- What's your role at Universal and what does a typical day look like for you?
Now that we have such a great team in place, my role has very much taken a back seat and shifted focus from the day to day to a more macro-focused role. I try to balance the longer term vision—aka Amazon's philosophy of looking 5 to 10 years ahead— along with minimal weekly meetings to review the most crucial metrics for the business to ensure we are hitting them! I like to spend time looking at market trends, reading industry publications like The Grocer, as well as looking at how we can improve what we are doing to ensure we are giving our customers the absolute best service possible with the range they want.
- What do you enjoy most about working with food and beverages?
Well, beyond eating more than I probably should and calling it “sampling” or “taste testing” (lol), I find it to be a much more exciting category to work in, as there is so much amazing food around the world these days! I like the fact that we can leverage the convenience of being online to enable customers to get what they want delivered to them in ultra-fast time. I love that it’s a never-ending category where you can always add more to the range, as customers have such broad tastes, while still providing the day-to-day staples that make people’s lives easier, whether it’s tea, coffee, milk, sugar, or biscuits.
- What's your favourite product that Universal offers and why?
My favourite products change over time, but I will always have a soft spot for Opie’s Green Peppercorns in Brine and Brown A La Perruche Sugar Cubes—they were two of the very first items we offered for sale. These days, I love Pipers Crisps because they’re gluten-free and come in a huge variety. I’m also a huge fan of Tiptree’s Little Scarlet Jam— it’s unbeatable in taste compared to any other jam I’ve ever had!
