Welcome to Supply Chain now, the number one voice of supply chain.
Speaker AJoin us as we share critical news, key insights and real supply chain leadership from across the globe.
Speaker AOne conversation at a time.
Speaker AHey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be.
Speaker AScott Luton and Marty Parker here with you on Supply Chain Now.
Speaker AWelcome to today's live stream.
Speaker AHey, Marty, how you doing?
Speaker BI'm doing great.
Speaker BScott is beautiful here in Marietta and just thrilled to be here with you.
Speaker AYou know this in early fall, the best two times a year, I think to be in Georgia, would you agree?
Speaker BAbsolutely.
Speaker BHad to vacuum all that pollen up off the furniture today, but other than that, it's outstanding.
Speaker AThat is exactly why early Fall is my favorite of the two.
Speaker ANo pollen early fall.
Speaker ABut hey, I digress, folks.
Speaker AToday's show is the Buzz where every Monday at 12 in Eastern Time, we discuss a variety of news developments across global supply chain and business news that matters is what we like to call it.
Speaker AAnd the Buzz is powered by our friends at Project44, the decision intelligence platform for the modern supply chain.
Speaker ALearn how to bring more visibility, certainty and success into your supply chain organization by visiting project44.com okay, so Marty, we've got a big, big show here from a variety of perspectives.
Speaker AWe're going to touch on several big events coming up.
Speaker AWe're going to be mentioning some of the latest supply chain complications related to the ongoing military conflict in the Persian Gulf.
Speaker AWe'll look at the impact that continued high prices are having in the food industry.
Speaker AThat's an interesting story.
Speaker AAll that and a whole bunch more.
Speaker AAnd Marty, man, today we got a great guest in about 15 minutes or so.
Speaker AWe're bringing in Dan Sidel Global COO with hello Fresh.
Speaker AYou're going to enjoy Dan's take on some of the most innovative things that they are doing.
Speaker AMarty, big show.
Speaker ADid you take your vitamins?
Speaker AEat your Wheaties, whatever.
Speaker AYou ready to go?
Speaker BI am ready, my friend.
Speaker AYou are always ready.
Speaker ASo, folks, buckle up for a big edition of the Buzz powered by our friends at Project 44 right here today.
Speaker AAnd as Tricia says, happy Buzz day, say hello and let us know where you're tuned in from.
Speaker AThank you, Trisha.
Speaker AYou and Amanda appreciate all that you do.
Speaker AShe's also already dropped a link to Project44.
Speaker AAnd Alan Jacques says hello, Scott.
Speaker AAnd Marty Allen is, as we've established, the Rodney Dangerfield of global Supply chain.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AAnd he calls the beautiful country of Canada home.
Speaker AAlan, remind me what part of Canada, my friend, but great to see you.
Speaker AOkay, so Marty before we bring Dan on, we got three things we got to do.
Speaker AWe got to do the work first, right?
Speaker ASo let's see.
Speaker AUp first, I want to talk about our latest edition of with that said.
Speaker ANow, before I talk about some of the things, I challenge our audience to come up with a caption for the image we used where we've got the psychologist and the globe and the world getting together and had no caption participants for a little prize.
Speaker ASo throwing that out there, folks, we're dropping a link to.
Speaker AWith that said, if you want to be in the running for winning a little small prize, give us your best caption for this image.
Speaker AAnyway, we led with several perspectives on a wide variety of topics, such as Marty Greg Epp with the Wall Street Journal shared the idea that we could be looking at the Fed raising interest rates as one of their next moves.
Speaker AWe touched on the malaise in one key economic sector, the US Housing market, where new home sales in January here in the States, where they dropped to their lowest level since October 2022, that's no bueno.
Speaker AWe also touched on the big Uber investment in Rivian, which is a story we've been tracking for a long time.
Speaker A$1.25 Billion from Uber up to $1.25 billion comes at a critical time for Rivian, who's launching a new line of cars this spring.
Speaker AFolks, you can learn more about all of those perspectives and topics, along with tools, resources, live events, all in the latest edition of with that said, Marty, did you get a chance to dive into what that said over the weekend?
Speaker BI did and it was terrific.
Speaker BI have to say there's a lot of bad news in there, which is difficult, by the way, that picture.
Speaker BMy dad used to say I'm having a big going under spell.
Speaker BYou know, he was from south and so your, your, your world looks like they're having a big going under spell.
Speaker ADoesn't it, though?
Speaker BBut the good news for me is just the rapid, rapid adoption of autonomous vehicles.
Speaker BAnd I've told my students I would pay $200,000 for an autonomous vehicle because I, I go 90 minutes to school and almost two hours home and I could get so much accomplished.
Speaker BIt would be worth so much to me.
Speaker BSo I'm really excited to see Waymo and Robo Taxi and, you know, Mercedes has got some great stuff.
Speaker BI just love seeing that happen.
Speaker BSo some good news in the midst of our big going under spell.
Speaker AI like it.
Speaker AI'm gonna seal that phrase number one.
Speaker AAnd folks, y' all keep the captions Coming.
Speaker AAnd number two, you know, as I always believe, there is always good news if you go looking for it.
Speaker AAnd while the world's going through quite a tough time right now, there's always good news and innovation and hey, Amanda.
Speaker AAnd Trisha likes that too.
Speaker AA big going on this morning.
Speaker AWe might owe your family some dollars.
Speaker BWell, there's actually a preface to that, Scott.
Speaker BIt comes from, you know, the TV show.
Speaker BOh my gosh, I'm forgetting it with the junkyard from the 70s.
Speaker ASanford Son.
Speaker BYeah, Sanford Son.
Speaker BAnd so dad would say I'm going to join Elizabeth.
Speaker BI'm having a big going under spell.
Speaker BSo put them both together.
Speaker BNobody but us is going to get that reference because it's so long ago.
Speaker ABut yeah, and one of the best theme songs written by a legendary music producer as well.
Speaker AAll right, good stuff there folks.
Speaker AGo check out.
Speaker AWith that said, Trisha dropped a link right there.
Speaker AYou want to click away.
Speaker AAnd hey, if you want to have some fun, give us a great caption and we'll see if we can't throw out some prizes in the days ahead.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker ASo Marty, let's see here.
Speaker AWe're going from with that said to item number two here in the A block.
Speaker AWe're going to talk about some big events coming up in the supply chain world.
Speaker AFirst we're headed off to Chicago Decision 44, a free event hosted by our friends at Project 44.
Speaker AYou can hear perspectives from leading companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Alcon, Eaton, Suntouring, tailored brands and more.
Speaker AApril 8th and 9th is free to attend but you got to register.
Speaker AAnd Marty, really quick, have you been in this event is going to be at the Willis Tower, the famed Willis Tower right in Chicago.
Speaker AHave you ever been in that, that building, Marty?
Speaker BI haven't.
Speaker BI've been to Chicago twice but I have not been in that building.
Speaker AIt is, it is awesome.
Speaker AIt is.
Speaker ASo you know most of those iconic buildings, like security is on lockdown.
Speaker AYou can't have any fun.
Speaker AAll that stuff they've really at least my experience.
Speaker AI went to an event there last, last year and it was like a co working place, a whole different vibe than what you'd find like a real button down corporate, really, really cool.
Speaker ASo looking forward to that event.
Speaker ATrisha's dropped the link.
Speaker AYour folks right there.
Speaker AYou can learn about more about decision 44.
Speaker AAnd also Allen.
Speaker AOttawa.
Speaker AI knew that.
Speaker AHave you been to Ottawa, Marty?
Speaker BNo.
Speaker BIt's on our bucket list.
Speaker AMe and you both.
Speaker AWell, hey, we'll go up there and we'll meet Alan, jock and talk basketball, horses, many other fan supply chain.
Speaker AAll right, so let's see, that's Chicago.
Speaker ANext up we're going to be in Dallas at the American supply chain summit.
