The Top 10 COVID-era shifts in Food & Drink Retail

As an industry we’re adjusting to a COVID-era normal that will be with us for months and years to come, in this session we explore the biggest shifts in Food & Drink Retail and the likely manifestations.

Host: Soraya Gadelrab, Portfolio Director, Montgomery Group

Speaker: Charles Banks, Co-Founder, thefoodpeople

Charles is a Co Founder, a fourth-generation foodie, an expert in food futures and a ‘champion of change’. Cooking at his mother's side in the kitchen is where Charles' obsession for food began!

He and his business thefoodpeople are known for shifting the future of food and drink by harnessing the power of trends. Charles has spent the past 25 years in the food industry working across all sectors including food service, fine dining, hotels, food brands and food retailing.

thefoodpeople, established for over 15 years, are a global trends business, specialising in future foresight in the food and beverage sector. A united group of trend spotters and innovators, we are a team of psychologists, chefs, marketeers, product developers, academics, flavourists, historians and anthropologists. But more than that TFP are ‘champions of change’ that bring their inherent experience, as well as an obsession for food and drink, natural curiosity, intuition and tenacity. This is underpinned by our vision ‘to shift the future of food and drink’. What drives us is our desire to shape a better future across society by harnessing the power of trends.

Charles adds “The reason that “thefoodpeople” exists is because we’ve been in your shoes. We know what it is like; we know it’s not easy identifying and activating trends. It’s a fact that consumers are moving faster than industry, so decoding your businesses place on the future horizon and designing brilliant but nimble business models, strategies, and developing deep, value-based connections with consumers are essential traits of innovators both today and tomorrow. So, do the most powerful thing a business can do – champion & harness change, don’t let it harnesses you.”