Interview Jos Havekotte, Innovatie­m­anager VION

Jos Havekotte is passionate about food, especially fresh food, and people. “Food equals emotion. By adding a story to that, you create an experience.” As Innovation Manager at Vion, he is a ‘linchpin of the organisation’, fulfilling a central role between the Sales/Marketing, Production, QA and Operations departments.

The interview takes place at the Vion office in Boxtel. Outside, delivery trucks come and go, white vans arrive on site carrying employees, and an adjacent piece of land is being prepared for construction work to build an extension. It’s a hive of activity. Having previously been based elsewhere, the board of directors is now back here: close to the business. “We’re now part of what it’s all about once more: production of high-quality pork and beef products and associated convenience products,” says Jos Havekotte, former General Manager of Vion Foodservice NL and recently named Innovation Manager at Vion – a role that suits him down to the ground.

You started your career as a butcher, and you’ve worked for HANOS and SVO. Where are the overlaps with your current role?
“They lie in my passion for food, especially fresh food, and for people. As a certified butcher I was always interested in new concepts and tasty food, and I founded the ‘Havekotte Vleesdelicatessen’ business, which back then was a very innovative concept with an open kitchen in the restaurant and a shop bursting with delicious meat-based products. In addition, I helped my wife to establish a fresh-food wholesale company. Also at wholesaler HANOS, where I was responsible for the fresh departments, I was continually involved with new products and people. The training institute SVO asked me to act as Project Manager for Innovation in Education and coordinate the transition to more competence-focused learning. It was an enjoyable challenge because they also wanted to broaden their training offering: from a meat focus to fresh food in general.”

What does an Innovation Manager do?

“The Product Development department has been considerably neglected in recent years, but luckily we can start to focus on that again now. As Innovation Manager I draw up the annual plan from an operational, tactical and strategic perspective. I also initiate new projects, navigate them through the decision-making process (Stage Gate), provide progress updates to the board of directors and present, along with my team, the ultimate results to customers. We’re currently setting up a new department called ‘New Product Development’ which will focus on product and process development and innovation. In the new approach, we’ve chosen to make a clear differentiation between operational responsibilities and long-term policy. We’ve separated innovation from day-to-day operations, in order to achieve real development. When developing new products, the focus is on creating added value. We’re also paying even more attention to the internal Dutch market than before. Plus: obtaining optimum value from each animal – that’s what we’re striving for.”

What’s your vision in terms of product and process development, and innovation?

“I focus primarily on experience and flavour, and I enlist the help of technologists to translate my wild ideas into actual products. Technologically speaking, there are plenty of possibilities. We’ve recently started involving consumers much more intensively in this process by conducting frequent taste tests and consumer studies. That wasn’t an integral part of our approach in the past. Conversely, of course, we analyse consumer trends and translate them into meat products.”

How do you come up with new ideas?

“I always keep my eyes and ears open, I follow the food and meat trends both nationally and internationally including in related sectors such as foodservice. I make sure that I stay up to date on other meat and food product launches, such as by using the Innova database, online trend reports and Gfk market analysis. We have access to our own relevant data from the Vion Consumer Monitor. On top of that, I stay informed by attending conferences and seminars, visiting stores in The Netherlands and abroad, brainstorming with colleagues and exploring concrete questions with our Marketing department. New meat products and (chain) concepts can also evolve in response to current events such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, or general issues such as health, animal welfare and sustainability. We draw our inspiration from the seasons and public holidays, and I visit various herb & spice suppliers, simply to brainstorm: which trends have they spotted? And so on and so forth!”

“Then I move into the development phase. We present our brainstorm concepts and long list to a consumer panel. I always have too many ideas so it’s good to gain feedback: which of them have a chance of succeeding, and which do consumers consider totally irrelevant. I don’t mind hearing some of the ideas are bad; it’s good to spar with one another. ‘There’s no polish without friction,’ as they say.”

What have been the concrete results?

“Last Easter, for example, we had Easter-themed tabletop-grill meat packs including lots of yellow and green. For Christmas we’re producing similar packs with more gourmet contents, and we’re developing tasty filled roulades. For the barbecue season 2015 we’re already working to launch more ‘macho’ meat. The idea is based on the current barbecue trends: we’re seeing that men are gaining more confidence in their own barbecuing skills – they’re ready for thicker cuts of meat. We will be offering the ‘macho’ cuts so they’re virtually foolproof to cook…because not all men are as good as they think.” (laughs).

“Another good example is pork neck; it’s been used only in minced meat for many years, yet it’s actually the tastiest part of a pig. It’s an undervalued cut because it contains lots of connective tissue, so it becomes tough when fried. But if you cook it slowly it literally melts and becomes wonderfully soft and tender. We now use it to make pulled pork. We leave it to cook for 18 hours, in its packaging along with various herbs. That, combined with smoke flavour and a little sweet and sour, creates a tantalising and intense taste sensation.” (Jos Havekotte is now on a roll, his eyes sparkle and he radiates enthusiasm as he talks about the flavour.) “This is a really popular product in America, and we’re translating it to the Dutch market. At the Lowlands festival, the barbecue caterers struggled to keep up with demand for the pulled pork sandwiches – they’ve got a cool image. It’s a good follow-up to the kebab which is another snack that can be popular among young people, alongside pizza and hamburgers.”

