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Why it's important to not mind failure and be realistic in your career | Boardroom Uncovered
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Dec 18, 2024
The UK boss of Haribo has revealed how he's gone from being too "optimistic and challenging" at the start of his career working for Heineken to more of a realist now he's leading one of the UK's largest confectionary makers. Jon Hughes has been in the top job at a Pontefract-headquartered company, which also makes Maoam, since the back end of 2018. Speaking on the latest edition of City AM's Boardroom Uncovered on-camera interview series, the UK managing director reflected on how he's changed since he first started out and what advice he would give his younger self. Get more Boardroom Uncovered here š https://www.cityam.com/haribo-boss-how-i-went-from-being-too-optimistic-and-challenging-to-leading-sweet-giant/ Get more of City AM š š http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cityam Produced by: Jon Robinson, Joe Lee, Emmanuel Nwosu, THG Studios #business #businessnews #interview #retail
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0:00
i' best start with probably the most controversial question I could what's the best Harry bow I think the advice I
0:06
give myself if I was looking back um would be yeah don't you don't need to be in such a rush um you can take your time
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uh to back yourself and always to remember that you're not always right about everything when someone joins a business
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for the very first time they have an absolute unique value to our business because they're seeing our business
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through fresh eyes and that you can only do that [Music]
0:39
once hello and welcome to another episode of bordom uncovered powered by city am my name is John Robinson City's
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UK editor my guest for this Edition is the UK boss of Haribo John Hughes Hughes
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has been in the job since 2018 and has previously worked at the likes of Red Bull and Heineken the Yorkshire
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headquartered division of the German confectionary Giant has enjoyed record sales in recent years
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and has seen its market share grow but in a world where healthy eating habits are increasingly in the public eye how
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can Haribo maintain its strong financial position and continue to be one of the UK's most popular brands without any
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further delay let's dive in right John thank you very much for coming on for cover today it's great to have you thank
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you as I best start with probably the most controversial question I could what's the best harryo oh the best
1:29
Haribo um I think well I don't think you can answer that question really it just depends what mood you're in who you're
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with um and um what your particular tastes are because one of the wonderful things about harabo is that although we
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have one or two products that spam the world actually it's a very local taste
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um so the products we develop in the UK are for UK markets and UK tastes and they can be quite different to what you
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might find if you're on holiday in France or in Spain uh or elsewhere around the world so very hard to pick a
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best harabo I think what do you have a go-to yourself uh depends where I am I think Tang fastic is probably um
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probably my go-to in the UK um so nice mixture of Tang and sour and playful
2:12
pieces yeah so I had no idea that if you buy a pack of Haro here it's going to taste different to if you bought one in
2:18
in France or or Germany why is that well consumer tastes are quite different um in different markets and the way harabo
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was set up originally um was that we entered into different markets but we operate a de centralized uh
2:31
decentralized business model and that allows local teams to develop products that are right for the local market um
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and depending on the team that were in place at the time and which products they chose to launch um those products
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can be quite different so Harbo gold bear is probably our our most famous uh Global product and that's sold in pretty
2:48
much every harabo market right around the world um but starix which or Tang fastic which are the number one number
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two seller here in the UK um don't really feature you know in the top five
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in France for example um there's some travel so um in the US they're quite good fans of of starix um but they have
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other products that they they tend to focus and feature on right okay and is there a bit of a a Yorkshire flavor to
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Harry Bo because obviously you're based in Yorkshire is there something about being in Yorkshire that that goes into
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the flavor of the UK product or I think um you know yorkshire's got a very rich Heritage of confectionary making so um
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it was over a 100 years ago that original business dun Hills was founded
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um and that was because in the local area they grew a lot of Licorice and they grew a lot of rhubarb so the area around Wakefield in West Yorkshire where
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we're based is known as the rhubarb triangle um and as well used to grow an
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awful lot of licorice uh as well and even to this day um we sponsor and celebrate licorice in the annual
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licorice Festival um in the center of pontif so there is a long history and tradition of making sweets uh in in West
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Yorkshire particularly and so the products that we make yes our original products the pontif cake um which was
