CPG Innovation Podcast

In today’s episode, I speak with Trent Jackson, founder and consultant at Tango Packaging, a company focused on providing premium and sustainable solutions to CPG brands. In today’s conversation, Trent shares about his journey over the last 10 years as he built Tango Packaging with a holistic perspective - carrying the belief that through hands-on, creative problem solving, it is possible to cut costs, improve product sustainability, and increase sales. We discuss how the recent global supply-chain issues have affected the packaging industry and driven innovation. He speaks about the fragmentation in the packaging space and offers a fresh perspective on what is possible when you approach problems as opportunities that need creative solutions. Finally, we discuss sustainability, and he shares his thoughts on how to move the packaging industry towards a more circular economy.You can learn more about Tango Packaging at: https://www.tangopackaging.com/

In today’s episode, I speak again with Melanie Bartelme, Associate Director, Mintel Food & Beverage, where she provides insights on global innovation and consumer trends across a number of food categories, including produce, pasta and grains. At Mintel, Melanie co-created the annual US Flavor and Ingredient Trends, which spotlight the cuisine types and ingredients that are growing on restaurant menus and on grocery shelves. In this conversation, we discuss how companies build consumer trust through labeling. We also touch on the increased consumer desire for transparency around food sourcing, and how this impacts consumer trust of a company. Finally, we talk about where trust fits in consumers’ decisions about which products to buy, and how rapidly the shopping experience is changing.

In today’s episode, we speak with Barnett Sporkin-Morrison, a Wyoming native who lives with his wife and three kids outside of the rural-American town of Choteau (show-doe), Montana. Barnett holds a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business: International Agriculture from the University of Wyoming in the United States. Following his graduate studies, he spent nearly seven years with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service - serving in Washington, D.C. and at the U.S. Embassy, Guatemala City. He is the Founder and Principal Consultant of the Rostov-Moray Group (www.rostovmoray.com), an agile consulting firm focused on helping clients develop strategies and refine ideas to achieve long-lasting success that produces economic, environmental, and social benefits.

Today we hear Kate’s journey of founding Stay Tray and her company's commitment to sustainability. She shares how technology helped her company gain credibility in the market and tangibly quantify the product’s sustainability claims. Finally, we discuss her commitment towards helping “people and planet” and how that affects each decision made as she builds her company. You can learn more about Stay Tray at: https://staytray.com.au/

In this episode, we talk about the innovation process on the R&D team Al leads, the inflection point at which Ken’s Foods made the switch into PLM technology, and Al shares how a company with such a rich history continues to innovate while maintaining loyalty to the brand and quality in the products they produce. Al’s experience and insight in the Research and Development space offer a unique glimpse at the innovation process of a large CPG company.You can learn more about Ken’s Foods at: https://www.kensfoods.com

Guest Bios:Dr. Simon LockreyDr Simon Lockrey is a leading sustainability and design innovation researcher, having been based at RMIT since 2009. The domains in which Dr Lockrey has managed research include life cycle assessment (LCA), co-design, design innovation, green marketing, resource efficiency, sustainability strategy, tool development, and food waste. As a result, he has generated millions of dollars of ‘industry-facing’ research, creating global impact through policy change, commercial innovation outcomes, media coverage, and quality academic publications. Dr Lockrey has worked with global and nationally significant companies, including CHEP, Visy, Nestlé, Lendlease, Costa, Grocon, and Breville. Relevant government and NGO projects have also ensued, with Sustainability Victoria, various Environmental Protection Agencies, Australian Fresh Produce Alliance, Australian Food and Grocery Council, Australia Post, Australian Antarctic Division, Uniting AgeWell, and Meat and Livestock Australia. He also sits currently as Vice President of Automotive Historians Australia and on the boards of Glowpear and the International Sustainable Development Research Society. Dr Lockrey is now a key leader in the Fight Food Waste CRC, serving as the REDUCE Program Leader in an interim capacity. Dr. Steven Lapidge Dr Steven Lapidge is the inaugural CEO of the Fight Food Waste Ltd, which incorporates the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and Stop Food Waste Australia. He has spent most of his 20-year career working for or with agricultural and environmental CRC’s, with a strong focus on new product development, commercialisation, extension and adoption. Steven led the development of the Fight Food Waste CRC bid when working for the South Australian Research & Development Institute, a division of Primary Industries & Regions South Australia. In recent years he has represented Australia at G20, OECD, FAO, APEC and other international food waste forums. He is a member of the G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) Food Loss/Waste Working Group, the National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study Project Advisory Group and a Professional Member and former Non-Executive Director of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Steven’s qualifications include a PhD (Sydney Uni) and an MBA (Uni SA). He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, European Summer School for Advanced Management (Aarhus Uni, Denmark), Golden Key International Honour Society, and a Fulbright Professional Business/Industry Fellow.

You can learn more about what Melanie and her colleagues have been researching in Mintel’s Global Food and Drink Trends 2021.