Bradley Forde Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Australia

The Country Chief Baking Co is a leading national manufacturer of high-volume baked goods supplying leading Retailers and Foodservice Distributors throughout Australia. Product development has been instrumental in developing consumer solutions in category ranges such as Pavlova, Meringues, Banana Breads, Cupcakes and Muffins. Bradley significantly transformed the business from a loss making position to sustainable profits in 36 months. Transforming the product offer for the businesses, guided by consumer insights and scan data success included: Growth: With multiple business tenders being won in the last three years we delivered high double-digit growth. We built a Sales pipeline with an extensive relationship with leading Grocery and Convenience businesses and the result has seen Country Chief grow into the largest manufacturer in Australia across our core range.Strategy: Built the strategy for the business to expand production facilities, consolidating four production facilities into a 'Super' factory.and created one of the largest baking facilities in Australia.Sales: Headline sales growth in 36 months and achievement of annual sales budget and EBITDA, from a loss-making position.Product Management: Streamlined products and exited loss-making products and launched 42 new products in 18 months.Team Leadership: Leading a team of 10 and built the team from 2 to 10, structuring the team with deep category specialization. Created an engaged team who are future focused and deliver to the demands of supporting large format grocery retailers.Customer: Leading Major Customer pursuits, working directly with our leading clients including Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Metcash, 7-Eleven, Ampol, Coles Express. Category Management: De-risked the business from dependence on two products and one customer to introducing strategic category pillars that deliver incremental sales and profit and building momentum to launch new products fast.

Melbourne, Australia

Coles is a national supermarket, liquor, fuel and convenience retailer in Australia and operates 820+ supermarkets across Australia with a team over 115,000 and annual sales of $36B. Joined the category team for fresh produce at a time when there was incredible competition and Woolworths has a slight lead among the general grocery-buying population. 5.2 million (36 per cent) buy fruit or veg at Woolworths in an average week, while 4.7 million (33 per cent) do so at Coles. This was an exciting journey in fresh produce as we review growth opportunities and landed both new product opportunities and supplier savings. I was approached by the Bakery category at a time when Coles had 20% less bakeries than Woolworths there was a strong focus on customer insights and product development and Coles achieved leading market share performance within 12 months.SUCCESSColes was dealing with increased competition and were focused on dominated in niche categories. Bakery and Fresh Produce were both in need of uplift and a reset on new opportunities. This was an exciting time in the business and in Bakery the Cake Reset Strategy led to a “Famous for Cake” strategy, a 15% sales result showcased a successful food differentiation strategy that maximise sales, market share and loyalty.During my time in Fresh Produce, I built key relationship with the Farmers/Growers and transformed the industry to improve crop utilization which led to an increase in sales for Coles. Coles was the first Supermarket to transition to using Crates, providing an additional 1M reusable crates for fresh produce to replace single-use cardboard and polystyrene boxes and reduce excess packaging across our stores and supply chain.Delivered a “Famous for Cake” strategy. Delivering market leading instore fixtures and displays new customer centered product offers and ranges in 800 stores. The range review delivered YOY category growth of 15% plus incremental headline sales for total Bakery of 2.5%.

Cape Town, South Africa

Clicks Group, a health and beauty Retailer and supply group. With market-leading retail brands Clicks, Musica and The Body Shop, the group has over 595 stores across Southern Africa, listed on Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Clicks Group is the largest retail pharmacy chain with over 300 in-store dispensaries, including a direct-to-patient courier pharmacy service and a leader in the healthcare market.I joined and was instrumental at developing and executing the Group Cellular Strategy and Operating Plan achieving 40% sales increase, launched the Natural Shop initiative and grew Confectionery.FOCUS Lead and mentor buying and category management team of 16+. Develop market share growth and operating strategies across multiple categories. Develop divisional range assortments and price strategies managing supplier negotiations. Develop divisional marketing and promotions strategy. Private label and new product development. Develop National and International sourcing strategies and ensure supply chain efficiencies deliver 98% availability.ACHIEVEMENTS Successfully planned launched new “Q-system” in 260 stores across the group.  Developed new sourcing strategy for Confectionery, resulting in increased turnover of 18% and improved margin. Successfully planned and launched “Natural Shop” initiative. Improved Margin by 1.5% in Everyday Essentials Division and successfully launched Private label initiatives and product ranges in this Division. Developed joint strategy planning initiative with key Multi-National Suppliers to increase sales, forward share, availability and ROI.

Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Nada Dairy is a leading manufacturer and distributor of fresh dairy, juice and long-life milk distributed throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Africa. Reporting to the CEO I led the business across sales growth and increased market share in Eastern, Western and Central Regions of Saudi Arabia and developed export markets into UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and selected African Markets.I led the expansion into new territories to increase vertical and horizontal market share and grew Trading Channels across Key Accounts 28%, Traditional Trade 15% Wholesale 5%.FOCUS: Leading a team 750 FTE’s growing market share, sales and profitability in Saudi Arabia and surrounding GCC countries. Develop Strategic Operating Plans, Market growth and Route to Market Strategies, manage financials across Sales, Profitability, Capex & Opex. Building and developing relationships with key customers and strategic distribution channels providing strategic input on trade marketing activities.  Analysis of Category and Product performance, profitability, forecasting, pricing strategy, delivering Key Account profitability and development strategies. Key Account Private Label development and new product development and launches.ACHIEVEMENTS Increased sales across: Fresh Dairy 12%, Fresh Juice 25% & UHT Range 29% Successfully designed and implemented Route Optimisation and Digital Mapping which improved route to market efficiencies and customer call cycles. Designed and implemented “Picture of Success” trade marketing strategies. Successfully developed go-to-market strategies for various milk and fresh juice ranges.

South Africa

Founder of Indi Atlantic Trading, a fresh produce Import and Export Company to capitalized on a market gap and import produce from surrounding Southern Africa: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Kenya. The core range was Mange Tout, Sugar Snap, Baby Corn, French Fine Beans and Baby Carrots sold to the retail, wholesale and speciality cut vegetable channels.ACHIEVEMENTS Built a Customer market across the Retail & Hospitality Sector & opened accounts with Fruit and Veg City (JHB and CPT), Golden Harvest, Lombardi Foods, Interfruit, Bidvest Catering (Angola). Established seasonal growers in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Swaziland, developed procurement strategies, Supplier growing & crop yield improvement strategies. New Product development and Private label opportunities executed. Established a cold chain logistics solution.

Cape Town, South Africa

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