Speaker A10Th anniversary.
Speaker AHow about that?
Speaker AAnd final passes still remain for the 10th annual American Supply Chain Summit from April 27th to the 28th.
Speaker AThis exclusive summit will gather over 300 leaders and 50 expert speakers to discuss supply chain disruptions, resilience, digital transformation.
Speaker AKey themes also include of course supply chain management, but process optimization, procurement, sourcing, technology innovation and logistics.
Speaker AIf you're looking for a high impact opportunity to connect and learn, the American Supply Chain Summit could be the event for you.
Speaker ASo check that out.
Speaker AWe're dropping the link right there in the chat.
Speaker AI know you've been to Dallas, right Marty?
Speaker BIt's another great city and I, I assume the summit has a fee associated with it.
Speaker AYes, yes.
Speaker AUnlike decision 44 free event, there is a, an attendance fee at the American Supply Chain Summit.
Speaker AIt's a good call out, Marty.
Speaker BYeah, I, I might be finished teaching by then, so there might be a possibility of going.
Speaker BAre you going, Scott?
Speaker AI am.
Speaker AI've got a great far side chat teed up, my friend.
Speaker BOkay, let me, let me look at my schedule because that sounds epic to me.
Speaker AIf Marty Parker is going to be there, you know it's a place to be.
Speaker ASo come join me, Marty.
Speaker AWe'll connect with Tevin and Lori Boyer and some other friends and talk supply chain stuff.
Speaker AAnd Tricia, because she is Johnny on the spot is also dropping a link to that.
Speaker AAnd then one little final event.
Speaker AKind of different than the others.
Speaker AFolks.
Speaker ACome join us.
Speaker AIt's that time of year again to celebrate this entire industry, this entire global industry.
Speaker AEvery nation should have a Supply Chain Day.
Speaker AJust because it's called National Supply Chain.
Speaker AThey were celebrating the whole thing.
Speaker AApril 29th is national supply Chain Day.
Speaker APlan to join us at 12 noon for a virtual event that's going to be featuring a wide range of supply chain leaders.
Speaker AAnd we have confirmed, Marty, we've confirmed Billy Ray Taylor, the Billy Ray Taylor, author of the best selling book the Winning Link.
Speaker AHe is confirmed to be our keynote.
Speaker AThat is outstanding.
Speaker AAnd Marty, I think, wow, you're going to be there with us on the 29th, is that right?
Speaker BYeah, I registered because I don't have classes this year for the first time.
Speaker BSo I will, I will be an attendee.
Speaker ALove it, love it.
Speaker ATrisha's dropped a link to that as well.
Speaker AThank you, Trisha.
Speaker AAll right, so finally we got to finish on a tough note this, this kind of, this a block before Dan joins us.
Speaker AEverything isn't all fun and games, of course, in global supply chain.
Speaker AAnd so before we bring on our guest, I want us to both weigh in on some of the key supply chain ramifications that we're tracking related to the Iran war.
Speaker ANow what I'm going to share, Marty, is this morning, here's a little bit of good news.
Speaker AI think the US announced a five day pause in at least a component of its military strikes, right.
Speaker AThat caused Brent crude, which is really the global oil benchmark price, to drop at least this morning below 104.
Speaker A104 Bucks a barrel.
Speaker ANow that has since gone back up to about 106, so we'll see.
Speaker ABut at least we're, at least we're a good bit away from the $200 per barrel worst case scenario that some folks have, have been talking about.
Speaker ANow folks I know most of our audience know, but oil touches just about everything in the global business world, hence the massive attention placed on its price changes and supply constraints.
Speaker AThat's why right from the packaging we use to the transportation move stuff, to the fuel that makes everything move.
Speaker AThat's why we all, a lot of folks are tracking the price of oil.
Speaker ANow beyond oil, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, plastics, too many names.
Speaker ACheck this out.
Speaker AHelium, Marty.
Speaker AHelium, some folks may not know, is used extensively in healthcare and technology and that industry, sector, market, whatever you want to call it, has been deeply impacted.
Speaker AHere's a Did you know Cutter, right, is the second largest producer of helium behind the US and of course that nation has been subjected to Iranian strikes on its infrastructure.
Speaker ASo we're looking at it's going to take some time to rebuild the critical helium supply, amongst many other things.
Speaker ASo anyway, Marty, there's so much we could track.
Speaker AWhat, what's been something you've been keeping your finger on the pulse of.
Speaker BSo I was alive during the 70s crisis and this is different than Covid because it's a spike, it's fast.
Speaker BCovid was over a long period of time.
Speaker BSo you really have to go back to the 1970s to see what something like this might cause.
Speaker BThere's a lot of discussion of stagflation because the Fed is going to be pretty powerless to do much about this.
Speaker BThere's also the lag time which we learned about in Covid.
Speaker BSo all the stuff that's happening now is going to have ripple effects for at least 6 to 12 months even if it's stopped now.
Speaker BSo, and, and you know, the pricing people can't get straight because each day they don't know what's happening.
Speaker BSo I think this one's much bigger than people think it is.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BEven if it stopped today.
Speaker BAnd, and we have the 1970s to look back on to, to understand those impacts, Marty.
Speaker AIt's so true.
Speaker AI mean you look at the, the LPG facilities and, and we're, we got a lot of building back to do.
Speaker ATo your point, even if it stopped right now at 12:15pm Eastern time, we got a long global recovery in some of these sectors.
Speaker ASo we'll see.
Speaker AWe're going to keep tracking it folks, and of course praying for cooling of the, of the tensions and we'll see where this five day moratorium of sorts goes.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker BAnd I'd add the American families that have been affected by injuries and deaths.
Speaker BYou know, we're all praying for those American soldiers.
Speaker AThat's right.
Speaker AOn a much, much lighter note, folks, we're delighted to have a terrific guest join us here on the Buzz.
Speaker APowered by Project44.
Speaker ADan Sidel is the global Chief Operating Officer at Hellofresh, where he leads global operations for the world's premier integrated food solutions group.
Speaker ANow, with over 26 years of experience.
Speaker AWe're breaking our 20 year rule there, Marty.
Speaker AWe hadn't done that in a long time.
Speaker AWe're breaking it.
Speaker ABut with over 26 years of experience spanning robotics, industrial manufacturing and complex supply chain sectors, Dan is indeed a transformational leader dedicated to scaling tech driven operations and integrating advanced robotics to redefine how the world eats.
Speaker APrior to this current role, Dan served in leadership roles at companies such as Amazon, Target and Thomas and Betts.
Speaker ASo please join me in welcoming dan sidel, global COO with HelloFresh.
Speaker CHey.
Speaker AHey Dan.
Speaker AHow you doing today?
Speaker CHi Scott.
Speaker CHi Marty.
Speaker CThanks for having me.
Speaker AYou bet.
Speaker AReally.
Speaker AEnjoy the pre show, pre show session.
Speaker AAnd Marty, going back to kind of some of the cool robotics and autonomous things you're excited about, I think we got the right guest today.
Speaker AMarty, what do you think?
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BWe had a great time backstage learning about Dan and Hellofresh.
Speaker AWe did, we did.
Speaker ALots of folks excited about Hellofresh.
Speaker AMaybe more on that later in the session.
Speaker ABut first folks, it is the fun warm up question.
Speaker ADan, right now there's lots of things to celebrate here today.
Speaker AIt's Melba Toast Day.
Speaker ANot my favorite.
Speaker AIt's National Chip and Dip Day.
Speaker AIt's interesting.
Speaker ANow you get a little closer.
Speaker ANational Puppy Day, National Tamale Day.
Speaker ALoved all those.
Speaker ABut Also folks, it's World Math Day.
Speaker ANow that's not as exciting as maybe ruffles and some onion dip, but nevertheless, World Math Day critical.
Speaker AAnd it's being celebrated for the 19th year in a row here in 2026.