4:04
created over a 100 years ago we still make it today in our Factory in pontif frat um that's definitely a delicacy
4:10
from the Yorkshire region um doesn't travel quite so well um to other parts of the UK um but the other products that
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we that are the best sellers here in the UK were all developed in Yorkshire in the UK so starix tank Plastics uh super
4:24
mix all of those products were developed by the teams locally uh here in the UK and West Yorkshire you say that
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different products sell differently across across Europe and across the whole of the world but do the different
4:35
products sell differently in different parts of the UK as well people in Scotland buying different types of haray
4:40
to people in London for example um not really there's some small variances so the products like Ponto frat cakes very
4:46
popular in the north of England little bit less popular um down in the South but the UK is a relatively small country
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when it comes to preferences and taste certainly when it comes to confectionary so we don't see too much difference on a regional level okay I'd imagine that
5:00
being the boss of Haribo is every seven-year-olds dream being the boss of
5:05
a Sweet Factory do you feel that you're living your seven-year-old dream I think so sometimes yeah I mean we're very
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fortunate to work on what is a fantastic brand um and in a really fun category um
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so the work that we do and we have to remind ourselves sometimes that you know whilst we can be serious about our
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business the category in which we operate um and the products which we're creating are there to create moments of
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joy and fun for people um so you can't really take yourself too seriously when you're thinking about those things and
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developing new products so it's a fantastic category to work on um and it's a great from Brand to be involved
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with as well is that very much part of the culture at harryo then fun whilst obviously being serious about your job
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and you know you're a business you're trying to make money yeah but you got to have a bit of fun at the same time yeah absolutely um childlike happiness is one
5:54
of our core values um and the way that that comes across in our business is we try to see see the world as perhaps a
6:01
child would see it um and perhaps one of the best examples of that and the way we approach it in business is we're
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prepared to try again we don't mind failing we don't mind you know as a kid when you're learning to ride a bike you
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know you fall off you get back on you try again and then once you've mastered that it becomes fun and you really enjoy
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it and that's the kind of spirit we try to encourage everybody at harabo uh to take on you know when they're thinking
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about work try and see it Through The Eyes of a child you know would this be fun is it a nice place to work are there
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are your friends around you you know does it feel like a family uh environment so it's very important to us that we we try and bring that element of
6:38
fun and childlike happiness into the workplac as well and when you tour in the factory you know speaking to your employees cheeky little taste of the
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absolutely yeah well absolutely the best possible product is a fresh tangfastics from the production line because they're
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still a little bit warm and super soft and very fresh and that's one of the absolute treats of being able to uh
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being able to watch around the factory and see everybody I didn't realize that the temperature came was such a big factor it can be yeah all right okay but
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you must have to limit yourself otherwise you'd be enormous if you're having 10 Suites every time you look to the facty floor uh well a little and
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often I think is the is the answer so yes we do we do take our quality very seriously um so that means we have to uh
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we do have to taste the product from time to time as as difficult as that can be for us um and particularly when we're
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developing new products um obviously we're doing quite a lot of taste panels and taste tests um so yeah we we enjoy
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enjoy the product um but um it's a little un often yeah obviously Haribo have got really well established brands
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that you've mentioned a few already but you must always be thinking about new product lines that you can bring in how
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involved are you with that and how do you come up with the new lines uh well Innovation is absolutely the heart of
7:47
the category so consumers are always looking for interesting new shapes flavors textures within confectionary um
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and we run a very a very detailed Innovation pipeline um we look out over
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five years we do an awful lot of consumer research um to try and figure out what it is that consumers really
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want and need in terms of their in terms of the products what are the things that they're interested in what are the interesting flavors that might be coming
8:14
to the for um and there's a continuous process of innovation and Improvement that comes through so we have a nice
8:20
long pipeline we're always looking to bring new products onto the market um in addition to that sometimes we'll we'll
8:26
have a bit of fun which stuff might be on trend um any particular time or there might be seasonal products that we'll
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bring out where we can be I suppose a little bit more fun than the day-to-day Staples so we might bring out a football
