The Global Food Collaborative

Hi everyone and welcome to Food Jungle’s FIRST ever weekly interview and analysis series! I’ll be interviewing incredible people in the food industry - from company directors to chefs - as well as providing some of my own analysis on what’s been happening.

Not only that, but I’ll be introducing some guest writers to add as many perspectives as possible to our growing community 😉 

Last week, I spoke with Robin Richardson of the Global Food Collaborative (“GFC”); an initiative that aims to connect and promote small and medium-sized businesses in the vast food supply chain of ours.

In our chat, she explains what she does, why she does it, and the evolving attitude of consumers towards their food in the 21^st century.

So, without further ado, let’s dig in.

Hey Robin, thanks for joining me. Before we get into the nitty gritty, can you tell me a little more about the GFC? When and why did you start?

Honestly, the idea for GFC had always been in the back of my mind. Since the age of 13, when I first learned what a “supply chain” was, I was curious to find out more about where our food comes from.

Fast forward a few years and I worked as business advisor, a counsellor, and a consultant for some pretty big international businesses, through the International Trade Centre in Alaska. My curiosity about how we get our food, though, never left.

I found out very quickly that, when you put one person with a certain perspective next to another with a completely different perspective, they could consult each other, find ways to create leverage, and make the supply chain more efficient.

So, in 2005, I created a network of people and small-to-medium-sized businesses in the food industry that would be able to empower each other and compete with some of the biggest suppliers, buyers and packers in the world.

And with that, the GFC was born. An organically-grown community of people in food.

What was funny, though, was that most people I connected had no idea that they were being added to the supply chain!

Very interesting. How so?

To many people, this was just a sharing platform. Maybe someone has a truck they could share with someone who needs to get a catch of salmon across the state?

And instead of going through a middle man, they would be able to reach out to anyone in the GFC who could help.

It wasn’t a supply chain, but rather an opportunity to share resources. I used every tool in my toolbox to bring people - whether from Hokkaido or Vladivostok - in the food industry together.

Do you think the GFC would have been possible if you had done something similar with bigger companies in the food industry?

The funny thing is that big companies and big names ARE part of the GFC too!

From senators to international buyers and retailers, everyone wants to know what the small producers are doing in order to get their fingers on the pulse.

Speaking of keeping fingers on the pulse, you’ve seen how the American food supply chain has evolved over a period of almost 20 years now. What changes are you seeing?

Well, it’s definitely MUCH more consolidated now.

Take Mars, for example. Yes, they invest in chocolate. But they also have stakes in pet food that is purchased by veterinary hospitals.

This makes it very difficult for independents.

But at the same time I’ve noticed that consumers are much hungrier for stories that showcase the intricacies of the food industry. People are more vigilant nowadays and care about both their health and what they eat, looking for more information on the food supply chain.

Ultimately, a lot of people just want to know the TRUTH about what’s in their food.

And when big companies, for example, purposefully change names and information on labels, consumers are beginning to notice.

That’s crazy! Changing labels? I would never have guessed.

Yeah, we have a member of the GFC who looks at the shady business behind labels and that’s super interesting.

He told me that when a pack of beef has a label that reads, “product of USA”, the likelihood is that the meat has been brought from overseas, like Brazil.

And then some bits are added along the supply chain here in the US so that meat-producers can attach the “made in the USA” label.

And that’s a huge problem.

In one of your interviews, you said that there are many profit centres in the food supply chain and this creates a little bit of darkness. So, by reducing the number of profit centres, will that benefit the American and global supply chain of food?

As I said before, I believe we’re in a world, right now, where the supply chain has become much more sophisticated and well-oiled.

It’s like a machine.

That being said, though, people are beginning to understand the effects of the modern food supply chain on climate and health.

But yes, if you remove links in the supply chain, you are benefitting the consumer.

Ultimately, though, we need to buy local and, more than that, we need to TELL people what buying local means!

So, would I dare to say that we should have a less sophisticated supply chain if we are to prompt people to buy local?

Some people have gone so far as to suggest that it should be a network rather than a chain, which I think has a lot of merit.

Interesting. And how would that work?

Right now, everything is connected link by link. Everyone has a role. But you can’t interact with the packaging person or the supplier. You just interact with the retailer.

In a network, you place more emphasis on who provides the most value. You should be able to interact with everyone involved in the food production and sale process.

We could even think of it more as a community.

Do you think, then, that this network will give more power to the customer and the local farmer?

We’re seeing now that local farmers are actually selling out of their produce. They’re getting really good business and local customers are asking the question: “where is my food coming from”?

That’s the call for us to be more transparent because trust is gone between the customer and the retailer here in the US.

I will say there is a big gap between the big warehouse stores, like Walmart, and the small-medium retailers. Can you have a local shop that expands and maintains that same quality the bigger it gets? Probably not.

Perhaps artificial intelligence (“AI”) will change things. I don’t know.

Curious. How would AI fit into this huge supply network?

Well, it’s really going to benefit the huge stores even more. They won’t need your opinions when they have enough data points to understand your preferences.

But is that going to make business more ethical and transparent? I doubt it.

Supermarkets are using AI to make food cheaper and easier to purchase. And because of AI, there doesn’t need to be consumer interaction. There’ll just be the products that you want at the cheapest price with no explanation as to how they got there.

Interesting to see how this will all fare in the next decade. What are your predictions?

I feel there’s a lot of money being invested into the unnatural world, rather than the natural world.

But at the same time, there seems to be less adoption of the lab-based foods amongst consumers. They want more whole foods.

I don’t know how things will go, but we’re at a crossroads: consumers will either be more naturally-focused or unnaturally-focused.

The next challenge will be how to shift the focus away from affordability and towards VALUE.

What do you mean by “focusing on value”?

When it comes to this stand-off between cheap-easy foods and healthy-expensive foods, local farmers can’t compete with the Walmarts at their game.

Local farmers need to play on their own turf. That’s going to be shown in placing emphasis on sustenance and value-per-portion.

Yes, you could buy three hamburgers for dirt cheap. But are you satiated? Are you nourished? Probably not.

Local farmers will have to convey the message of “you may be paying more, BUT you’ll get more out of healthy, locally-grown ingredients”.

Great answer! And for my final question, Robin, it’s going to be more abstract. If you had a magic wand, and you could change one thing in this crazy food industry of ours, what would you change?

There is a whole new generation of people out there – young people – who are trying to make an impact and are trying to mend our broken supply chain. They’re part of the GFC or they’re people like you, Gregory.

I want them to be SUPER DUPER successful! If they’re becoming successful, then we’ll have a world filled with the good food that we’ve never seen in our lifetimes!

Thank you Robin! Had a lovely time chatting with you.

No, thank you for HAVING me!