‘I always have too many ideas so it’s good to gain feedback’

That doesn’t sound particularly healthy…and yet that’s also one of your areas of focus. How are you addressing the trend towards less salt and less fat?

“A couple of years ago, we worked hard to reduce the salt content in bacon for the UK market. We made a lot of progress but the market resisted, we were moving too fast and they weren’t ready for it. Salt reduction is a very sensitive issue, it has to be done gradually. With a new concept of meat products we’ve indicated the changes on the packaging. But people don’t understand the need to reduce salt and fat in meat products – after all, meat dishes should be ‘hearty’ and substantial. If you communicate that a product contains 30% less fat and salt, the average consumer will interpret that as being less juicy and substantial, and hence 30% less tasty! Plus the purchase price is higher: the development costs and smaller-scale production mean that the product is more expensive to manufacture. We are currently reducing the ‘salt experience’ by adapting the texture, since that has a lot of influence on the perception of saltiness. Coarser salt crystals produce the optimum sensation on the tongue.”

Why are you continuing your efforts to reduce salt and fat in meat products if that’s not what consumers want?

We have to shoulder our responsibility in that respect. But it’s better to reduce levels tacitly. By the way, lower amounts of salt and fat do feature as discussion points in our B2B negotiations.”

How does legislation affect the innovation process?

“It has a significant influence. We keep a close eye on changes in standards and legislation, and we’re continually assessing how any changes could impact our products or the ingredients used to make them. If necessary, we set to work to develop alternative formulations, which are then tested extensively before being implemented.”

How are you capitalising on the trend towards less-frequent meat consumption?

“Meat used to be the focal point of a meal, but that’s no longer the case. Our Vion Consumer Monitor reveals that younger generations are increasingly opting for a quick snack: noodles, stir-fries and pizzas. For them, meat has become more of an ingredient. We want to continue to offer consumers a choice in terms of regular cuts of meat which can be used as ‘centre of the plate’. Additionally we are focusing on wok and stir-fry packs, available in a variety of weights so that consumers can purchase just as much as they need, without any leftovers. We’re also offering much thinner meat cuts and sausages of between 45 and 80g each so that consumers can choose smaller portions of meat if they wish. Our Vion Consumer Monitor reveals that, when it comes to purchasing meat, most consumers equate sustainability with less waste.”

“In recent years we invested substantially in developing ‘hybrid’ meat products in which we replaced some of the meat protein with vegetable protein. We were keen to shoulder our responsibility, but we forgot to ask consumers – and they don’t want hybrid: it’s still struggling to gain consumer acceptance. The hybrid product is a little more expensive than regular meat, and consumers are left wondering why. They’re not interested in the fact that it’s due to the development costs, and because it’s expensive to remove the animal protein. Furthermore, for most consumers a ‘meat-free’ meal is one including cheese, egg, pizza, soup or a salad – and hence one often featuring animal proteins as an ingredient.”

What kind of image does Vion want to convey with its product lines?

“We want to convey and demonstrate that Vion is a supplier which offers its customers a carefree range of products with an excellent price/quality ratio and produced within a safe supply chain. Consumer taste tests show that we manufacture and sell products which consumers rate at least as good as, if not better than, our competitors’ products. Consumers with a social conscience can choose between regular meat produced in The Netherlands, meat with the 1-star ‘Beter Leven’ animal welfare mark or organic products branded ‘De Groene Weg’. We are the market leader in organic meat and one of the initiators of the Beter Leven meat certification mark, in collaboration with the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals.
We focus on transparency so that it is clear to consumers where our products come from and what they contain. One example is the QR code which is included on many of our pre-packed meat products. We also take a proactive approach to reducing sodium levels, allergens and E-numbers. In other words, we aim to offer consumers a carefree choice of delicious products.”

And are you succeeding? After all, the meat sector has come under fire in recent years; how do you deal with that?

“Everything we do happens under a magnifying glass. If just one person messes up, that can immediately impact the entire company. It’s difficult to protect yourself against the misconduct of one individual which harms the whole organisation. What Vion can do is create a climate in which people challenge each other or intervene in the case of misconduct. But it’s impossible to give a 100% guarantee that mistakes can never happen again because manufacturing carries inherent risks. But we’re doing fairly well, as demonstrated by the fact that we’re approved exporters to Japan and the USA: two countries that have very stringent standards in place which extend far beyond the Dutch laws. That makes it even more frustrating when incidents like this occur; I struggle to deal with that. If you want to change the culture, you have to do so both from the top down and from the bottom up. We’re working on that in the reorganisation. We have low staff turnover. We recently held an open day for the farmers who supply the animals and for all our employees. They had full access: transparency, an open company. They could show their families where they work and what they do; that increases involvement and loyalty. And the farmers love seeing what happens to their livestock.”

Last but not least, a call for support: you’re currently setting up a completely new Product & Development team. What kind of people do you need?
“People who are passionate about food! From butchers to meat technologists, and from people who can analyse processes to professional chefs who can be my sparring partners on culinary matters.”

www.vionfood.nl