
Darren Huxtable, Tesco business unit manager at Greenvale AP, has worked on both sides of the fence but is now committed to the supply side where he sees the role as “more challenging”.
“It depends on what you’re looking for,” he says. “I prefer working on the supply side. There is nothing wrong with retail, but that is where the power is and it makes the job a bit easier. The role is more challenging on the supply side, because you’re on the back foot. I didn’t always agree with what went on in retail and I wouldn’t go back, but I don’t regret it. I learnt a lot about how retailers work and it has given me an understanding of their pressures and the challenges they face.”
Huxtable started his career on the Management Development Services (MDS) programme, after he studied agriculture at the University of Plymouth. His first job was as procurement manager of prepared salads supplier Fisher Foods ahead of moving to G’s Marketing and then Exotic Farm Produce.
He spent more than three years at Tesco before switching to Greenvale AP, where he looks after the Tesco account.
“I hope that in five years I am still part of the Greenvale team, maybe doing something a bit different,” he says. “There is no doubt that I will still be in produce.”
As in most industries, a good grounding can lead to higher salaries in the long term and the right training and qualifications can go a long way to propelling a successful career in the fresh produce sector.
MDS graduates, for example, tend to attract starter salaries of around £26,000-27,000 and some have been known to achieve up to £30,000. This is a significant step up from the £19,000-20,000 that graduates earn while on the scheme.
Dani Shaw, general manager at MDS, has seen a number of intakes take home more than their peers and go on to land top jobs in a relatively short time. “MDS accelerates graduates four to five years beyond where they would be if they hadn’t done the programme,” she says.
“This compares to around £24,000 a year for graduate trainees at the major retailers and about £20,000 for those who join the industry straight out of university.
“Graduates come into the programme with an idea of what they want to do, but they don’t know until they try and the placements tend to blow their perceptions out of the water.”
Any job across the fresh produce supply chain is fast-paced, challenging and can offer a number of perks. As the results of our salary survey show, a good pay packet is one of them. As long as fresh produce businesses continue to reward talent and nurture long-standing careers through training, team-building and promotions, the sector should be in a strong position to take itself forward no matter what hurdles it faces.
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