60 seconds with…Karen Green, CEO –Food Mentor

Looking back on 2020, which was your professional most successful initiative/achievement?

Gaining the bounce back loan has enabled me to think bigger in terms of pivoting my business from face to face mentoring to online courses, group coaching and other programmes.  

What are your most priorities in terms of planning for this year?

My priority for 2021 is to help 1000 food and drink businesses globally to identify and achieve their growth goals.  I am planning to launch more courses to enable them to make this happen.  Do more group coaching and continue to work with my VIP private clients

With the ending of the BREXIT transition period and new rules being here, what do you think the impact will be?

There are two major changes for the food industry.  The ongoing shortage of labour and distribution which will hamper many food producers in the UK as they face more cost in their business alongside the inability to export again without considerable tariffs and on costs.  Therefore the home market will become more important and people will certainly be travelling less due to COVID so staycations and self-treating will enable premium businesses such as luxury ready meals, chocolates, flowers and other things that make home life just that bit better.

The Government has put in place several measures in order to help business owners and operators throughout the pandemic and lockdowns. What are your thoughts on what is available to you?

For me personally and many of my clients the help has been very limited.  I run a small business and take a director’s salary and so there were no funds available to me apart from the bounce back loan.  I have applied for a kickstart apprentice but that was over 3 months ago and still no further forward 

As we all know, employees’ and people’s well-being & mental health have been critical points during 2020. How have you incorporated them in your operations, and have you changed your ways of working in order to accommodate different working patterns (flexible hours, working from home…)? 

I have always worked from home so for me 2020 actually improved as I have reduced the number of hours I spent flying back and forth to the UK.  I have become more disciplined about getting out for fresh air every day and stop work no later than 6pm so I don’t work evenings.

What positive lessons do we need to learn from what the industry has been through?

The positives of the pandemic have been limited but the key one is to be incredibly flexible and always have a plan b and c in your toolkit to be ready to pivot. In addition, we have learnt the importance of having a genuine mission to create transformations in people’s lives through our products and services and making sure we help and give back where we can. There have been some amazing examples of brands giving back and paying forward and that will underpin future business success 

https://www.thekarengreen.com/

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