#365. Mark Smith, Managing Director CPG Global at Crisp, and Peter Hall, CEO of Kettle Cuisine: Connected Data, Scale vs Culture, The AI Council

This week, Daniel speaks with Mark Smith, Managing Director, CPG Global at Crisp, and Peter Hall, CEO of Kettle Cuisine, about what happens when AI stops being a tool in one department and starts running through the whole organization. Mark spent 20+ years at Nestlé, L’Oréal, Unilever and PepsiCo before joining Crisp, a vertical AI platform for brands and retailers. Peter has spent 25 years in the industry, including at Kraft Heinz and Procter & Gamble, and recently became CEO of Kettle Cuisine, a US manufacturer of fresh prepared foods including soups, broths, demi-glaces and sous-vide meats. Since arriving, he has declared the company “AI forward” and taken personal ownership of its AI agenda, with Crisp as a partner.

The two have known each other for years, and they join Daniel to discuss why connecting data across the business matters more than scale, and why culture decides who wins.

Tune in to hear about:

• Why AI doesn’t change what you do, but radically changes how fast you do it
• How AI removes a barrier to entry that big companies have held over smaller companies, and why Mark thinks scale no longer wins because “it’s cultural”
• Where growth is coming from as share of stomach shifts from the center of the store to chilled, fresh and frozen
• Why Peter took personal ownership of AI at Kettle Cuisine, and how an AI council of people from every function and level is bringing the business along
• Why change management is the biggest barrier, and why Mark compares AI to a Ferrari you still have to learn to drive
• How work that used to take five years was done in months, and why they think partners that move fast will win
• Their advice to their younger selves: “shut up and deliver”, and be curious