At the end of the first day of the 2024 Hormel Foods Innovation Summit held recently in Southern California, one question became paramount: Where to go for dinner? It wasn’t an easy decision, as the Los Angeles metropolitan area boasts one of the most diverse food scenes in the world. Sure, you could choose a world-renowned Peruvian or Indonesian restaurant, but then you’d miss out on a Michelin-starred Korean place just a few miles away. How could the four dozen Hormel Foods leaders experience the diversity of the region in one night out?
The summit planners found the answer. At 6 p.m., buses arrived to pick up team members representing various business segments and brands of Hormel Foods, including Jennie-O® turkey, Planters® snack nuts, Columbus® Craft Meats, MegaMex Foods and Applegate, not to mention the company’s product innovation center in China. Half an hour later, they arrived at the Anaheim Packing District, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary with a World Tastes event.
Adorned with special wristbands, the Hormel Foods team roamed the sprawling, renovated factory, sampling offerings from dozens of cultural traditions. There were new takes on Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, French and more.
“We picked L.A. for the summit because of its food scene and to highlight our partnership with MegaMex Foods, which just opened a new office here,” said Nate Smit, enterprise lead for breakthrough innovation, as he waited at the station offering Wagyu carne asada tacos. “We wanted a combination of food experiences and team building along with the business content. It has never been more important that we’re aligned across the company as an innovation team.”
Sampling so many different cuisines and seeing all the combinations of cultures, you can’t help but be inspired by the opportunities we have to think beyond the boundaries of our core products.
Scott Aakre, group vice president and chief marketing officer, Retail
The lesson from visiting a region like Los Angeles is that there are unlimited possibilities when it comes to creating new dishes. There is no upward limit to new syntheses of ingredients and traditions. The tens of thousands of new food products introduced each year suggest that creative ideas are not in short supply.
“Sampling so many different cuisines and seeing all the combinations of cultures, you can’t help but be inspired by the opportunities we have to think beyond the boundaries of our core products,” observed Scott Aakre, group vice president and chief marketing officer, as he watched groups of Hormel Foods team members move between the various tasting stations. “This is the sort of experience that gives you a chance to turn on your imagination.”
Inspiration is critical, according to Aakre, but to produce something new and win in the marketplace, a good idea is not enough. Creative thinking must be matched with an organizational process that can move a good idea efficiently through all the critical stages toward success.
“It’s okay to have big ideas and dreams,” Aakre told summit attendees on the second day. “But we need to have the process to bring them to life. The better the process, the better we’ll be at bringing our ideas to life.” Aakre also discussed the role of process as an enabler, emphasizing that while it’s crucial for organization and efficiency, it should not overshadow the primary goals of innovation. “Process is really important, but its goal is to enable us to have more freedom and be better innovators.”
Understanding that process and improving communication between innovators across all Hormel Foods brands was at the heart of the summit. The important connection between creative freedom and thoughtful execution was a recurring theme throughout the event.
There is a unique energy this year; the sense of collaboration felt stronger than ever. Everyone is pulling together, seeing the goal and working towards it as one big team.
Heidi Akkerman, innovation commercialization team lead at Hormel Foods
The core of the summit was to align everyone on the company’s innovation strategy, targets and framework. “I was encouraged when we talked about the innovation strategy and what comes next,” said Lisa Selk, senior vice president of Brand Fuel. “We all have a vested interest in driving innovation, and everyone is on board and ready to push forward together. We’re on a strong path with our pipeline.”
Over the days working together, there was a palpable growing excitement. “This summit feels like it really is going to be a milestone moment for the team,” noted Sam Weikum, corporate manager for mergers and acquisitions. “It truly feels like we’ve got the right team in place, and we’ve picked out the right strategy. We’re going to look back and think, this is where we felt the acceleration.”
Heidi Akkerman, innovation commercialization team lead at Hormel Foods, reflected on the collaborative atmosphere of the summit. “There is a unique energy this year; the sense of collaboration felt stronger than ever. Everyone is pulling together, seeing the goal and working towards it as one big team.”
Kady Mahaffey, associate senior scientist for the Planters® brand, echoed this sentiment. “At the end of the day, there is a big difference between a video call and sharing some food and seeing a bit of L.A. with your teammates,” she said. “There are fewer barriers between people when you are in person compared to being on a video call. That increased level of comfort and connection makes it more likely to reach out to them in the future and ask a question or suggest a collaboration.”
“Understanding how teams from across the company approach innovation and the Hormel Foods methodology is very inspiring,” Mahaffey added. “It is encouraging to see the method that Hormel Foods innovators follow. It’s not just about what idea sounds great; we’re using tools and data and leveraging new technologies. I’m already feeling very inspired.”
On the afternoon of the last day, Aakre left the team with a call to action: to return to their roles with a renewed sense of personal accountability and urgency. “If this is a three-day session, and then we go home and do the same thing we did before, it probably wasn’t worth our time,” he said. “If we go back and say, ‘I learned these things, I’m going to make sure I take advantage of them,’ then we’re doing it right. Personally, I’ll carry back with me a sense of urgency. That doesn’t necessarily mean fast. It means getting our work done the right way. I’ll be thinking about my personal accountability to drive results.”