Speaker ABut it's been, it's been kind of a thing for several thousands of years.
Speaker ADan, I want to ask you, on this World Math Day, my hunch is you and Marty both are really good at math.
Speaker AYou got to be to do what you do.
Speaker AWho is one of your favorite math teachers of all time?
Speaker ADan?
Speaker CThis is an easy one.
Speaker CRoy Huckle at Hackettstown High School spent what, four years one way or another, interacting with him through shop classes, math, algebra, cnc.
Speaker CHe was the first person to bring coding, you know, cnc, coding and machining into the school and just have total respect.
Speaker AOh, Dan, I love that.
Speaker ASounds like a Mr. Felton in my journey.
Speaker AIndustrial arts.
Speaker AAnd where was that at, Dan?
Speaker CThe high school, Hackettstown, N.J. where M&Ms.
Speaker CAre made.
Speaker CThat's our big claim to fame.
Speaker CI went to Hackettstown.
Speaker CWhere you smelled chocolate every day.
Speaker CYou may think that's a great thing, but you get pretty sick of it after a while.
Speaker AOkay, man.
Speaker AThere's a lot more of that story, Dan.
Speaker ALove it, Marty.
Speaker AThat's gonna be tough to beat.
Speaker AWho's one of your favorite all time math teachers?
Speaker BSo this is easy.
Speaker BMy mom, Carolyn Parker.
Speaker BShe taught until she was 76 and we co taught a class when I was in the eighth grade and we co tutored math when I started in the ninth grade.
Speaker BAnd she, she's genius and brilliant at it and I think it's protected her from things like Alzheimer's.
Speaker BAnd honestly she taught me everything I know up until calculus.
Speaker BWhen I got into Calculus one and two, I was a little bit past her abilities.
Speaker BBut I will tell you, being tutoring cheerleaders when I was in the ninth grade is the greatest job I've ever had in my entire life.
Speaker BIt was, it was incredible.
Speaker BSo love mom.
Speaker BShout out to mom and her amazing math teaching abilities.
Speaker AThat's awesome, Marty.
Speaker AThat's awesome.
Speaker AAnd by the way, calculus is beyond a lot of us, including myself, so.
Speaker ABut love those, love those memories.
Speaker AI would add Ms. Porter was one of my favorite teachers of all time for that matter.
Speaker AIn my journey, she taught me in 10th grade geometry class and she was able to make so much of math so relatable even to those of us like myself, that I did not.
Speaker AI still don't have advanced math, two Fs skills and and she was encouraging and empowering.
Speaker ASo patient, man.
Speaker AThere's not much in life like a patient teacher, especially of advanced concepts.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AAnd.
Speaker AAnd she's gone way too soon.
Speaker ABut Ms. Porter was the best.
Speaker AAll right, so, Dan and Marty, a lot of good stuff there.
Speaker AI want to call out a couple folks really quick before we go on.
Speaker AWe're gonna talk more about chocolate.
Speaker ADan, you hit the right topic there with the Eminem capital of the world, But Larry Klein, LK, is tuned in from Albany.
Speaker ALarry, I hope 2026 brings you tons and tons of good health, and it's great to see you here today.
Speaker AAnd Robert, back with us from Cape Town, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker ARobert, I think I've got that right.
Speaker AGreat to see you again.
Speaker ALooking forward to you and Larry weighing in on some of the topics we're talking about here today.
Speaker AAll right, so we're gonna get to work.
Speaker AAnd Dan, you nailed it when you talked about chocolate, because our first story talks about cocoa prices.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker ASo we're gonna look at.
Speaker ASome companies are dealing with the ongoing higher costs of cocoa.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AOur friends at Food Dab are reporting on how Mondelez is having to rethink its approach to chocolate innovation.
Speaker AThe good news, and as me and Marty have established, there's always some people looking for it.
Speaker ACocoa prices have come down from record highs seen in 2024.
Speaker AAnd when I say record highs, think over $12,000 per metric ton.
Speaker ANow it's around 3200, $3,300 per metric ton.
Speaker ASo you see, we say historic highs, really big highs, but still, even that 3200, 3300 is still elevated.
Speaker AWhen you think, look at pricing historically.
Speaker ANow, West Africa, which produces about 70% of the world's cocoa supply, has continued to face poor harvest due to drought, tree diseases, crops that are overworked and are aging, amongst many other factors.
Speaker AAnd it's important to keep in mind cocoa supplies are bought about a year in advance by large companies like Mondelez, So they're probably yet to fully benefit from the cocoa coming back down to earth.
Speaker ASo Mon Lease, which sells about 95% of its chocolate products to Europe and emerging markets, is looking at various options of dealing with these heightened costs, including offering candy bars filled with nugget, caramel, nuts and fruits.
Speaker ANow, that would not get my vote.
Speaker AThat would not get up.
Speaker AI'll pay more.
Speaker AI don't want my chocolate bars with fruit in them.
Speaker AMarty.
Speaker AAnd Dan Hershey is also looking at new products to combat cocoa prices, such as this one.
Speaker ASounds Good milk chocolate bars filled with crunchy waffle cone bits instead of extra chocolate.
Speaker AMan, sign me up for that one.
Speaker ASo, Dan, Dan, when you think, you know, look, we have so many constraints.
Speaker ACocoa prices are just one of them.
Speaker AWhen you think of these innovations and how companies are finding way, what are your thoughts?
Speaker CYeah, first off, on cocoa itself, I see that as a, like a canary in the coal mine, right.
Speaker CIt's one of the leading commodities that drive my consumer concern is I look at food in my food distribution network and my supply base, right.
Speaker CWith climate risk, and you called out all the things that are making harvest harder and harder.
Speaker CHow are we thinking about redundancy?
Speaker CAnd I'll get a lot more into that, but I feel like this is just the beginning of a shift we need to make.
Speaker CAs anyone who deals with food based on climate change, based on all of the things that are causing what I'll say some pretty significant disruption in the food basis.
Speaker CSo this is just a lead in.
Speaker CAnd I also think it's given suppliers the opportunity to really shorten pricing windows, change the way they look at contracts like this is just the tip of the spear, I think, as we talk about these things.
Speaker ADan, well said.
Speaker AWell said.
Speaker AMarty, your thoughts on this chocolate, on the greater story here.
Speaker BSo I have a brownie recipe I've been making since I was 17 and it's got the, you know, unsweetened baker's chocolate squares in it.
Speaker BAnd I've noticed the price go up, but it's minuscule if you sort of make it yourself.
Speaker BIf you think of that way and you, you hit the nail on the head, Scott.
Speaker BThey really need to raise prices because prices communicate scarcity and consumers are smart and they'll make their own decisions.
Speaker BAnd in my opinion, fillers are gross.
Speaker BI mean, you, you can't, you cannot taste the chocolate anymore.
Speaker BIt's like gross, grosser and grossest.
Speaker BSo, and, and also think about if you're buying yourself a piece of chocolate, you know, on an individual basis, it's actually a small investment.
Speaker BSo I, I, I, and I agree with Dan having that flexibility, which by the way, we're going to talk about in the strategy section around your pricing is critical because you, you're, you've got to raise them, you've got to do that.
Speaker AWell said, Marty.
Speaker AIt's almost like the, the first couple chapters of the Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory book.
Speaker ARemember, remember the family?
Speaker AThey, they, every single bite of the chocolate bar was a preciously guarded luxury.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker AAnd it's interesting that you said share your your perspective because now we're all used to getting chocolate whenever we want it, even if it's not great.
Speaker AYou know, great chocolate like Robert who's in Durban, South Africa.
Speaker AWhen I went to South Africa, man, the chocolate there will blow your socks off.
Speaker AMarty and Dan, I tell you what.
Speaker ABut regardless, a lot of good stuff there.
Speaker ADan and Marty appreciate Yalls perspective and we are going to touch on some corporate strategy elements that's probably tied in nicely to this first story.