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mix for the European Cup or the World Cup um we've had some fun with everything from llamas to owls uh to
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groovy goats you know whatever might be trending at the time yeah um we we will bring out some novelty items I suppose
8:51
to complement the rest of the portfolio how do you invent a new suite you know
8:56
what's that meeting look like look pretty Bonkers well it's done starts it starts with a consumer Insight so we
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spend a lot of time talking to and understanding uh consumers how they're consuming the category what things they
9:08
find interesting what flavors they find interesting and then we map against a whole host of both occasions um so the
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occasions in which people will be consuming uh confectionary and also we look at the types of pack formats that
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they might need um and then we try and spot those gaps in the market where we think there might be an opportunity for
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for Haribo um and we got a wonderful skilled team uh of marketeers um and
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research and insight people and we have our own in-house design team um so when the ideas start to form um the the
9:40
marketing team responsible for that can sit down with our designers and we start to sketch and play and draw um to try
9:47
and design the concept behind behind the products and once we've got an idea um that we think could work um then we'll
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put it out to Consumer Testing we'll ask consumers what do you think about this does it look interesting would you be interested in buying this product um and
10:00
then we develop and refine over over a number of over a number of months actually and sometimes years depending
10:06
on if it requires new technology to produce that product um and so we build that into our pipeline as we go but it's
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you know we have a lot of fun with it as well yes you got see us face yeah what are the consumers saying then what do
10:17
they want from your products I think the most important thing we hear from consumers is that they want great
10:22
tasting product um in any food and drink category people are consuming because
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you know they want stuff to taste great and they want the quality to be first class every time so they're the basic
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fundamentals I think that we have to get right products that are brilliant quality every time they spend their
10:40
hard-earned money on one of our products it has to deliver for them from a quality point of view and secondly they want flavors that they enjoy sometimes
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they might find them interesting or challenging other times they want the you know an old favorite the reassuring Taste of an old favorite Suite yeah um
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and often with sweets as well it can invoke memories um and you can have a product that you might choose to share
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with your family or share with your friends um and that then becomes a shared experience um that helps to uh
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give a little bit more enjoyment I suppose to Any Given occasion is it a challenge to be selling a product which
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is healthwise 100% bad for you you talk about bringing Joy with your products
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and absolutely you have that when you have a suite of from Haribo or any other brand but it's not there's no
11:21
nutritional value in a harrybo suite is there a particular marketing challenge that you come AC up against well take
11:29
the guide from our consumers on that point and what our consumers tell us is that they absolutely understand that
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harabo is a tree there's it's there's no hiding it right you're not having it for dinner um we're not breakfast lunch or
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tea um we are there as a treat um and we're there to um to bring a little bit
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of joy into people's lives and consumers understand that they recognize that um and so the marketing that we do is
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really about helping them to understand the range of products that we've got and the different tastes and profiles and textures um that we put out but as as I
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said consumers understand what we are um and they're happy to you know to purchase on that basis because there's a
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lot of um noise in the news that has been this year and for a number of years about Children's Health children's
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dental hygiene and obviously sweets would not help that but you do have sugar-free
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options people could could buy but um obviously Haribo is not necessarily
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helping that I think what Haribo does is tries to offer Parents Choice um so you're absolutely right we have a range
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of sugar redice product and we also have a really uh important range of portion control products as
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well so we were the one of the first in the UK to bring portion control products and what our consumers again what
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parents tell us is that they're a really easy helpful way to offer a treat without having to be concerned about
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over consumption and so what we're trying to do is is help parents understand uh about the product and give
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them Solutions if they are concerned uh about those topics that we give them a solution that can help them um while
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still being you know able to enjoy the product Andy the category yeah and of course you started off your career uh if
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we can wind the clock back at Heineken yeah as a grad tell me about joining
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hinin as a gr and what your experiences were at the start of your career well when I first started it was uh it was
