Insights for Success: Talking Strategy with Mark Whalley

Oh For Food's Sake

English - August 31, 2023 05:00 - 49 minutes - 45.9 MB
Entrepreneurship Business Management foodie businesstips burnout burnoutprevention businessburnout businesscoach coach entrepreneur facilitation foodbusiness Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: Is Your Workplace Toxic? Here's Some Key Watch Outs

Next Episode: Navigating Cross-Functional Relationships in Food & Drink

Why did chewing gum sales drop as smartphone sales rose? And when the economy is in a recession, why should you aim to be the most expensive food product in your category? On this episode of the Oh For Food’s Sake podcast, we have the pleasure of speaking with expert consultant Mark Whalley about the difference that insights make to your food business.

Mark tracks his career journey from the start working in market research to his move into the food industry. Together, we cover what insight actually is and how it should overlap with your business strategy. Mark busts some common myths such as why data and insights aren’t the same thing and why sending out an online survey won’t tell you much about what your customers think of your product. We learn a lesson in asking the right questions that’ll move your food business forward and tease out instinct from insight. And at the end of the episode, we tell you how you can hear more from Mark – and us! – by signing up to the exciting Speciality Food Fair!

Make sure that you don’t miss our part 2 episode with the brilliant Mark Whalley by subscribing to Oh For Food’s Sake wherever you get your podcasts.

Timestamps

[1:33] Welcome to the podcast, Mark!

[5:09] Mark’s career from a wannabe TV Gladiator to a food trend analysist

[8:03] Why Mark dug deeper on his food knowledge and moved towards product development

[11:06] How Mark navigated his career change

[12:35] The curse of industry jargon

[17:13] What actually is insight, Mark?

[19:25] “The best application of insight is working in conjunction with strategy”

[23:05] The complexities of searching for real, valuable insights

[27:51] Why data and insights aren’t the same thing

[31:46] “Context is everything”