Speaker AAll right, so Dan and Marty, where are we going to go next?
Speaker AWe're going to how the Amazon relationship with the United States Postal Service is ever changing.
Speaker ABig news here as the Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon plans to reduce its postal volume by 2/3 this year.
Speaker ANow for critical context, the USPS delivered billions of packages for Amazon in 2025, right?
Speaker AHas for years.
Speaker AShipMatrix data says it was 6.6 billion.
Speaker AIn fact, Amazon volume made up almost 15% of total United States Postal Service delivery volume last fiscal year.
Speaker ANow the timing though of the of these moves Amazon's looking to make is related to several things, but notably Amazon's existing contract with the USPS expires in October.
Speaker APlus Amazon continues to deliver more and more of its orders.
Speaker AIn fact, in 2025 in a first Amazon delivered more of its parcels than the USPS did late last year.
Speaker AMore than anyone else did for that matter matter.
Speaker AAnd important to note there has been ongoing negotiations in this massive relationship which still may yet impact Amazon's final plans.
Speaker AAt the end of the day, the USPS continues to lose money.
Speaker AI think $9 billion in fiscal year 2025 alone.
Speaker AThere's new leadership, right?
Speaker ANew Postmaster General and change is certainly seen to be coming.
Speaker ASo Dan, you might have a little bit of under spend a little while since you were at Amazon, but I'm really curious to hear your take on these changes here.
Speaker CWhen I read this story, I don't see this as a USPS problem.
Speaker CThis is more of a last mile logistical.
Speaker CHere's why.
Speaker CAmazon will become hands down the largest last mile network in the United States when that happens, right?
Speaker CAmazon will always prioritize their own units.
Speaker CBut what what comes next?
Speaker CHow does that last mile market from a per mile per mode gig worker, all of the different modes that we all know they can bring to life pretty easily.
Speaker CHow does that drive other third party or three pl last mile suppliers in a different direction?
Speaker CI think we were pretty stable as a last mile organization here in the United States when USPS was still had A good amount of volume and kind of controlled that market.
Speaker CBut now with that cap kind of looks like disappearing, I'm a little concerned.
Speaker CAgain, back to the strategy.
Speaker CWe'll talk about it in a little bit.
Speaker CBut with obviously my business as being such a big factor, we're already looking at ways to hedge that and such.
Speaker CBut yes, that, that's, that's my biggest worry.
Speaker ADan, well said.
Speaker AWell said, Marty.
Speaker AI'd love to get your thoughts on this continued evolution in the Amazon USPS love fest.
Speaker AYour thoughts, Marty?
Speaker BYeah, so mine's completely different angle and I appreciate Dan's.
Speaker BWe as Americans have to decide what we're going to do with USPS Rural communities, these are Republican communities, by the way, depend on it.
Speaker BThey depend on it for inexpensive deliveries in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker BIf we turn that over to corporations and we turn that over to Amazon, folks are going to be paying a whole lot more for it.
Speaker BAnd so, you know, we do things for the public good all the time.
Speaker BWe build roads, we build bridges, we build ports.
Speaker BAnd we have a decision to make.
Speaker BAnd I'm a big fan of writing letters and sending letters and cards, you know, because I'm 100 years old or 91 years old, but think about that for a minute.
Speaker BYou want to send the card to your grandmother from Amazon?
Speaker BDo you really want to pay $15 for that?
Speaker BI don't think so.
Speaker BSo, you know, we have to make that decision.
Speaker BAnd the, the irony is the $9 billion, we throw that away in a day in this war, I mean, a single day.
Speaker BSo, you know, we have as a society a decision to make.
Speaker AYou're right.
Speaker AIt goes back to the why, right?
Speaker AWhen the USPS was first established, commerce, business, the world was much, much different.
Speaker AAnd we might have to revisit some of that.
Speaker AIncluding the new Postmaster General is looking to ask the powers that be for the ability to adjust prices differently rather than have to go through all the regulatory hurdles.
Speaker ASo we shall see.
Speaker ABut it's a fast, it's a tell you, it's a fascinating time to see this play out.
Speaker AAnd Dan, going back to your point, final mile, just in general, it's amazing what companies are doing, so we'll see where this ends up.
Speaker AAnd by the way, folks, Trisha has dropp dropped a link to this story.
Speaker AShe dropped a link to the earlier story.
Speaker ASo don't take our word for it.
Speaker AGo check it out yourself and give us your take.
Speaker AAnd I got to call out one more thing, Dan and Marty, because I missed this little nugget so earlier in that last story Dan and Marty we were talking about fruit filled chocolate and LK says it sounds like a six cylinder Mustang.
Speaker ASo yeah, that's nice, isn't it?
Speaker AIf you can get a Mustang, get a, get a, get a, a big, big motor, right?
Speaker AA five zero or something.
Speaker ABut yeah, it's about as much as.
Speaker BI drove a four cylinder Thunderbird.
Speaker BYou know, it's like that's, that was the dumbest car I've ever.
Speaker AGet the real thing.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AAnyway, so we'll keep tracking this Amazon USPS story.
Speaker AAppreciate Dan and Marty's comments here and we've been, we've been kind of referencing this next story a couple times and here in a few minutes we're going to kind of dive deep and what the cool things Dan and the hello Fresh team are doing.
Speaker AIt might surprise you along with some, some data and some factoids.
Speaker ABut with this one story here I want to hit on.
Speaker AIt looks at the continued evolution of corporate strategy, especially as disruption and volatility and uncertainty right now reigns supreme.
Speaker ASo the World Economic Forum recently published this interesting story along these lines, it's, it's polling, the World Economic Forum's polling that the article kind of speaks to reflects that 50% of business leaders anticipate either a turbulent or stormy business climate over the next two years.
Speaker AWhat gives them that idea, I wonder?
Speaker AThat figure rises to 57% over the next 10.
Speaker AThat sounds low to me.
Speaker AOne point though is made in this article y' all should go check out.
Speaker AIt says, quote, it's now clear that strategy is no longer about optimizing a working world.
Speaker AIt is about navigating a highly uncertain one, end quote.
Speaker AThe article also suggests that companies are embracing a critical wrinkle in this disruptive, volatile era.
Speaker ABusiness leaders must be able to quote, make informed predictions, withstand shocks and pivot quickly, end quote.
Speaker AIt feels like the last five years.
Speaker AAnd speaking of five years talks about how five year strategies are now compressed in into 12 month cycles.
Speaker AA wait and see approach it says is the riskiest move of them all.
Speaker AAll right, so Dan, that what this article wasn't necessarily written with supply chain in mind, but many of us in supply chain is like where was this five years ago, eight years ago, you name it at least to me.
Speaker ABut Dan, your comments here on how corporate strategy continues to evolve too, sure, you know what?
Speaker CFive, six years ago, or maybe even less than that, you are looking at building optimization, utilization, OE to ensure, right?
Speaker CYou're having the safest, highest quality, highest efficient process to Deliver and delight for customers.
Speaker CThose are the easy things that you can control.
Speaker CRight now that we're seeing all the other things going on in the world now we need to build supply chain strategies that can sense, decide and make quick decisions and pivot in areas that we would have never dreamt we'd have to pivot before.
Speaker CWhen I think of KPIs, I actually reflected on this question and again you'd think about quality, safety, cost, all of the things that classically mattered.
Speaker CNow it's like time to recover percent of items that'll that are dual or triple or quadruple sourced.
Speaker CWhat is the supply chain disruption impact?
Speaker CWhat kind of indices do you have on each one?
Speaker CHow do you prioritize each one?
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CWhat is the time for upstream things that possibly can make your business almost seamless while the inner workings are really troubled.
Speaker CLike in my case, how could we redefine the menu before the customer even knows we can't get broccoli?
Speaker CHow fast can we shift production in all those ways?
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CSo I feel like the playbook has gone from the classic like lean playbook of safety, cost and quality to still delivering that experience.
