Should Food Delivery be a Public Utility? with Errol Schweizer
- S1E7
- 29:26
- December 20th 2022
This week we have a mini episode featuring snippets from a recent conversation we had with Errol Schweizer, former VP of Grocery at Whole Foods, where we asked him what he sees as the top challenges with the business of food and agriculture. Errol shared many challenges with us, but we are sharing the parts of the conversation we had about short termism, corporate oligopolies, and the concentration of ownership.
Errol has over 25 years of experience in the food industry, from grill cook and stock clerk to V.P. of Grocery at Whole Foods from 2009-2016. He has extensively developed plant-based, organic, non-GMO, and regenerative meat and dairy supply chains and production standards. Supermarket News has recognized Errol with a retail game-changer award and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Hemp Industries Association. Since 2016, he has been a board member, co-founder and advisor to over two dozen food retail and CPG enterprises. He is active in municipal food policy and healthy food access. Errol is a Forbes contributor and is the host of The Checkout Podcast.
In this primer episode, we’ll be talking about:
- Oligopolies in the food and agriculture industry
- Short termism and its impact on public and private companies
- Errol’s ideas about common and public ownership of food delivery - with some heated debate between Danielle and Louisa!
- And be sure to stay tuned to the end of the episode for a little bonus!
Episode Resources:
ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) https://www.esop.org/
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This series is sponsored by Foodshot Global & New Hope Network
New Hope Network
New Hope Network is a media, events and business intelligence company, covering natural products trends, industry insights and marketplace data that educate the industry about key issues, like regenerative agriculture, sustainability, responsible sourcing and more. Visit newhope.com.
FoodShot Global
FoodShot leverages resources from investors around the world to provide non-dilutive, equity, and post-investment capacities to innovators. Find out more at foodshot.org.
New Food Order is brought to you by AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect. Visit agfunder.com and foodtechconnect.com to find out more.
And a huge thank you to everyone who helped us bring this podcast to life:
Production: Cofruition, Anna de Wolff, Pamela Rothenberg
Audio Editing: Mercy Barno & Tevin Sudi
Original Music: Rodrigo Barbera
Art: Lola Nankin & Rekai E. Campbell
Project Management: Patrick Carter
New Food Order
New Food Order is a podcast exploring the business of tackling our climate and social crises through food and agriculture from AgFunder and Food+Tech Connect.
Through nuanced conversation and debate, its hosts Danielle Gould and Louisa Burwood-Taylor are embarking on a learning and unlearning journey to unearth how we might design business and finance to have maximum positive impact for people and our planet.
Join us as we speak with leading farmers, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and other stewards on key topics like:
- Will plant-based, lab-grown meat, and regenerative agriculture save the world?
- Is carbon neutral enough?
- What are the most people and planet friendly business and finance models?
- How might we best honor and learn from indigenous communities?
- What are the unintended consequences of new innovation, and how might we avoid them?
Danielle Gould is an entrepreneur and activist. She is the Founder and CEO of Food Tech Connect, the first community for food innovation as well as the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Alpha Food Labs, a consultancy where she works with some of the world’s largest companies to create products and innovation strategies that are better for people and our planet. She hopes that ultimately, her work helps unite and catalyze a movement of earth guardians.
A journalist and editor, Louisa is the head of media & research for AgFunder and chief editor of its news site AFN, focused on the foodtech and agtech industry. With 10 years of agriculture reporting behind her, Louisa started her career in other financial markets working for publications like the Financial Times, Euromoney and Private Equity International, where she launched the first-ever publication dedicated to agriculture investment.