Driving Innovation with Claire Hughes

This episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast features the wonderful Claire Hughes, Director of Product Development & Innovation at Sainsbury's. She joins us to talk about squiggly career development, balancing innovation and commercial success in NPD, the benefits of the Sainsbury’s Thrive programme and how she feels about the future of the food industry. Listen out for her thoughts on the new Sainsbury’s mince packaging too! Claire begins by telling us how moved over to the food industry from her start in parasitology (once she told us what parasitology is!). We go over some of the many challenges that NPD teams deal with on the long road to taking a product to the shelves and Claire explains why not every food product launch should be a commercial success. You’ll hear her advice for food start-up brands and what Sainsbury’s is doing to promote sustainability and healthy eating in the UK food industry. Listen to the end to find out how she balances the demands of her job around her own well-being. Conversations like this are why we launched the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast and we love connecting with other passionate people who are shaking up the food industry. If you’d like to hear more episodes featuring fabulous food industry guests, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a colleague to spread the word.  Timestamps[0:45] Welcome to the podcast, Claire Hughes! [3:40] How Claire moved from parasitology to nutrition to the food industry, with a few other jobs in between![8:55] Switching over to Sainsbury’s[12:01] Connecting the dots in product development[16:30] How do you build better relationships with your manufacturers?[18:42] “It’s also about the commerciality” [20:44] Innovation vs commercial success[22:04] Getting the whole team on board with a new food product [26:26] Claire’s advice for food start-up brands[33:08] What new brands get out of the Sainsbury’s Thrive programme [36:48] Getting the lowdown on the Sainsbury’s packaging changes[40:20] What else is Sainsbury’s doing for sustainability? [43:42] Our relationship with healthy eating and the food system[46:41] Approaching the problem from a collaborative angle [48:54] “Scare-cited”: How Claire feels about the future [50:37] How Claire manages her own well-being and her demanding job [55:07] Claire’s career advice [56:34] Where to go to get in touch with Claire Links and ResourcesOur previous episode of Mindfulness with Amy PollyClaire Hughes on LinkedInIf you’d like to know more about today’s sponsor, find them online at: DaymerDaymer on LinkedInDaymer on TwitterEmail: web@daymer.comYou can follow us here on instagramIf you would like further support with myself, Amy for food industry coaching and facilitation find me here on instagram or LinkedInFor food industry Consulting from Lucy you can find her here on instagram or LinkedInSee you next time!