Speaker CBut you have so many different levers now you have to pull to ensure the customer is protected from all the volatility we see on a daily basis.
Speaker ADan, no.
Speaker AYeah, limitless.
Speaker AIt feels like levers to pull and to manage.
Speaker AMaybe if you're lucky, I don't know.
Speaker AMarty, your thoughts when it comes to this ever evolving approach to corporate strategy?
Speaker BYeah, Dan, that was brilliant.
Speaker BI'm going to go back and watch that again.
Speaker BGet the transcript of around supply chain.
Speaker BSo I do strategy.
Speaker BI've worked as a chief strategy officer in companies and this varies.
Speaker BAnd my criticism to the article is the company size.
Speaker BSusan Cohen in our management department teaches a one page strategy for small companies where every week, every two weeks, they've got it all on the board whiteboard.
Speaker BThey're erasing, moving it around.
Speaker BAnd I think mid sized companies can do this too.
Speaker BBut frankly think it's impossible for big companies in my opinion because of the complex customer interactions, the difficulties in supply chain and the contracts that they face, the approval processes.
Speaker BI was working on an HR process for a company that took 140 days to hire somebody.
Speaker AWow.
Speaker BAnd I just had this crazy idea.
Speaker BInstead of spending 40 days approving it three times, why don't we approve it in the beginning?
Speaker BI mean companies are not as sophisticated as we think they are from a leadership perspective.
Speaker BAnd there is just no way that big companies are going to be able to do this unless they break themselves up into really small flexible SBUs or something else.
Speaker BI think small companies are going to eat them alive in this environment.
Speaker BWe're seeing it like with ERP systems and other AI things.
Speaker BSo I think Dan's takes from the supply chain side, mine's from more the corporate strategy side.
Speaker BBut it's.
Speaker BIt's tough.
Speaker AIt is.
Speaker AAnd hey, I, I'd pay, I'd pay a few bucks to hear both of y' all tackle it for several hours in our next session.
Speaker AWe're gonna have to have y' all come back.
Speaker ABut Marty, really quick aside the, the you mentioned that 140 day decid time frame to make a hiring decision.
Speaker AThink about it.
Speaker AIf you're the candidate, right.
Speaker AYou're a talented in demand candidate.
Speaker AYou meet them one day and then what is that?
Speaker AThree and a half months.
Speaker AI told y' all my math stinks.
Speaker AThree and a half months later you're.
Speaker AYou finally get the decision whether they want you to come on board or not.
Speaker AYou're not going to have top talent that's willing to wait that long, much less think about the user, the candidate experience.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AAnyway, Marty and Dan, really good stuff.
Speaker AI find both of your perspectives intriguing.
Speaker AAnd Jeremy's back with us.
Speaker AJeremy, he loves strategy as well.
Speaker AAnd I don't follow you exactly.
Speaker AScrooge versus Fezziwig.
Speaker AMaybe I'm missing that analogy somewhere.
Speaker AMaybe I'm not smart.
Speaker AI'm not sure where Fez from A.
Speaker BChris Christmas Carol and I don't.
Speaker BI don't know who.
Speaker BI know who Scrooge is.
Speaker BI can't remember.
Speaker BFezziwig.
Speaker BExactly.
Speaker AOkay, so Jeremy, fill us in.
Speaker ABut as always it's great to have you back.
Speaker AHe always brings the perspective.
Speaker ADan and Marty, a lot of good stuff.
Speaker AWe that really that cool corporate strategy conversation deserves several hours of conversation.
Speaker AI thought it was a thought provoking article that we're not going to do justice to here today.
Speaker ABut that's why Trisha has dropped a link right there.
Speaker AYou can check it all out and give us a your thoughts on how you see corporate strategy and leadership evolving.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker ASo we're about to dive deep into Dan's perspective.
Speaker AReally cool.
Speaker AAs I was doing some homework on hellofresh and we're gonna do some closer homework on hellofresh because Dan, we are now official.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AWe got.
Speaker AI didn't want to unbox the whole thing but we're gonna.
Speaker AWe're using hellofresh now.
Speaker AOur shipment got here earlier today.
Speaker ABut before we go there, folks, you know we love sharing great resources.
Speaker AIt's gonna help your days and your weeks and your, your, your business year be more successful.
Speaker ASo this from our friends at easypost.
Speaker AHow are shipping teams using large language models already, both with and without permission?
Speaker AYou can check out this practical guide from easypost that shows what's really happening today and where the real opportunity is.
Speaker AWe're dropping a link right there in the chat.
Speaker ACheck it out and let us know what you think.
Speaker AAll right, so Dan, terrific to have you.
Speaker AWe're going to talk about HelloFresh now where you're on a mission to change the way people eat forever.
Speaker AI love that.
Speaker AI've been working hard on, on how I can change better ways to eat.
Speaker AMore on that later maybe.
Speaker ABut for starters, especially from a supply chain perspective, let's level set a bit.
Speaker ATell us more about your operational supply chain footprint.
Speaker AI'll call it so we can level set with our folks out there.
Speaker CSo we operate in 18 different countries and when you look at our total global footprint, North America, which is obviously US and Canada, we don't have anything in Mexico make up depending on the month or the quarter, 60 to 65% of the total volume.
Speaker CSo as you can imagine, a high concentration of our customer base is here in the United States.
Speaker CWhen we think about our supply chain functionality.
Speaker CWhy I love this role and why I have decided to take it.
Speaker CAs you shared, I worked for Thomas and Betts, an ABB company for almost 18 years and I love making stuff.
Speaker AStuff.
Speaker CI went to Amazon because of Kiva and at the time Amazon had just acquired Kiva and I wanted to get deeper into robotics.
Speaker CI learned supply chain and target same thing.
Speaker CThis was the first opportunity I had in a role to apply all of my lean processing, technical manufacturing knowledge within a supply chain.
Speaker CSo why I bring this up now is within our us, our Canada, now Germany and Australia networks, we have two different types of supply chains.
Speaker CSo we not only have the fulfillment model for our ready to eat or our meal kit side, but we also have ready to eat.
Speaker CSo what those are, I like to call them extremely high tech TV dinners.
Speaker CAnd why they're extremely high tech is they're never frozen.
Speaker CWe cook them not just in an oven, but we, we put a lot of calculated moisture and a lot of different cooking methods that other we'll say cooking industrial kitchens don't do.
Speaker CAnd the reason why we do that is we bring the microwave experience to life as if you cooked it yourself.
Speaker CThese things do not taste reheated they are macro driven by nutritionalists.
Speaker CSo we have different menu types.
Speaker CWhether you're on GLP1 or you're looking for added protein or you're just looking for a daily balanced diet or some other diet that may exist in the, in the world that you're focusing on, we have menus for that.
Speaker CSo when you look at our supply chain, it's multifaceted.
Speaker CWe have local suppliers, as you can imagine, we have global suppliers for our proteins.
Speaker CSo bringing that all together in each specific market has its unique challenges.
Speaker CAs you can imagine.
Speaker CFrance, for instance.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker CThey, you know, if I ever brought in a cheese from across the border, they would have anarchy and.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker CWe probably lose every sale overnight where maybe some other markets don't care as much.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CSo it's an extremely market driven, cultural driven business because of how passionate food is for our customers.
Speaker ADan, I love it.
Speaker AAnd, and I'm all of that.
Speaker AI'm going to ask you a question here in a second and I'll kind of.
Speaker AFolks already know the answer, I think.
Speaker ABut Marty, really quick first, that just sounds the scope, the size, all the different preferences and the factors.
Speaker ADan runs a challenged supply chain organization that somehow finds a way of making all these people happy.
Speaker AMarty, your thoughts here.
Speaker BSo one, Dan, I didn't realize you had the fresh ones, if those are available in the United States.
Speaker BI'm retiring from cooking today.
