Katherine Rich’s first-ever memory of the FGC was bumping into the mighty Brenda Cutress in the corridor of Parliament when she was an MP about 20 years ago. When first stepping into her role as Chief Executive Officer, she considered ten years of service. Still, she doubted following Brenda’s incredible 20 years. Now 13 years have flown by as the role kept changing and expanding into exciting new areas. When it was decided to step up advocacy for a Grocery Code, Rich wanted to ensure it was achieved before passing the baton.
The great people within the FGC membership who were experts in their fields and gave time as volunteers served as inspiration for her work in the FGC. In particular, each Chair’s leadership, knowledge and humour (because having a sense of humour is a must to chairing any industry body).
“I can’t thank Peter McClure, George Adams, Pierre van Heerden, Veronique Cremades, Tim Deane and Mike Pretty enough for their support and friendship,” said Rich.
One of the most significant challenges Rich feels she faced was the handful of retail and company leaders who took FGC’s advocacy personally and did not understand the role of an industry association to be a strong voice for members and raise issues. On the flip side, some did absolutely understand the role of an advocacy body, and she did appreciate the professional and respectful way that Spencer Sonn, Steve Mills and the rest of the Woolworths’ team conducted themselves during the Commerce Commission process.
“They put forward strong arguments and professional submissions in a respectful way and did not (as far as I experienced) apply pressure on me, the board or other suppliers. They were a class act.”
Rich looks forward to watching how the Fair Trading Act, Commerce Act, Grocery Code and the establishment of a grocery regulator will unfold within the industry. She believed it would remain a challenging market because the duopoly structure remains and still has the power to force suppliers to accept arrangements that would not be accepted in a competitive market. The new rules will introduce some significant limits to that power, but business will always be challenging. Suppliers will still have to work hard to innovate, be on top of their numbers, and compete ferociously with their peers. Suppliers will still have to have courageous conversations and raise concerns directly and failing that with the new Grocery Regulator.
“I will watch from the sidelines the continued rollout of Foodstuffs North Island’s new buying model, which continues to forge ahead at speed.”
The new model’s mantra is ‘customer and insights-driven,’ yet feedback from members is unanimous that the only number that matters is the margin. For many, the ‘Emperor has no clothes’ moment occurred when the most popular products in a category were deleted. There have been some reports of decisions being made to do the opposite of consumer insights and customer preferences.
“It will be interesting to see if the streamlining of New Worlds through the reduction of consumer choice with the deletion of popular brands and margin-determined planograms makes customers believe where they shop is more suitable,” said Rich.
“In the meantime, Countdown is hoovering up business with suppliers who report it is great to deal with, has a clear plan, and is executing at store level. As a member said last week of Countdown, ‘They negotiate hard, but you know a deal is a deal, and they do what they say they will do. If you invest, you know you will get a return, and if something goes wrong, they fix it.’ Quite the contrast from 2014.”
Rich does not doubt that Raewyn Bleakley will be a great leader of the FGC and a strong advocate for members. She has known Bleakley for over 20 years and holds her in the highest regard, as do many Wellington circles. Her advice was to embark on a visits programme to meet as many members as possible and to listen to what they’d like to see as part of a refreshed FGC agenda. The best ideas for new projects always come from members. They are the ones who determine the shopping list for effort and delivery.
“I’ve ticked off the shopping list members gave me, and now it’s time for members to consider what it is they’d like to see over the next decade. I encourage all members to reach out to her and let them know what’s important to them. I am confident she will be able to encourage current freeloaders, such as Mars, to re-join FGC to contribute to the New Zealand industry’s work on sustainability, packaging, obesity, and other industry-wide initiatives.”
What will Rich miss most about the role? New innovations from FGC members came to mind, but most importantly, she will miss the people, “The people, the people, the people.”It has been a privilege for her to work alongside the FGC team of Carole Inkster, Brent Webling and Kira Mikelatos for more than a decade.
There are no concrete plans set for Rich as she moves forward. She suspects joining a firm and continuing working on things of interest alongside and spending more time with family is in her future. An FGC member has already asked her for help on a few projects, so that should keep her out of mischief before heading to Stewart Island for a holiday.
On a final note, Rich said:
“I would like to thank Tania Walters, Sarah Mitchell and the team at Review Publishing for their support and passion for the industry. Tania’s work being a champion for New Zealand artisans is tireless. Once again, I would like to acknowledge the passing of the great Peter Mitchell. I so miss his one-line emails that never minced words; what a privilege to have worked with him and other great members who sadly passed away during my time as CEO, such as John Macdonald, Baden Ngan Kee, Adrian Cook, Debbie Herbert, and Janine Holt. Gone, but never forgotten!"
