Management Careers Within the Food Industry

The last ten years have seen a considerable shift in employment patterns. The mid to late 1980s saw less emphasis on manufacturing and more emphasis on service industries. The early 1990s with the continuation of the recession and a record deficit in the balance of payments has seen the wisdom of this changed emphasis being questioned.

Throughout the whole period one of the best kept secrets has been the economic success and importance of the food industry encompassing both food manufacturing and food retailing.

The statistics speak for themselves.

The UK Food and Drink industry has a gross output in excess of £56,000 million and is the largest sector in the UK manufacturing industry.
People must eat and each year over 70 billion items of food are produced in the UK.
Expenditure on food has continued to increase with approximately £42 billion spent on food.
Over 20% of the top 100 British companies are in food manufacturing.
Food and Drink manufacturers employ over half a million people and a recent manpower survey of employment showed that 21% of employers anticipated increasing their workforce.
Food retailing and wholesaling employs nearly 900,000 people working in over 100,000 locations.

Students should therefore be in no doubt that while nothing is guaranteed a career in the food industry offers better opportunities for employment than practically any other industry.

Under the umbrella of the food industry, there exists a wide range of interesting job opportunities in all areas of the food chain. The chain starts with agriculture and the production of raw materials passes through manufacturing distribution and selling and ends after the consumer has eaten the food.

Food Business Management (Retailing)
Essentially this involves managing the whole range of activities starting with buying raw materials, organising the people who make food, distribution, marketing, selling and increasingly important, being responsive to consumer demand. The food industry cannot recruit sufficient specialists to fulfil its needs and people who can combine a knowledge of business management with a technical knowledge of food are in short supply. Vacancies exist within manufacturing as well as retailing at company or store level.

Types of Courses
Food Scientists and Technologists will normally enter industry with an HND or degree. Subjects covered will vary between different courses but will normally include the application of basic science to food along with biochemistry, nutrition, food preservation and processing techniques, food microbiology and hygiene, quality assurance, data collection and analysis, food analysis and coverage of a range of food commodities. These can be studied along with elements of business management. Most courses include a period of industrial work experience within the food industry in the UK or abroad. Modular courses such as those at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff permit greater flexibility and allow the student greater choice and opportunity to design an individual course suited to their needs.

Job Prospects
Job prospects are good with starting salaries for graduates being approximately £12-£14,000 per year. Whilst the UK produces approximately 1000 'food' graduates per year, it has been forecast that the industry will have 2000 graduate vacancies. For hardworking, talented personnel, rapid promotional prospects exist with some people achieving salaries of over £40,000 per year within ten years of qualifying. The job of food technologist has recently been listed within the top 20 careers with the best long term future. Average earnings in food manufacturing have been consistently higher than the average for the economy as a whole.

The food industry contains many multinational companies and opportunities for travel or work abroad exist for those who wish to spread their wings.

The Author: Dr Chris Griffith, Dean of Academic Affairs, Fuculty of Business Leisure and Food, University of Wales Institute Cardif