Speaker BSecondly, I'd really like the fresh ones from Germany because I've been to Germany so many times and I love Germany and food.
Speaker BSo we may have to air freight some of those over here.
Speaker BI digress.
Speaker BI think that is incredible because they're customizing in these local markets with this really complex and I don't even know, I'm assuming manufacturing, supply chain assembly, packaging, you know, it just goes on and on and on.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd keeping the food safe, you know, is a huge deal and you know, the food scientists keeping it tasting good.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BSo this is this.
Speaker BI'm hungry.
Speaker BIf I had mine right now, I'd be going upstairs and nuking it right after this show.
Speaker AYou know what's interesting?
Speaker AGo ahead, Dan.
Speaker CNo, go ahead, Scott.
Speaker AI'm sorry, what's interesting?
Speaker AYou know, because we just, as I mentioned, it's always cool to have a leader from an organization that we just kind of had experience with.
Speaker AAnd, and I was, me and Amanda were placing our first order over the weekend and it's, it's mass cost customization.
Speaker AAnd I mean that in a really true sense.
Speaker AIt asks you like 12 different questions.
Speaker AAs it looks to kind of zero in on what your preference is from a culinary standpoint.
Speaker AAnd so then on the back end, kind of kind of to your point, Marty, they have to manage all of those preferences at scale, you know, along the lines of what dad Dan was kind of sharing the footprint.
Speaker AIt really is.
Speaker AIt's an amazing time to be in global supply chain.
Speaker ABut Dan, before I continue, because I had a few other questions for you.
Speaker AI think you were in a comment on something you heard there from Marty.
Speaker CYeah, just Marty.
Speaker CIt's factor.
Speaker CThat's the brand, that's the ready to cook.
Speaker CSo all you do is, like I said, pop it in the microwave for two and a half minutes and it comes out delicious.
Speaker CBut on that factor side, and even on the hellofresh meal kit and all our different brands, you brought up safety, Scott.
Speaker CAnd that's an interesting concept that obviously, you know, right.
Speaker C18 Months, 20 months now has been here.
Speaker CAnd I would have never guessed the challenges of food.
Speaker CAnd what I mean by that is when I was in manufacturing T6160 aluminum, you got the specs in, you know what to adjust the pressure to in the deep draw form stamp tool, right.
Speaker COr if your nylon 66 came in and your plastic house and its moisture content was X, you knew where to set the barrel temp, right?
Speaker CThis is food.
Speaker CAnd it's amazing how much variation and how many other headwinds we run into on a daily basis.
Speaker CBut one thing doesn't change, and this was the awesome thing.
Speaker CIf no one else takes anything away from food.
Speaker CConversation here in supply chain is this lean principles, right and back.
Speaker CBack in my manufacturing days were always critical to reduce working capital, to have a better process lead time for made to order items.
Speaker CAll of those things, right?
Speaker CLike everyone who's flown chip before knows what I'm talking about in food.
Speaker CWe have been shrinking our process lead time so much.
Speaker CWell, Scott, you just said you just placed an order and you already have a box in your hand.
Speaker AThat's right.
Speaker CWe have been maniacally focused on processed lead time, reducing, eliminating variation.
Speaker CAnd guess what?
Speaker CNot for working capital, not for reacting to xyz, but to get fresher produce, fresher proteins, just a much more delicious experience to your front door.
Speaker CAnd that's like one of the key mantras I've been driving since coming on board is listen, inventory is evil, especially when it comes to food.
Speaker CWe want to turn this stuff really fast to push that much fresher experience to you, the customer.
Speaker ADan.
Speaker ALove it.
Speaker AAnd that's where we're going next.
Speaker ABut really quick, I want, I want to bring in Jeremy's comment here.
Speaker AFood is revered in many, many human cultures.
Speaker AHealth equals happy people.
Speaker AThat is right, Jeremy.
Speaker AThat is right.
Speaker ASo let's do this.
Speaker ASo Dan, earlier we touched on some of your almost 30 years of industry experience.
Speaker AAnd there I go, breaking our 20 year rule.
Speaker ADan, I'm not supposed to break that 20 year rule.
Speaker AWe always say over 20.
Speaker AI broke it twice here today.
Speaker AAnyway, a lot of that experience comes in robotics and industrial manufacturing, global logistics, some of those big names we mentioned already, Amazon and Target.
Speaker AAnd then coupling that with, with what you're describing and what me and Marty were talking about, the complexity of it all.
Speaker AI was going to ask you what makes HelloFresh one of the most sophisticated tech driven supply chains out there, but, but really I would answer that because it has to be.
Speaker ABut Dan, expound on that if you would, please.
Speaker CYeah, our, our secret sauce or our moat I would say is twofold, without a doubt our front end.
Speaker CSo if you go to our user experience, it's where the magic happens, right?
Speaker CWe have that unique opportunity to make direct contact with our customer base.
Speaker CWe have the ability to solicit live feedback on every recipe, on every trend.
Speaker CWe have that unique ability to touch every customer, to understand what they bring to the table from a passion perspective.
Speaker CWhat we've also just deployed, it's called our cookbook.
Speaker CSo our web developers, our app developers have been working on this capability that is now live that if you see a delicious meal on TikTok or your favorite influencer chef and you're like, I have to have this.
Speaker CWe may not have it yet in our portfolio, but we can use AI within our app to download to decipher the video.
Speaker CAnd our app then will give you the entire recipe, the contents needed to complete the recipe, cook times the whole nine yards and it will be forever in your cookbook, in the HelloFresh app.
Speaker CWhat is exciting to me is by bringing that to life, I have a gigantic uphill battle.
Speaker CYou can imagine I always use heart of palm for some reason.
Speaker CI don't know, I love that root for some reason.
Speaker CBut you can't get it anywhere unless you go to a Brazilian steakhouse.
Speaker CThat's the only time I can get it anyway.
Speaker CImagine you see a recipe with or heart of palm, rather hard of palm on it and I haven't qualified hard of palm.
Speaker CI haven't, haven't done shelf life testing on hard upon.
Speaker CI haven't done any.
Speaker CWe'll call Transportation sensitivities, the temperature, time in transit.
Speaker CWe are standing up as we speak, a project we're in.
Speaker CIf you're in Arizona or up the entire Pacific Northwest coast, we now have, it's called Project 500.
Speaker CSo what you were talking about, Scott, the designer ability you feel as you answer questions, we tape that to the next level.
Speaker CAnd what we're piloting right now on the west coast is what I'll call infinite desirability for you, the customer and what your likes are.
Speaker CSo now I can imagine you went through that list and it probably narrowed you down to like 30 or 40 different recipes tops.
Speaker CWhere now if you're in those zip codes that are being tested, you're probably limited to 100 and you want to narrow it down even more or less in the not too distant future.
Speaker CIf I want that heart of palm and it's not in my bill or in my SKU playbook, we're building the capabilities right now to bring it on like that.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CSo back to the strategy, back to how are we managing this supply chain.
Speaker CIt really comes down to a few key points.
Speaker CIt's not just getting guard shack to guard shack, meaning the product in and kitted and out the door fast.
Speaker CIt's how are we onboarding SKUs, how are we partnering with suppliers to drive supplier development redundancy.
Speaker CBecause you can imagine I get better broccoli in the Pacific Northwest compared to Arizona and different times of the year.
Speaker CBut sometimes I have to get it from Georgia or it's all over, right?
Speaker CSo building those relationships, what I like to call farm to box and not depending on a distributor to manage your broker the best.
Speaker CBut get that again for speed and freshness.
Speaker CThe product as fast as possible is what we're working on.
Speaker CWhich is, as you can imagine, I'm taking it back to the robotics question.
Speaker CIt is a monumentous task, right, of utilizing AI visualization on inbound because of how we'll say divergent our product could be that we protect our customers from.
Speaker CBut we obviously see some interesting things.
Speaker CIt's how fast can we process, how can we not even warehouse to get it in just in time.
