Three years ago, Tony Sarsam became CEO of Ready Pac Foods and was tasked with the herculean goal of saving the company from bankruptcy. Prior to Sarsam joining the company, it had lost its biggest customer. Sarsam admits that Ready Pac had broken its customers’ trust. In trying to cut costs, it had cut on-time deliveries and fulfilling orders correctly.
So Ready Pac was living up to one half of the formula for business success: Sell more, spend less (and repeat often). But Ready Pac had cut costs in the wrong areas, and sales plummeted.
When he came on board, Sarsam took a look at the company’s history. It was filled with innovation, like when it introduced the now-common complete salad kits, and the triple-wash system for its greens. Sarsam noted the last real innovation happened back in 2007.
For a company that is built on being innovative, losing that edge was a disaster. So he set about turning that around, and doing so as fast as possible. To Sarsam, the key to innovation is having the right people who are supported with good technology and a company that’s adaptable to change.
Ready Pac also conducted research on what customers want from their produce. What it learned is that customers not only want produce to be healthy, but be an indulgence, create convenience in a busy life, and offer value for the money spent.
When the new team at Ready Pac concentrated on meeting those goals, innovative practices quickly returned.
