Paul McLaughlin will join Red Tractor as its new Chief Executive on 5 May. Here he answers some questions about what bought him to the role and how he plans to approach the first few months.
What most attracted you to the role of CEO at Red Tractor?
Red Tractor were looking for someone with experience in member organisations, a link to food and drink (and ideally farming), assurance schemes and commercial development. It felt like they were writing a job tailored to me. Red Tractor takes all of my experience to date and wraps it up into a single organisation’s purpose. Giving British farmers a mark that means something to them, and giving retailers and consumers confidence in what they are buying is a message I can really get behind, and the scale and responsibility of delivering this is what drew me to this role.
What experience do you bring to the role?
I’ve worked across many parts of the food industry, starting as a graduate at Mars Confectionary and then at The Coca-Cola Company. As quality assurance manager, I was responsible for ensuring standards across five franchisee manufacturing plants. From there I became Commercialisation Director and was responsible for new product and packaging introductions across five countries.
As CEO at Scotland Food & Drink, I worked with farmers, producers, processors and retailers – NFUS, DairyUK and AHDB around the table, along with the Scotch Whisky Association, Seafish, the Scottish Salmon Producers and more.
From there, I was Managing Director of Scotty Brand, where I worked directly with farmers across multiple produce types – potatoes, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries, lettuce, soup mixes, burgers, bacon and biscuits – selling into the major retailers and convenience stores.
As CEO of Building Engineering Services Association, we operated a UKAS accredited competent person assurance scheme and operated the refrigerant gas register, REFCOM. And most recently, at Rail Safety and Standards Board, I was responsible for supplier assurance. Initially outsourced, I brought auditing in-house and led an improvement in audit standards and customer satisfaction.
Is there anything you’re keen to achieve or do in your first few months?
My first priority is to listen. I want to get out on farms and meet people who carry the Red Tractor mark and understand what that means – positive and negative. I also want to meet our retail partners and, very importantly, get to know the Red Tractor team. There is an awful lot of good work being done by the team, and I want to understand that fully before I consider any changes. A CEO who arrives thinking they have all the answers usually doesn’t.
Do you have any observations on the potential for Red Tractor to support British food and farming that you’d like to share?
Red Tractor already reaches the majority of food on British supermarket shelves, and that is a scale most brands can only dream of. The opportunity is to make that scale count for more – so that farmers feel proud of the mark, retailers stand behind it with confidence, and consumers understand what it actually stands for. It’s a great story and Red Tractor needs to tell it.