Packer 25 2021 — Mike Mauti
How did you get your start in the produce industry?
Produce is in my genes. My first job after graduating from university was with Canada’s premier grocery company. It was the same company where my father spent his career working the produce departments across the organization. Although I began my career outside of produce, the entire produce office had worked alongside my father for many years. It wasn’t long before I got to know the group and eventually started working as an assistant category manager in the produce procurement office.
What roles have you held during you career?
I spent two decades working for Loblaw Cos. After my produce start as an assistant category manager, I worked my way up through the ranks as a category manager, category director and eventually to a series of executive positions in merchandising, operations and analytics, never straying too far away from produce. After leaving Loblaws, I launched Execulytics, a consulting firm catering to produce professionals from all walks of life.
How would you describe your current role?
As managing partner at Execulytics I strive to make sense of the produce business. Using a unique blend of operational expertise, a deep understanding of the buyer/seller relationship and an ability to source, dissect and analyze data from many elements of the produce industry, I assist my customers in driving their business forward.
What do you hope to accomplish/contribute through that role?
I hope to bring objectivity to the produce industry. There is a significant changing of the guard happening right now. As the industry becomes younger and wisdom exits along with the people who came before us, I wish to bring together the available knowledge, be it market knowledge, consumer knowledge or store knowledge. I hope I can use this knowledge to advise produce professionals to make the best decisions for their business.
What industry groups are you involved with?
I am a current member and past director of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association. Currently for the CPMA, I sit on the Innovation Working Group as well as the Collaboration and Industry Knowledge Think Tanks. I also sit on the advisory board for the University of Guelph’s Food Innovation Lab, providing expertise on fresh foods and grocery store merchandising.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
Back in my Loblaw days, I was the business leader for a project titled Field to Fork. As the name implies, this project took a cradle-to-grave approach to improving every element of the company’s produce offer. This approach included identifying and partnering with the best suppliers, introducing the best tasting fruits and vegetables, reducing the lead time within the supply chain and improving the store level customer experience through improved operations, better signage and engaging product sampling. The project was extremely successful and was met with approving accolades.
What does leadership mean to you?
Leadership is all about bringing out the best in people. Every leader has a team of individuals that bring varying skills and abilities to the job. It is a leader’s responsibility to maximize the capabilities of individual team members, while optimizing the varying skills across the team to ensure the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Who are some of your industry mentors?
Domenic Raso, former VP of Loblaw produce procurement and current co-chairman and co-CEO of Burnac Produce. Domenic taught me the importance of putting the customer first. This started with the quote displayed in his office that became the team’s mantra:
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
This simple quote, plus plenty of tutelage from Domenic, laid the foundation for a customer-first focus that drove me to improve the quality of the products within my sphere of influence and to always strive for the best seasonal plans that would maximize tonnage, our proxy for customer satisfaction.
Mike Venton, former senior vice president of the Produce Business Unit and current general manager of Discount Format for Sobeys Inc. Mike taught me the importance of continuous improvement and using a fact-based approach to strive towards that improvement. It was under his leadership that the Field to Fork program came to be. With an unwavering commitment to quality improvement and a measurement structure to validate the progress, Mike enabled our project to make great strides in improving the produce offer.
What's a little-known or fun fact about you?
Back in my early twenties I participated in a Rotisserie Baseball League (that’s a fantasy league for non-aficionados). In a chance encounter I happened to bump into Pat Gillick, Hall of Fame baseball genius and architect of the 1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays World Series winning teams. We had a brief conversation about baseball prospects and stars, during which he gave me guidance on a potential trade opportunity that proved to be very sage advice.
What's your favorite efficiency hack?
In business, I use a system called Qlik-View, a data analytics system that can quickly take raw data and turn it into actionable intelligence. In life, I have a regular food and drink cooler that has been retrofitted with 50 feet of coiled stainless-steel tubing that acts as an off-the-grid keg dispenser for cold draught beer at the lake. If you had to pick one fruit or vegetable to eat every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? It would have to be any one of the new-age high flavor apples available on the market. Not only do I love the crisp, sweet crunch, I heard long ago that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