Speaker CThese are all the things that AI and robotics are allowing us to do.
Speaker CAnd that scale proof of concept I shared out in the west coast is fully roboticized with.
Speaker CWe're using what I would like to call some of the latest technology, not only on the physical asset perspective, but also on how we're managing those assets.
Speaker AAll delicious supply chain discussion is what I'd say.
Speaker AMarty, your Thoughts on and Dan shared a lot there A lot of different, innovative, evolving things are taking place with an organization all to deliver fresh and oftentimes local and high quality convenient options that also hit those certain preferences that we all have.
Speaker AMarty, you may not love tofu.
Speaker AI love tofu.
Speaker AI might, you know, folks may think I'm weird.
Speaker AI love tofu.
Speaker AI really do.
Speaker BCan't be friends anymore.
Speaker AThat's what a friend told me once.
Speaker ABut Marty, react to what we heard there from Dan.
Speaker BSo two things.
Speaker BOne, Dan's comment about AI I mean I, I cook and I use Gemini because I can just hit a button and it goes to a Google Doc and I take pictures of my pantry in my refrigerator and you know, ask Gemini for recipes all the time that have four or five ingredients that I can cook in 30 minutes.
Speaker BSo you know, thank goodness this app is out there because I'm going to download it immediately and start using it.
Speaker BBut the, the second point is really important.
Speaker BScott, you said the why.
Speaker BLet's think about the why for a minute.
Speaker BThis is the most hyper competitive service industry I teach service ops on earth.
Speaker BThere is nothing easy about being in the restaurant business or the grocery business or the hellofresh business.
Speaker BConsumers can DoorDash Uber Eats Grubhub.
Speaker BThey can go to their local grocery store who has a million fresh food items that you can that are pre cooked, right?
Speaker BI mean they've got sushi for God's sake.
Speaker BAnd look at the, look at the incredible pressure that that puts on a company like HelloFresh.
Speaker BAnd so their response is to beat them.
Speaker BYou know, their response is to make it better.
Speaker BTheir response is to make it faster.
Speaker BTheir response is to keep your ass at home and not have to, sorry I cuss, have to drive to the grocery store or wait for it, pay for those huge fees on Grubhub and UberEats and DoorDash.
Speaker BSo I, I think the why here related to strategy because in supply chain, there is no supply chain strategy.
Speaker BWithout corporate strategy, it does not exist.
Speaker BYou cannot do your supply chain without understanding that.
Speaker BAnd I think the why here is huge.
Speaker BAnd, and it's impressive what HelloFresh is doing under that incredible competitive pressure.
Speaker AWow.
Speaker AIt is.
Speaker AAnd I can't wait to experience it firsthand.
Speaker ASo Dan and Marty, for the sake of time, because we've really enjoyed the food discussion here today for sure and all the other perspective y' all produce, Dan, what I found to be a pretty cool report to kind of dive into.
Speaker AAnd that's the 20252026 state of home Cooking report.
Speaker ANow get this folks, I'm gonna share some of the key findings here and I'm gonna get Dan to weigh in on some too.
Speaker A93% Of Americans plan to cook as much or more this year than they did last year.
Speaker AAnd that's our household.
Speaker A69% Of adults have sit down dinners at home with others, most or even every day of the week.
Speaker AI wish I could say that's ours.
Speaker ABut we go, we cook and we scatter to all corners of the house is what me and a man and three kids do.
Speaker A71% Find cooking to be more stress relieving than stressful.
Speaker AAnd as someone that just grilled for the last three nights take advantage of weather, it is so, so stress relieving.
Speaker ABut Dan, when you think of this, this report, some of these trends, what would you call out first?
Speaker CThe call out is again, love that we're getting data from our customer base, right?
Speaker CWe, that's why we're here.
Speaker CVoice of the customer drives everything we do.
Speaker CSo as I look at the report and as we obviously have a ton of conversations around what we're learning each day, it comes around a few things.
Speaker CSpeed to delivery, reaction to the customer desires.
Speaker CBut let's face it, quality, both of y' all said it.
Speaker CYou if you can go to Target or if, hey, I know Target well, if you download the Target360 app, right, you can have delivery, it's costing you something.
Speaker CBut you have delivery to your home and have the same thing.
Speaker CBut what, what they can't deliver is a cooking experience.
Speaker CThey cannot deliver a curated menu that we know based on what you tell us and what your search history and what you put in your cookbook, what your tastes and desires are.
Speaker CAnd you're only going to be as creative as your own personal creativity utilizing those resources where we have a very large culinary team that has an immense amount of food science behind them.
Speaker CWhere our calories are, our portioning, our food waste is nil.
Speaker CIt's nil because we are giving you the exact ingredients, the exact cooking experience that you are looking for, right?
Speaker CAnd that experience comes down to, you know, how easy as I shared when we were chatting before I my extent of cooking before HelloFresh was barbecuing once in a while, right?
Speaker CThrow some steaks or brats on the barbecue and that was my skill set.
Speaker CAnd pushing a button on a microwave once in a while and you know, I figure I better practice what I preach.
Speaker CSo you know, we're very avid hellofresh customers.
Speaker CAnd it's amazing what I can produce.
Speaker CI never cooked a day in my life.
Speaker CAnd these meals are delicious.
Speaker CAnd I'm not saying it because I lead the organization.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker CThey are delicious.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker CAnd I really believe the key to that report is understanding what we need to flex in order to satisfy our customers.
Speaker CWe need to be in service of the customer and ensure again, we are getting you the fastest, shortest lead time possible.
Speaker CSo the product you're getting from us is pulled right out of the ground compared to if you're getting it from Walmart or Target or wherever else.
Speaker CWho knows how long.
Speaker CWell, I know how long it's been in Target supply chain.
Speaker CI won't share, but.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CIt definitely has less of a fresh, fresh perspective than what we can deliver at hello Fresh.
Speaker ANow, folks, check out the 2025, 2026 State of Home Cooking report.
Speaker AAnd while you're there, you might want to give hello Fresh a, you know, kick the tires, take it out.
Speaker AI can't speak.
Speaker AI've been impressed thus far.
Speaker AI can't wait to taste it tonight.
Speaker AMay as early as tonight.
Speaker AWe'll see.
Speaker ABut, but beyond all that, I'm fascinated with the supply chain leadership, innovation behind it.
Speaker AFor the sake of time, Marty and Dan, we're about to make sure.
Speaker AFolks, Marty, really quick before we, before we leave the state of Home cooking report, some of those trends.
Speaker ACan you identify with any of those factoids I mentioned or did you see anything else in the report that really resonated with the Parker household?
Speaker BYeah, the short version.
Speaker BI eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Cheetos and usually some disgusting candy in my car and my girls hate it.
Speaker BSo I gotta get factor because I've tried the horrible, cheap frozen things.
Speaker BThey're awful.
Speaker BSo Dan and I are gonna talk about that and he's gonna give me his curated, tested list of ones and then AI is going to figure out what I like.
Speaker BSo I love it.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSelfishly, it's all about me, Scott, today.
Speaker AHey, stay tuned.
Speaker AWe'll give you an update.
Speaker AAnd, and, and, and we'll hopefully we'll be successful at making sure Marty does not eat Cheetos and peanut butter together.
Speaker AOkay, so stay tuned.
Speaker AWe'll see if we can't break the habit.
Speaker AAll right, so.
Speaker AReally?
Speaker ASure, folks, before we ask Dan and Marty how folks can connect with them both, I definitely want to bring more resources.
Speaker AY' all know we're passionate about that.
Speaker ANot only can you check out our live programming at the new supply chain now, dot com supply chain now dot com.
Speaker ABut you can also check out our growing resource hub where we got all sorts of helpful content like this ebook from Keith Moore and the Auto Scheduler AI team.
Speaker ACheck this out.
Speaker AIt's focused on the high cost of labor, firefighting and systemic attrition.
