Who’s Stirring the Pot? Why Succession Planning Is the Secret Ingredient for Food & Ingredient Businesses

Let’s imagine this: You run a thriving food ingredients company. Three manufacturing sites. A finely tuned (and occasionally temperamental) supply chain. Automation meets artisan. And clients so demanding they make Michelin inspectors look like easy dinner guests.

Now ask yourself… what happens when your head of operations walks out? Or your R&D lead is poached by a flavour house in Denmark?

Too many companies still rely on the old “what if the MD gets hit by a bus?” scenario, charming, I know. They scribble a name on a post-it (“Bob from ops will step in”) and think they’ve done their duty.

Especially for emerging companies, where founders often wear five hats and the commercial director doubles as head of QA, continuity isn't a luxury. 

Do you have a plan? Or are you stirring the pot with no one left to hold the ladle?

Succession planning may not be as headline grabbing as your latest clean label breakthrough, but in the ingredients business, it’s the difference between scalable success and a slow simmer into chaos.

Let’s dig in.

Why Succession Planning is Not Just Superficial Corporate Spiel

Food and ingredient companies are dynamic beasts. Fast paced innovation, tight compliance windows, supply chain complexity, and consumer trends that shift faster than a TikTok challenge.

When your technical director holds the recipe for your entire stabiliser range in their head, and no one else can explain the line clearance protocol for allergen swaps... You’ve got risk baked into your business.

Succession planning isn’t only who’s next in line but it’s about de-risking your business, preserving know how, and keeping your operations flowing smoothly when change (inevitably) happens.

Case in Point: Your (Hypothetical but Relatable) Company

You’ve grown fast. The plant in Birmingham just added night shifts. Your Singapore distributor is asking for gluten free reformulations. And your biggest client now wants real time traceability across SKUs.

Now imagine your head of supply chain, who also manages that one irreplaceable ERP workaround, goes on extended leave.

What’s your next move?

If you’re like most businesses, the answer is a frantic scramble. That’s not strategy. That’s survival.

Succession Planning: The Essential Recipe

Like any good dish, great succession planning needs a handful of quality ingredients and a thoughtful process.

Here’s what should be in your mise en place:

Map Your Critical Roles

Roles like:

• Technical compliance lead who knows every clause of Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards.

• Shift supervisor who can recalibrate the depositor mid run.

• Product developer with ten years of sensory insight on plant based textures.

Ask: If this person left tomorrow, what would break?

Spot Your Rising Stars Early

Who’s got the curiosity, composure, and commercial edge to grow?

Start tracking potential now. Leadership is sometimes born in a crisis, but that is a risky approach, better that it’s baked daily.

Cross Train Like a Pro Kitchen

Nobody likes a single point of failure. Create opportunities for job shadowing, mentoring, or even ‘swap weeks’ between functions.

Even Michelin starred kitchens rotate stations. So should you.

Bring in Outside Expertise When Needed

Some gaps require fresh seasoning. Maybe your digital transformation needs someone from outside the industry. That’s okay. Just don’t wait until you're already burning the sauce.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Poor succession planning in the corporate world is estimated to cost $1 trillion in lost market value annually. (May–June 2021 Harvard Business Review) Now, our industry may not be S&P 1500 scale, but the lesson stands:

Unplanned exits = operational risk + lost revenue + missed opportunities.

And if you think investors don’t care? Think again. Private equity firms, strategic buyers, and global customers all want continuity.

A robust succession plan can boost confidence and valuation… especially if you’re prepping for sale or scale.

 Real Examples from Food & Ingredients

• A family run spice business that trained two next gen leaders in parallel, one commercial, one operations. The result? A seamless founder transition and 40% revenue growth in 18 months.

• A plant protein startup that hired a commercial director “bench candidate” two years ahead of schedule. When the founder stepped aside for fundraising duties, they didn’t skip a beat.

• A packaging innovation firm that mapped five critical succession paths, including their maintenance lead (who turned out to be the hidden Most Valuable Player).

What do they have in common?

They didn’t wait for disaster. They planned for it.

The Risk of Standing Still

Your business is humming. Orders are up. Retailers are biting.

But the cracks are quiet.

That long tenured head of quality? Close to retirement. The ops manager in site 2? Fielding recruiter calls. The founder? Secretly thinking of stepping back next year.

The risk isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s slow erosion, until the wrong person leaves at the wrong time and your top client starts looking elsewhere.

Crisis-Proofing: When Things Go Sideways

Pandemics. Product recalls. A rogue lab result... Crisis has no calendar.

Succession planning overlaps with business continuity. You need:

• Interim talent partners on speed dial

• Deputies trained for key tasks

• A founder transition plan (with room for ego and emotion)

As one client said: “We didn’t know how vulnerable we were until the ops director got COVID the week of our Tesco launch.”

Lesson learned. Don’t leave your ladle on a wobbly table.

Final Forkful

Succession planning isn’t glamorous. It won’t trend on LinkedIn. But it’s the difference between a business that burns out and one that bakes long term value.

So here’s my challenge: Next time you’re reviewing your five-year plan or doing a strategic offsite, ask:

“If [insert key name] left tomorrow… what would we do?”

And if the answer is “panic,” then it’s time to get cooking.

Succession is your secret ingredient for a sustainable, scalable, and saleable food business.

Need some advice? Get in touch. Until next time,

Keep it cooking, 

Mike Meyrick