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Scottish and Newcastle in those days um so it was um yeah I've been in the game it's been almost 30 years so it was a
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long time ago um but Scottish in Newcastle in those days was a very proud
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uh footsy 100 business uh publicly listed um and it was the largest Brewer
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in the UK they just bought courage um and it was at the time of a lot of um merges and Acquisitions within the
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Brewing industry um and I joined um from University uh into a role the first role
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I did there was was in sales um and I thought it was fantastic you know there was this business that were going to
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give me a you know a company car to drive around London um selling beers to
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Independent off licenses and wholesalers and I got a beer allowance so as a fresh phased student coming out of University
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this was absolute manner from I thought was I was delighted to work there yeah absolutely the business was very
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entrepreneurial um in those days um we had some wonderful leadership um with CEOs who really um looked at how we
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could be fast in decision- making but also very customer centered um we spent a lot of our time really listening to
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customers and making sure that we delivered on the needs of those customers and then you course rise
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through the ranks but then you've also worked at the likes of Red Bull as well um tell me about your experience working
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for that brand um your Red Bull opportunity was was really interesting I mean it's a it's a wonderful brand to
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work on there aren't many opportunities I think to work in a business um with a brand of that strength where the
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original founder um is still running the business and that's that's what I found when I joined Red Bull so it was a
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really really exciting time um they obviously revolutionized the soft drinks industry um effectively invented the
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energy drink category um but what was really interesting about that business was that they took a lot of very smart
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people at a very young age um and veloped them very fast um so it was a really exciting environment to work in
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um generally very ambitious um but a lot of very smart people um doing some good
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things so it was a really good fun environment to work in is it fundamentally different selling beers for hon Red Bull cans to selling Haribo
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I think the consumer is different um so I think you have to figure out what are the innate consumer needs at a really
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deep level that drive the consumers of those different categories um and they are very different um I think from a
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consumer point of view from a customer point of view uh how we deal with our trade customers um broadly what they
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need from suppliers are fairly consistent needs and wants you know they want great service great availability
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great products products that sell um and they want good ideas good account management um and they want products
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that are going to help them grow their business as well so from the customer side You could argue that um what
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customers want really is quite similar from different suppliers but I think the consumers are very different and What attracted you to move on to Harry Bay
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well I was looking for um an opportunity perhaps a little bit closer to home um so I've moved up to Yorkshire um was
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looking for an opportunity that would allow me to I suppose be a little bit closer to home but also into a business
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where I felt the values were well suited to what I to what I what I aligned to um
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and an opportunity for for real growth as well Haribo was I think at the start of quite an exciting uh phase of growth
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at that point um so it was a really exciting opportunity to grow and allow the support for that growth to come through you say that Harry's got the
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values that you align to how important is that to you when finding a job is that something you really Research into
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and really consider when when applying for a role um certainly yeah I think um it's really important that you know you
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feel comfortable in the environment that you're working with and that you're working with um with colleagues who you
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know share the same value set as you um and of course it takes time I think to develop that and understand what's
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important to you uh and over time I've been fortunate enough to work in lots of different environments and different
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types of businesses um but I suppose as I look towards um the middle of my career you know I really want to work in
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an environment where the values are shared um and that is an important factor and I think more so now than ever
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actually um the younger people that we see younger colleagues that we see joining the business are looking for
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businesses with the right set of values that align to them um so it's important for us our values are Central to our
