Chris Ormrod: Managing Director at The Flavourworks

In this instalment of Business Leader Insight, we were honoured
to talk to Chris Ormrod, Managing Director at The Flavourworks.
Originally trained as an actor, Chris joined Mars as a salesman
straight from university and subsequently worked for Haagen-Dazs,
Ginsters, Findus and Virgin in a variety of sales and marketing
roles.


When Chris joined The Flavourworks was supplying several of the
UK’s big supermarkets, but it needed to develop new sales
initiatives to really grow. Fast forward to today and the changes
he has made have increased sales substantially. It is forecasting
more than +10% sales growth over the next 12 months, from new
initiatives launched this year. This will have the effect of
almost doubling its underlying operating profit. In 2020 it
launched 50% more new lines than the previous year.


Chris currently chairs Somerset Larder, a start-up business
providing all of the catering for Hinkley Point C, and is Chair
of Governors at a Somerset academy school and a Director of the
Richard Huish Education Group. One of Chris’s wider ambitions is
to make the food industry more attractive to school leavers and
graduates, with a properly developed and supported career
path.

Here's a breakdown of what we discussed in the interview:


Can you give us an overview of the business and what The
Flavourworks does? (1:20)

Can you tell us about your career as a business leader and
how it has evolved over the years? (2:24)

You were on the team that created Virgin Cola. What was it
like working with Richard Branson? (5:04)

Can you talk more about the sale of your previous business
Ministry of Cake in 2017? How did you find the process of selling
and exiting the business? (6:00)

How is the pandemic impacting your business? (11:01)

Are you in a growth mindset, such as looking at how to expand
and invest in the business? (15:34)

How are you seeing food habits evolve? (18:31)

How have you found the last few years with Brexit looming and
are you fully prepared as a business for a potential no-deal
scenario? (22:37)

Regarding skills – is there a challenge with attracting local
talent to work in the food and drink manufacturing sector, as
opposed to hiring workers from Europe? (25:58)

What advice would you give to entrepreneurs operating in the
food and drink space as it’s highly competitive? (29:34)

Final word from Chris (32:02)



Check our Virtual Events page for upcoming
Business Leader Insight interviews.


Be sure to subscribe to the Business Leader YouTube channel for
more interviews with some of the UK’s leading business figures.


A special thanks to Arbuthnot Latham for sponsoring this edition
of Business Leader Insight.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.