We caught up with John Pain, IGD Trustee and Marketing Director for Compass in the UK and Ireland to talk about his current role, what he thinks about IGD and the future of the food and grocery industry.
 

Q. What does your role involve?

I have responsibility for the brand, the products that we sell, the development of new services, innovation and areas such as research, product development, corporate responsibility and external communication.
 

	John Pain, Compass Group UK & Ireland

Q. How do you see your role as an IGD Trustee and why did you decide to take up the post?

I've had 30 years of experience in food and grocery and wanted to support the governance of IGD, ensuring that the business is well managed and that there is a good balance of activity and investment between the charitable half and the trading company.

It is important that we ensure IGD's charitable status is being maintained and that we are constantly holding ourselves to account, as well as preserving financial stability and providing a good platform for future growth.
 

Q. Why do you see IGD as significant?

I think IGD is a unique, thought-leading organisation. The fact that it is neutral and doesn't lobby makes it extremely valuable to the food and grocery industry and ensures that it is seen as an authoritative body able to inform the industry and set an agenda for the future.
 

Q. What impact do you think IGD has had?

Over the years you can track many of the developments in food and grocery as stemming from work that IGD has done with the industry. Whether it's from things such as barcoding, or nutritional labelling, many of the major innovations have been associated with IGD.

More recently, IGD has been involved in health and nutrition, sustainability, and environmental impact, for example, its work on portion size and ECR. I think IGD has shown tremendous leadership in the food industry.
 

Q. And what do you consider to be IGD’s best work?

The ECR project and its impact in terms of the millions of road miles saved has been a fantastic achievement and something that IGD is uniquely capable of delivering.
 

Q. Where do you think IGD can/will go in the future?

More and more companies see the potential IGD has for supporting their business and lending expertise. Customised projects is an area that is growing for IGD right now and I think that this will continue in the future. In my experience, the capability and quality of IGD's people are outstanding and have really added value to my business.

IGD has great potential to grow internationally. The UK is at the forefront of the food industry and IGD as the pre-eminent institution has tremendous potential to build on this reputation and expand globally.
 

Q. What do you think will be the next big influence to impact the industry?

I attended a grocery industry conference in 1985 where the big prediction was that, by the year 2000, people wouldn't be going out anymore to do their shopping! Although people can now shop over the internet, I think that they still want to go to a shop, pick up the food and feel the quality of what they are buying. So the industry will evolve rather than change dramatically.

One big trend that is here to stay is people becoming much more interested in where their food comes from. Our children are far more educated about food and want to know more about how it is grown. The influence of things like local producers, farmers markets and food provenance, will grow. This is a great opportunity and something that our industry should embrace and celebrate the quality of British food.

Find out more about IGD
See the IGD Trustees
 

More information:

	Compass Group Trade Briefing 2009
	Hear from John Pain and the senior Compass Group team at IGD's first ever Compass Group UK & Ireland Trade Briefing. Attend and you'll get to hear about the latest key initiatives, understand the Compass Group consumer, and learn about opportunities with the world’s leading foodservice company