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organizational culture um and I think it helps us attract the right talent and the best talent into the business as
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well and what are haro's values then and why are they unique to this company well we have a number of values um that set
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through from the organizations a couple perhaps I've already talked a little bit about um childlike happiness and that's
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probably one of the more unique ones uh that we have Independence is also a very important value for us we are a
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family-owned business um we have no external shareholders and that really sets the tone for how we see the
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business in the long term we can genuinely make decisions for the long-term health of the business and we
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think in Generations not in quarters or years um and that's a very different environment to if you're working in a
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public listed business or a private Equity back business where of course some of the uh goals and targets are a
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little bit more short term we're fortunate in that we we don't have that and so we encourage Independence through
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all of our colleagues we encourage them to think independently to act independently and that also fits with
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the decentralized model that we have in the business as well where you know we encourage the market teams to run their
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own businesses as if they were themselves independent thought um whilst obviously being part of the the harabo
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group we also have trust as a very important value um particularly when
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you're operating a decentralized business you have to implicitly trust the teams that are running those
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businesses right across the world and we take that value from the group and we try to instill that as much as we can
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within the UK organization as well so trust always starts with a first step um
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but our view is always that we trust people we try to empower them to do the right things um and we try to keep out
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of the way as much as we can and let them get on with get on with their job um we don't micromanage we don't
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helicopter over people um the important thing for us is that we you know we hire good people we help them we support them
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but we trust them implicitly to to do the best job that they can every day and that's a really important value that
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sits through our organization that must be very challenging if there's an area of the business that you are responsible
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for and it's not doing as well for whatever reason it must be difficult as the top boss not to helicopter in and
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micromanage and actually live up to those values because whil those values
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are obviously nobody can can uh speak against them it's one thing saying that
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when times are good it's another thing entirely when things are bad it's always difficult um if performance isn't quite
20:02
where we would want it to be um you've got to try and understand and help the teams understand what is the driver of
20:08
that of that performance you know fortunately we're in a position where our performance continues to be good um
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but of course there are occasionally some areas where you might have to go in and ask the right questions but
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generally my experience is that teams recognize themselves where their performance gaps might be in the areas
20:26
that they might need to improve on or the areas that they might need to improve their skill on uh when you ask the right questions I think most people
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will be able to come up with pretty good answers to the areas that they they need to focus on they need to work on yeah um
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and particularly if you spend a lot of time hiring and making sure that people are in the right positions they' given
20:44
the right training the right support you know people come to work to do a great job I don't know anybody that comes
20:50
through our doors every day with the intention of doing something wrong or making a mistake or not performing as best as they can do that day so our job
20:57
as leaders in the organ organization is to try and remove any barriers and help them perform as best as they can every
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day um coming in and trying to tell them how to do their job um you know doesn't
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help doesn't help anybody and certainly my belief is that there are people in in the teams who know the day job far
21:15
better than I do um so it's not my place to come in and try and tell them how to do their day jobs and it sounds like
21:20
that fits your leadership style as well how would you describe it yeah I see myself I have a role in the organization
21:27
as much as anybody else does um and I think as a leader what I try and do is get the right team of people
21:34
together so that we have a strategy that everybody understands that's well communicated through the organization um
21:40
and then really I try and stay out of the way as much as I possibly can I see my role ideally as someone who can
21:46
support someone who can coach someone who can bring people or teams together um if we're not quite aligned on a
21:52
certain area or we need uh some support um then I can come in and and try and help people to do that but it's very
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much um very much a hands-off style I firmly believe in letting people get on with their jobs and really my role is is
