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Running a successful company encompasses a multitude of strategies, skills, and actions all aimed at achieving important goals and milestones.
Assembling a great team that is collectively committed to working toward the same achievements is crucial. While working to establish a cohesive, communicative company internally is important, paying careful attention to the customer’s needs and desires is just as vital. The ability to evolve and adapt with changing demands and trends is a true hallmark of a business that has the ability to fill a need in the market and create a legacy.
On the most recent episode of Ditch The Box, Jerry Chizick shares indispensable business advice from his 26+ years in the food industry.
Before becoming VP of Handi Foods LTD, Chizick worked in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and toiletries fields, along with exploring his talents as a musician. “Variety is the spice of life,” Chizick says, and exploring, learning, and innovating can help build strong leaders both inside and outside of business. When he joined Handi Foods, the company was primarily distributing pita bread and wasn’t quite differentiating itself or doing anything truly unique. Chizick knew the brand had to grow and innovate, and this was accomplished by diversifying, leading trends in the food industry, and developing a motivated team that stuck with the company and always had its best interests in mind.
Staying ahead of the food industry market, he explains, can be achieved by committing to the points above. Selling on price will keep food companies in the dark, so focusing on the evolution of the company – what stage it’s currently at and how far it can go – will lead brands into new and better directions. If you’ve got what the consumer wants, he says, you’ll grow. Whether it’s the end user, a restaurateur, or retailer, businesses selling consumer goods always have to be able to reach their buyers and evaluate how well each of their products meet consumer demand in their particular category.
Listening to customers has been crucial for all of the Branded Pita products Chizick and his team produces and distributes.
Handi tackles private labeling and co-packing, and it has set forth to supply the most delicious and high-quality products in the food industry. This has been achieved, he says, by closely evaluating ingredients lists and labels and really thinking about how they are perceived by consumers. “If they sound like a bunch of chemicals… that’s what they are,” he says. “Labels shouldn’t look like dictionaries.” If a brand adds something to a product’s label, they have to be absolutely sure it’s going to deliver on the promises it states. With so many consumers concerned about the nutrients and ingredients they put into their bodies, transparency in the food industry has become more important than ever.
Chizick also discusses how and why he founded Amazing Grains to supply the healthiest food on the planet, and how he has accomplished his primary objectives by working with co-packers, retailers, and foodservice operators. Creating products for diverse age groups can only be achieved through the lessons he has learned over his years in the food industry: listening to customers, delivering on your promises, building a great team, and evolving and innovating to create a unique product that fulfills a need in its particular market.
