Manny Picciola is the Managing Director at L.E.K. Consulting in Chicago. During his 15+ year consulting career, Mr. Picciola has managed and executed client engagements spanning Corporate Growth Strategy, Business Design, Mergers & Acquisitions support, Integration, and Operations Improvement. You can read more about Manny on our HPP Summit speakers page.
Q: Consumer preferences continue to change the complexion of food and its delivery. What’s the most dramatic change you’ve seen when it comes to consumer interest in foods and beverages?
A: The biggest change is food has become a core part of our identity. We Instagram, post and blog about our food experiences. We self-identify with a movement beyond a dietary restriction. For consumers, buying organic, paleo, or sustainably sourced is a manifestation of our belief systems.
Q: Are big brands and challenger brands taking similar or different approaches to address new preferences?
Big brands have awoken to the consumer movement in food and are now putting far more energy in to meeting consumer needs. Despite having significantly more resources, they are challenged by organizational models that favor status quo non-disruptive innovation.
Q: What’s the main thing you take away from Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods?
Amazon is serious about grocery and food and will not be content with a small share of the $1.6 trillion market. I suspect this isn’t the last move we will see from Amazon in this space.
Q: When and where did you first start seeing a surge in interest of fresh and cleaner-label foods?
The UK. Marks & Spencers, Tesco, Waitrose and others have had three times the refrigerated space and one-fourth of the freezer space compared to American grocery stores. They have really shown how a fresh proposition can meet consumers’ needs for convenience without sacrificing quality.
Q: HPP has been forecasted to become a $20 billion market by 2020. Do you think that number is still likely?
I will say that HPP continues to be the most economical method of delivering a fresh proposition at a national scale. I continue to be bullish that the ecosystem delivering the HPP proposition will continue to innovate and deliver new foods to meet consumers’ needs.
You can read previous Q&A sessions on our News and Resources page. Stay tuned for additional sessions to follow.