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one to help them coach them support them listen to them um and try and help them deliver on their goals um every day that
22:13
they come to work of course you joined harryo not in the top job you got promoted to it tell me about that
22:19
process was it a tap on the shoulder was it a a formal interview process was it interviews and tests and taste tests you
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have to come up did you have to come up with a site a new suite yourself was it like The Apprentice what was what was it like uh no it wasn't really like that
22:32
when I first joined harabo there was um there was a very rigorous uh there was a very rigorous process rigorous
22:37
assessment process as you would expect joining a a company blind taste test
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there was there was no tasting there was no tasting involved um but actually I got the opportunity to meet lots of people in the organization both in the
22:49
UK and also um at a global level which was fantastic and there was quite a rigorous process when I first joined the
22:56
business um the changing role came about because um the previous leader of the
23:02
the UK organization was promoted up to the group level up to the global level um he had hired me into the UK business
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I'd worked quite closely with him um so he was well aware of of me and what I stood for and my
23:14
capability um so I think at that stage there wasn't really a need for any more formal interviews it would have been I
23:20
think quite a weird setup to suddenly go from working together to suddenly being interviewed um by uh by someone that I'd
23:26
worked closely with uh for some time but of course there were conversations um around how I would approach the role U
23:33
what my vision for the role would be and um I had some discussions again with with colleagues at a group uh level as
23:39
well before I before I took the role on with your time obviously joining
23:45
Harry Bay and becoming the the managing director of the UK arm it's your first job right at the top of an organization
23:51
when you first took that on obviously you've been in the job for a few years now what was it like adjusting to being
23:57
the person that everybody reports to being that ultimate responsibility well
24:03
I think the way the way I've tried to set up the leadership team is that as I said we we work on a Collegiate basis so
24:09
we work as a team so I don't really see it quite that way actually I think um
24:14
there's lots of functions who report into functional leaders um and together as a leadership team we try and run the
24:20
business together as one team um but I think one of the most challenging things is you know when you've grown up in one
24:26
particular function you obviously de Vel um a lot of experience in that one function and then you find yourself I
24:34
guess responsible for some other areas of the business areas where you you don't have any functional expertise yeah um and that's where I think it's much
24:41
more challenging as a leader but it forces you actually to lead in a different way um for example you know if
24:47
I take HR I'm not an HR Specialist or an HR professional um so I can't lead that
24:52
team in the same way that I might lead a commercial team where I've grown up through my career so actually what I
24:59
talked earlier about my style of leadership comes from the fact that you have to entrust the experts to get on
25:04
with their job um because I can't be an expert in every function yeah you know I have to let the leaders and the and the
25:10
people in those teams uh run their run their functions as best as they see fit did you always plan to be a top boss of
25:17
a company or is it something that organically happened in your career and
25:22
the opportunities fallen in front of you but it was never the ultimate goal yeah
25:27
I don't think I ever had a sort of written career path in that sense I know some people have said if you write these
25:33
things down they're more likely to happen I'm not sure I was that well organized in the early part of my career to be honest um you know I think I think
25:40
if if I go back to my perhaps my school days and my parents would tell you I was never very good at being told what to do
25:46
um so I think perhaps having the opportunity to work independently is what drove me more than a job title or a
25:52
position um I've always enjoyed roles where I can work independently um the
25:57
most um but these opportunities fall into place there was no there was no grand plan yeah um and I've always been
26:05
very happy doing the jobs that I've done over the years and I've I've always firmly believed that the first job if
26:11
you do want to develop your career the first thing you have to do is be as good as you can be at the job you've got and not worry too much about what might come
26:17
next um and I think that's probably good advice that served me okay so far yes you're not done too bad to be fair by
26:24
following that advice um obviously we've talked about you having the occasion Suite from the production line when
26:29
you're going around the factory but apart from that what would you say is the best thing about your job right now
26:35
uh I think it's the variety and being able to work with different teams right across the organization um and I know
26:41
it's a cliche and lots of people who sat in this chair have said it before but generally know two days of the same um
26:47
and so it's the opportunity to work with lots of different teams to develop and grow the business um we've recently
26:53
started to roll out a chain of our own shops um that's a completely different part of the business that's opened up a
26:59
whole new opportunity for for the brand but it's also enabled us to develop a whole new uh team of people so we've
27:05
been inviting people with a specialism in retail into the business and that's new and they've got new ideas and
27:11
thoughts about the harabo brand and the business that we're operating um so I think you know the best part is really
27:17
the variety of it and the chance to work with so many different people um who've all got lots of passion and lots of
27:23
enthusiasm for for the products that we sell you probably guess what's coming now not every job is perfect what is the
27:30
worst aspect of your job the worst aspect of my job I've I mean it's a difficult question um I generally don't
27:37
think there are too many worst aspects of my job I'm very fortunate um there something that's a particular challenge
27:44
I think that you know the difficult things are always I think um when it comes to business planning it's always tricky um so we're trying to manage I
27:52
