Elodie Chavagneux

Being born and raised in France, how did you come to work in procurement in the UK?

Since I was a child, my parents have been running the same lovely restaurant called "Au Relais de la Truyère" near Montézic in France. Unbeknown to me at the time this sowed the seed for my interest in procurement – I remember my parents were always trying to source the finest ingredients at the lowest price and they worked hard to foster great relationships with their suppliers. Our house speciality is 'Truffade' - potato gratin with aromatic local cheese melted on top. As part of my Masters degree in Logistics & Procurement I did a summer internship in field sales in the South of France. In truth I hated the sales side of it but loved the negotiation part. The commercial acumen I learnt helped me land my first proper job working for Danone. Danone cemented my love of the food sector and led onto my current job at innocent drinks.

Tell us about your role

I am biased but I think I have the best job in the world leading the fruit procurement for innocent drinks. We have around 80 fruits and ingredients in total, sourced from 40 suppliers. I'm fortunate to have a talented and energetic team of seven people. Sourcing high quality fruit keeps us on our toes as harvests can be highly variable. Our biggest challenge is getting the right amount of stock – neither being short or long. The best part of the job is when we are boots on the ground, in the fields with the farmers. I will always remember my first fruit trip in Poland. I would have never imagined how much fruit and vegetables are grown there. It was also incredible to see the passion and knowledge of the farmers.

What is the most interesting procurement adventure you have had?

Every fruit has its own unique story. There are three fruits that capture my imagination above all others: Pineapple is the first stand out fruit for me. We buy ours mainly from Costa Rica. When I first saw how it grows, I couldn't believe it! Contrary to what some people think, pineapples don't grow on trees — they grow out of the ground, from a leafy plant. On the subject of tropical fruits we source our passion fruit from Ecuador. Passion fruit is best suited to smallholder farming. Farmers typically grow it as an additional crop to their mainstay of cocoa. Whereas passionfruit available at the supermarkets is the purple variety, Ecuador grows yellow passion fruit. It's more acidic than the purple variety and a superb contrast to the mango we blend it with. Not one of our biggest buys, but I loved sourcing goji berries from China. China is different and I realised that the rules I learned in Europe wouldn't necessarily work in China. Patience is key and you need to spot when a 'YES' from a supplier may not actually be a 'YES'. A good book to read before a trip overseas is "The Culture Map" by Erin Meyer.

What advice would you give to any company launching a supply security programme?

3 things: 1. Keep it simple – There may be many risks with different severity and likelihood ratings. Log them, quantify them and rank them. Then select the 5 key ones to focus on. 2. Review regularly – risks never stop changing so review your risk log at a suitable frequency. 3. Governance – ensure there is the right governance process in place to marshal resources to where it's needed most. Be prepared for risks to play out! It's all too easy to think 'our suppliers won't catch fire'. But it happened to us when a key supplier's freezer had a major fire!

What does sustainable sourcing mean to you?

Sustainable sourcing is when there is a good balance between cost and sustainability and procurement acts as a force for good. The triangle of the company, the consumer and the supplier need to be equally well balanced. At innocent, typical projects we are proud of: Mango (India): We worked with mango farmers to teach them sustainable methods that save water and improve chemical application. Farmers who grew their mangoes sustainably saw 48% higher yields. Strawberries (Spain): We source strawberries near the Donana National Park. Working with the University of Cordoba, we proved it was possible to grow strawberries using 10-40% less water. By 2014 we'd reached over 300 farmers and saved 500 million litres of water a year. Baobab (Zimbabwe): We source baobab from Zimbabwe and have invested in supporting 30 children across 3 schools with financial, material and emotional support, including bicycles to reduce distances to school.

What are your 3 top tips to creating a high-performing procurement team?

1. Trust, trust, trust 2. Humility 3. Communication And I try to hire people better than me to make an even stronger team. This of course requires a high level of trust.

What is the most successful achievement you have ever had in procurement?

It comes back to the 3PL warehouse fire we had. We didn't short a single customer of stock. We worked tirelessly with the warehouse provider and all the suppliers who were storing our fruit there to get back on track. Once we'd established no-one was hurt, we went into crisis management mode and pulled together to work through all the issues. What we learned from this experience was invaluable for navigating through Covid.

What makes you tick?

I love to travel and I've really missed it during the last 18 months. I'm super-curious especially learning about new countries and cultures. I was fortunate to spend 1 year studying in Taiwan in 2008. What surprised me most was the pre-conception you can have about a country (positive or negative) and how, spending time there, learning the language, the culture but also people habits will help you to really understand the real "face" of a country. To wind down I like to read. Three favourite books are: 1. A Promised Land - Barack Obama 2. Doughnut Economics – Kate Raworth 3. Never Split the Difference – Chris Voss

What 3 world leaders would you like to have dinner with and why?

Barack Obama - for never giving up and always staying himself despite the challenges he has faced throughout his career. Winston Churchill - for his charisma, presence and determination ("never never never give up"). Also, I am passionate about the WWII and I would love him to tell me his part of the story. Lewis Pugh - amazing resilience and champion in preserving the oceans.

Rapid fire

French Peaches or English Strawberries?

French peaches

Greta Thunberg or David Attenborough?

David Attenborough

Arctic Swim or Jungle Camping?

Jungle camping