Investment in marketing, as well as the development of a strong internal company culture and ethos is the key to successful and sustainable business in the UK agri food sector. This was the key message given by David Samworth, the chairman of Samworth Brothers the leading food processor and distributor at a recent meeting of the Food, Drink & Agriculture Group of the Chartered Institute of Marketing held at the Farmers Club in London.
Addressing a well attended meeting, he explained: “Good products and good people have been at the heart of anything we have achieved at Samworths. We have to challenge ourselves to look at ways to continually re invent the business if we are to keep moving forward. Marketing in all its senses has to be at the heart of what we do as it impacts on all aspects of the company. We also believe strongly that the way we deal with our staff is critical. We look to create a positive ambience in the work place throughout the whole operation.”
Samworth then went on: “Attention to detail is critical and we must retain the passion for quality we have in the products we produce and the service we give our customers. We have to work with our customers to give them what they want and what their consumers want be this in the retail or the foodservice sector. We must also recognise that while it makes good sense to procure top quality raw materials from the UK supply base we have developed over a long periods of time, we must not ignore the rapid improvements being made in terms of quality and overall standards in some of the third countries we also deal with”.
He also commented that while the organic food sector might still be growing, Samworths believe that the market might be beginning to level out, but that the consumer interest in locally produced foods was still increasing and looked set to continue in the future. But again, Samworth re-enforced the need for quality: “Being local is one thing, but it is just as important, if not more to have high quality products to offer an increasingly discerning consumer base”, he told the audience. On the subject of acceptance of GM foods, he commented that consumers must be allowed to decide on this issue, and at the moment a high proportion of them appeared not to want GM foods and/or needed more information on the subject per se.
Samworths was awarded an Excellence in Marketing Award by the FDA of the CIM last year to help mark the 25th anniversary of the FDA Group at a special dinner held at the House of Commons. For more details of the activities of the FDA, please contact the current chair of the group, John Giles, at the following email address: jgiles@promar-international.com
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