guess external stakeholders um and the owners of the business and the ambition that we have and the ambition that they
27:57
have for the business and that always takes a little bit of alignment uh to get right um and I find doing probably
28:03
more interesting than planning um so yeah maybe that's one area where um you know it takes a little bit more thought
28:10
than the day job uh very well navigated by the way um looking back over your
28:15
career to date um almost three decades or so is there something that stands out
28:21
as your biggest success something you're most proud of um I think there are
28:26
different bits in across the different careers um that I've had in the different organizations that I've had
28:31
but if I look back at my time um so far at harabo I think there's a talked earlier the creation and the start and
28:37
the roll out of our retail business um I think has been a big change for the organization um and I think it will
28:44
create a long-term lasting change for the organization and that you know to be
28:50
able to be a part of something right at the start and to help develop that that business unit um it's one thing that
28:56
I'll look back on I think and and always be proud of and again looking back over the whole of
29:01
your career so far is there something that stands out that you maybe could
29:06
have done better looking back there's there's maybe a tinge of regret that you could have performed better and got a better outcome sometimes I think um it's
29:14
always interesting when you look back on on careers and try and figure out what could I do differently I think you know every day I reflect there's probably
29:20
things you know that I could have done differently or I could have done better every single day actually and every day is an opportunity to learn um and
29:27
develop I think in the past certainly in my early days I was probably I could have been too optimistic um perhaps a
29:33
little bit too challenging sometimes um and uh you know it's difficult when you're ambitious and optimistic and you
29:40
want to move at a really fast pace um sometimes you have to temper that with a little bit of a little bit of realism um
29:46
so I like to think that I probably not slowed down too much but I think I'm probably a little bit more realistic now
29:52
than perhaps I was when I started about the pace of achievement and the pace of change um that you can put through organization is that a bit of advice
29:59
that you'd give your younger self then if you could go back in the time machine and talk to that young John who was just
30:04
starting out at um your first job out of university is that the bit of advice that you you'd given I think so um I
30:11
think the advice I give myself if I was looking back um would be yeah don't you
30:16
don't need to be in such a rush um you can take your time uh to back yourself and always to remember that you're not
30:22
always right about everything and I think one of the things I've I've learned over the years is it's
30:28
perfectly possible for two people to be completely right about the best way to solve a problem um there are different
30:34
paths that you can take to solve problems um and quite a lot in my experience in the past any tension in
30:40
organizations has been when people become quite dogmatic about what they believe is the right way to do things um
30:46
so I think taking a pragmatic approach um and as I said earlier trusting people to do what they think is right um is a
30:53
really interesting lesson to learn as well uh but obviously you got all sorts of uh job opportunities at Haribo on the
31:00
factory floor you could be part of the management like like yourself if I joined Haribo on the factory floor is it
31:06
possible for me to rise up to take your position is there a career path that somebody can go on yeah AB absolutely I
31:13
mean one of the things we're very passionate about is our role within the local community um really encouraging uh
31:20
people who live in the local community and particularly um the children coming out of local schools to think about a
31:27
career uh with with our business um and we're very embedded as I said into the local community we have generations of
31:33
the same family uh working for us in various different roles of you know fathers Fathers and Sons mothers and
31:39
daughters and cousins and uncles all over the organization um from the part of West Yorkshire uh where we are and
31:47
absolutely we bring people in we have a very um very a very busy Apprentice
31:52
scheme we have lots of schemes on the shop floor and it's absolutely possible for people to rise up through the
31:58
organization with the training that we give and the opportunities that we give for people to take any role that they
32:04
want within the organization um and we have we have a lady at the moment who's running our Castleford Factory uh which
32:10
is our new plant that we opened in 2015 uh she's been with the organization 20 years she started a temp a summer
32:17
temp in the factory um and she's now running that factory running that site um as a senior leader in our
32:23
organization so we absolutely believe um that people can can can come up through the organization uh and take whatever
32:30
role whatever role they they want to do and what I always remember is everybody started somewhere um you know as I said
32:36
earlier my my my first job in this industry my very first job was was a paper boy you know I worked on the tills
32:41
in sainsbury for a while I worked in McDonald's as a student um and I've been given the opportunity uh to take
32:49
different responsibilities and bigger jobs through my career um and it's really important to me that we offer
32:54
those same opportunities for people and particularly for local people um in the community of West Yorkshire where we are
33:00
um it is tough from a job's point of view um it is difficult in that part of the world so it's really important that
33:07
we support people through their career Journeys through the right training and opportunity that we can provide um and I
33:12
work very closely with the local schools I'm a trustee of the local multi-academy schools trust um and we do a lot of
33:18
Outreach work on early careers with people locally so they can understand that they can have a really great
33:24
fulfilling career um with harabo um but they can stay local in the local community if that's what they want to do
33:30
oh if you did have somebody coming from the local community that just come out of college just come out of University and the first job is with Haribo and you
33:38
spoke to them on their first day what's the bit of advice that you'd give to them uh be curious go and find out as
33:44
much as you can about the organization about the people within it um ask as many questions as you possibly can um
