I started my career at Unilever where I did several commercial roles. This gave me enough experience to start my own company with two Unilever colleagues, so we started Fred&Ed, a kids brand. We started out with bread spreads in tubes and through different cooperations the assortment also included vegetable snacks, syrups, rice crackers, and cookies which were sold in the Dutch retail market. In 2017 we sold the company to Royal Smilde with the plan to expand the brand to other countries. Unfortunately, this turned out to be very difficult, and after having gained a lot of experience in the food industry and retail I decided I wanted to contribute to changing the food system to make it more sustainable. That is why I joined Vivera, a big producer of meat alternatives with great products at affordable prices selling these in 25 countries in Europe. Within Vivera I am responsible for marketing and I really enjoy being able to spend marketing money to stimulate consumers to eat more sustainably. As we say at Vivera: Eat Openminded. Better for you and better for the planet!

Panel Description

This panel will focus on:

- Who is the consumer?

- Which drivers are key for targeted consumers? (e.g., affordability, nutrition & health, variety, great taste & texture)

- What are the major barriers for your brand and for the category?

- Which nut do consumers want the industry to crack first?

- How have consumer attitudes toward the category shifted?

- Where do we see repeat purchase rates today? What are near-term strategies to drive repeat purchases? Long-term ones?

-How to attract new consumers?