Speaker AA framework for labor orchestration in modern distribution.
Speaker AWe got a link right there.
Speaker AYou can check it out.
Speaker AAnd Marty, really quick.
Speaker AWe're talking pre show about an article I think you wrote and a presentation you're given.
Speaker AAnd you had one piece of great advice to folks out there, CEOs out there that may view their frontline workers differently.
Speaker AYou want to share that really quick, Marty?
Speaker BYeah, it's an HBR article.
Speaker BIt's also in a podcast link.
Speaker BAnd essentially just treat your hourly workers exactly like your salaried workers.
Speaker BIf you do that, you'll have no issue.
Speaker BAnd do not think of them as mercenaries to just go down the road for 50 cents.
Speaker BThat is not true.
Speaker BIt is difficult for them.
Speaker BThey do not want to leave you.
Speaker BSo that's the summary.
Speaker AI appreciate that, Marty.
Speaker AI really do.
Speaker AAnd we gotta, you know, we gotta respect all the folks.
Speaker AEven in this golden age of supply chain tech, which is amazing.
Speaker AWe talk about some of these things today.
Speaker AIt's still the people, they get it done every day.
Speaker AAnd we got to love and recognize, recognize and take care of them.
Speaker AReally quick, before I connect y', all, I want to go back.
Speaker AI'm looking forward here because I did a little Googling.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker AI multitask a little bit.
Speaker AAnd Jeremy was talking about earlier how we need to be more like Fezziwig versus Scrooge.
Speaker AAnd I was like, I know Scrooge, but I don't know Fezziwig.
Speaker AWell, here it is, Dan and Marty.
Speaker AFezziwig was Scrooge's old boss that appears, I think is a ghost.
Speaker AAnd Fezziwig is very generous.
Speaker AHe's everything that Scrooge isn't.
Speaker AAnd so.
Speaker ASo somewhere here, Jeremy had put a comment how we need to be more.
Speaker AWe need to run companies more like Fezziwig than Scrooge.
Speaker AI can't quite find it, but now it all makes sense.
Speaker ASo well done, Jeremy, as always.
Speaker AOkay, let's do this.
Speaker ADan, again with HelloFresh, where they're on a mission to change the way people will eat forever.
Speaker AAnd check out that dish, man, it looks delicious.
Speaker AMaking me hungry.
Speaker ADan, how can folks connect with you?
Speaker AMaybe they want you to come in a keynote.
Speaker AMaybe they want to sit down and talk shop with you.
Speaker AMaybe they want to Learn about more about hellofresh and how to be, you know, part of what seems to be a growing ecosystem.
Speaker AHow can folks connect with you?
Speaker ADan?
Speaker CSure you can find me on LinkedIn.
Speaker CDan Seidel, HelloFresh and love connecting, love hearing other people's perspectives and without a doubt hear your story.
Speaker CI learn when I help others learn and I'll tell you, it's, it's just I thrive on it.
Speaker ASo please reach out, love it and you will have folks reach out.
Speaker AI am certain of that.
Speaker ADan really have enjoyed learning from you and Marty over the last hour.
Speaker AAnd Marty, same question.
Speaker AI think we can share this.
Speaker ASo Marty, you join me for dozens of shows now, maybe over a hundred, who knows.
Speaker AAnd we haven't shared this little nugget related to the University of Georgia and I think we can share that as a as it relates to supply chain education.
Speaker ACan you share anything publicly?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo we are pursuing moving from an emphasis degree to a full time supply chain degree.
Speaker BWe're hoping to do that by 2028 and since I'm 91 years old, I'm going to get out of this thing one of these days and I want to leave a legacy.
Speaker BAnd Troy Montgomery, Thomas Beal and Derek Heywood are all working on that with us and we're really excited about it.
Speaker AThat's awesome.
Speaker AWell we're going to celebrate with you when that happens.
Speaker AAdmire all the great work in industry and all the different ways you serve your students and help take care of them for a great, great future.
Speaker BAnd I'm Also Marty Parker, LinkedIn.
Speaker BI'm a top voice on LinkedIn.
Speaker BPlease connect with me.
Speaker BDon't just follow me or you can Google me.
Speaker BBy the way, who Googles anymore?
Speaker BScott why did you even say that?
Speaker BGemini me chatgpt me and Marty Parker UGA and you'll see a lot of the stuff I do do.
Speaker AOutstanding.
Speaker AYou read my mind.
Speaker AWell Dan Sadel, Global COO with hello Fresh.
Speaker AReally enjoy.
Speaker AI knew I would I we our team had done our homework on you.
Speaker AWe knew we were in for a great session and I'm so glad you joined us here Dan.
Speaker COh thanks for having me.
Speaker CI really enjoyed the hour and love to come back.
Speaker CThat that chat on Supply Chain sounds fantastic.
Speaker CLet us riff for a few hours.
Speaker CI don't know how much we'd bore.
Speaker APeople but I think it'd be terrific.
Speaker ASo and I bet a lot of our our SCN Global fam would enjoy it as well.
Speaker BSo stay tuned like a supply chain strategy series.
Speaker BWe we wouldn't do it all at once.
Speaker BBut I think people would love to see that.
Speaker AI can see that.
Speaker AI can see it.
Speaker BScott, I'll.
Speaker BI'll let you co host with me.
Speaker ANo, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker AMarty and Dan, that's one.
Speaker AI would just get my popcorn and my diet Coke and sit on the front row and watch y' all in action.
Speaker ABut regardless, stay tuned, folks.
Speaker AYou never know what's around, around the corner.
Speaker ABut, Dan, thank you for being here.
Speaker AMarty Parker, the one and only.
Speaker AThank you so much for co hosting with me here today on the buzz.
Speaker BOh, thrilled to do it.
Speaker BAnd do you want a key takeaway?
Speaker AOh, I would.
Speaker ASure, Marty.
Speaker AWe'll get a bonus key takeaway.
Speaker BIt's easy.
Speaker BWe started with bad news.
Speaker BWe had good news with the autonomous vehicles.
Speaker BThe beautiful news of hello fresh.
Speaker BIt's easy.
Speaker BBe a Fezziwig, don't be a Scrooge.
Speaker BFocus on the good things, not the bad things.
Speaker BWith our algorithms and the world is the way it is, it's easy to focus on the negative.
Speaker BBut as supply chain professionals, let's talk about what we can do instead of complain about we can't do.
Speaker AMarty, well said.
Speaker AI am so glad we got that in there.
Speaker AAnd Jeremy, thank you.
Speaker AWho says he still Googles?
Speaker AI'm with you, Jeremy.
Speaker AAnd Jeremy, thank you for giving us that vehicle, Scrooge versus Fezziwig.
Speaker AI think we got more traction coming on that one.
Speaker ABig thanks to our friends at Project44.
Speaker ABe sure to join me in Chicago at Decision4044 in April.
Speaker AYou can learn more at project44.com Big thanks to Amanda and Trisha.
Speaker ABehind the scenes, of course.
Speaker ABig thanks to our global audience for being here with us, folks.
Speaker AHope you enjoyed the show today.
Speaker AI sure did love Dan and Marty's perspective, but here's a challenge.
Speaker AYou know, you got homework.
Speaker ATake one thing you heard here today from Dan or from Marty.
Speaker AShare it with your team.
Speaker APut it into practice.
Speaker ADo something with it.
Speaker AIt's all about deeds, not words.
Speaker AAnd with that said, on behalf of the entire supply chain, our team Scott Luton challenge.
Speaker AYou do good.
Speaker AGive forward.
Speaker ABe the change that's needed.
Speaker AWe'll see you next time right back here on supply chain now.
Speaker AThanks, everybody.
Speaker AJoin the supply chain now community.
Speaker AFor more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now dot com.
Speaker ASubscribe to Supply Chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to supply chain now.
Speaker AWherever you get your podcasts,.