33:52
and just soak it all in don't rush um to to try and find Solutions or change the
33:59
world just really go out and be inquisitive and explore the business and the various different parts of the
34:04
business um and then you can start to formulate your own views and your own opinions when when someone joins a
34:10
business for the very first time they have an absolute unique value to our business because they're seeing our
34:16
business through fresh eyes and that you can only do that once um once you've
34:22
been in the business for 6 months or 6 years or 30 years or 50 years like some of our colleagues have you you have
34:28
become you know a harabo y at that point you are you are embedded okay so you you see it through the lens of harabo but
34:34
the first day you walk through you have a unique perspective on the organization and I that's a really important
34:41
perspective that we have to capture um because we learn so much from new people joining the organization and they may
34:46
see things well that's a bit odd why do you why do you do it that way they might be absolutely right we've just done it
34:52
that way because that's the way we've always done it and no one's questioned it until they walk through the door that day and and ask that question
34:58
so curiosity and asking questions is the key for me and that's how we can get you know amazing value from people when they
35:05
first join the organization that's the best gift they can give us actually on their first day um is to is to be
35:10
observant and ask questions okay and um har in the UK has had a couple of years
35:18
of record sales you know back to back what's behind that recent financial success for you is there something
35:25
that's changed something that you've done well we've put in place uh we put in place a growth strategy um a few
35:30
years ago um and that really centered on you know a number of key drivers but I
35:35
think what we try to do is as I said deliver on that consumer need really
35:41
understanding consumers at a deep level um and producing great quality products
35:47
that we know they're going to love um at great value for money um you know it's been a tough few years for the UK
35:53
consumer and we offer fantastic quality products at great value for money and I believe that if you really understand
35:59
the consumer and give the consumer what they want you will be rewarded in the long run um and I think that's what
36:05
we're seeing coming through in the performance and results uh of the brand is that you know the the the love that
36:10
consumers have for our products and the brand is really coming through and coupled with that we have a fantastic
36:17
team and everybody from our production team in our new Factory who's improving all of the time and we're expanding
36:23
capacity we're investing in the site um in new production lines uh we're just building a a new Warehouse right now to
36:30
try and expand production further um so that is meeting the consumer need and
36:35
then the Fantastic teams that work right across the business are just doing a better job every day um and thankfully
36:41
consumers are rewarding us um by spending their hard earned money on our products yeah and you obviously been
36:46
boosted over the last couple of years with the record sales as we just outlined but the aftershocks of the
36:52
budget are still being felt businesses across the country are looking at the detail and seeing how
36:58
it's going to affect them the one of the biggest things is the increase in employer National Insurance
37:04
contributions you employ hundreds of people across your sites but then also like any M manufacturing business you've
37:10
got a supply chain as well what's the impact of that hike on Haribo in the UK
37:17
well I think um it's still quite early days uh for us to try and assess what's come uh what's coming out of the budget
37:22
and what this new Administration really wants to do but what I think is really interesting about
37:28
um the new government and what they're trying to put forward is this Mission Le approach to support businesses um and
37:34
let's see let's see what policies come forward on that I think it's exciting for us because you know food and drink
37:40
is the biggest manufacturing industry in the UK it employs nearly half a million
37:46
people it's about 38 billion of value um and it's an industry that has had
37:51
challenges in the past from policies over successive governments actually that have been uh perhaps not as well
37:58
coordinated as they could have been um and I think what this new government gives is an opportunity to have really
38:03
coordinated growth-led policies and so we're looking forward actually to seeing what that growth strategy and Industrial
38:10
strategy is going to look like uh when we're ready to play our part um in keeping a thriving food and drink
38:16
manufacturing sector alive not just in UK but particularly in in West Yorkshire where we operate so you're not too
38:21
concerned about the increase in costs that your business and your suppliers will will face over the next year or so
38:27
we've seen cost increases come and go over the years um our job is to try and navigate that as best as we can um
38:34
what's important for us as I said is that we continue to offer great value for our consumers and that's our intention and tell me about the future
38:41
of Haribo in the UK then we touched on previously about the retail stores and expanding into that in a bit more is
38:47
that really going to continue into the future you're going to open even more stores across the UK yeah we've got a
38:52
plan to open uh more stores in the coming years uh I think we're taking it um I would say fairly steady yeah so
39:00
we're opening you know around two two stores a year something like that and we've done that over the last few years so we have uh we have the next uh next
39:07
two stores in the pipeline ready to go um so they'll be opening um in the coming months and really then the future
39:13
from there is around investment um as I said into our into our factoring Castleford we're we're building a new
39:18
Warehouse uh at the moment we've got another new production line plan to go into that site next year um and that is
39:25
to continue to produce Innovative products so we've got some fantastic new products uh that will be hitting the
39:31
market next year we're really excited about those uh and we're looking forward to I suppose delivering on that
39:37
Innovation pipeline um and pushing the real Haribo experience that we can do through our own Stores um into a few
39:44
more places uh across the UK next year brilliant John thank you very much for coming on boardroom and covers thank you
39:50
cheers thank you [Music]
40:04
[Music]
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