DAVE WOODWARD remembers his first day as chief executive of Heinz’s UK and Ireland operations. He went to the staff canteen and asked for a bowl of soup — and enjoyed it so much he went to the manager to tell him. The reply shocked him.

Woodward assumed he was enjoying one of the food group’s own products, but he was told that the canteen had never stocked any of them. From that moment he banned any rival soup being sold in the canteen and stopped all soup marketing until the company got the products right.

That is Woodward’s way — blunt and to the point. Within four months of joining nearly two and a half years ago he had changed 10 of the top 12 managers.

It was a move that could have gone horribly wrong, but as the group’s quarterly results proved at the end of last month, he has delivered the figures to accompany his polished sales and marketing patter. The UK and Ireland operations have become the star in Heinz’s international portfolio, accounting for 17% of group sales and are on course to generate

$2 billion (£1.1 billion) of sales this year, a figure that has been flattered by the inclusion of Heinz’s frozen-food business.

Woodward believes he can now talk about the success in reviving a series of brands that had been in “systemic decline”. Sales of Heinz’s core product — baked beans — had been slipping and soup sales had fallen every year for the previous eight.

Today Heinz soups have a record 63.5% of the UK market. And beans sales have soared past £300m a year for the first time. This has been partly helped by a new range of beans and the introduction of Heinz Snap Pots, microwaveable cartons that take one minute to cook.

Woodward said that when he started he had been advised by friends to spend six months assessing the business before doing anything. He felt he didn’t have the time. As the third chief executive to have held the position over the previous four years, he believed that if he had hung around he would have been out on his ear as well.

“If I had spent that time looking at the business I wouldn’t be here now. When I started, this division had lost confidence in itself, and the rest of the company had probably lost confidence that we could turn it round.”

Woodward shot a lightning bolt through Heinz’s UK headquarters in Middlesex, looking at everything from “brand inception right through to consumption”.

“There were some people here that were pretty scared about the changes,” he said. Executives that had been caught up in manufacturing were suddently being asked to show what contribution they were making to the bottom line. “Eighty five percent of the people working here had been told previously they were either highly effective or outstanding, yet we had missed every target for the past five years.”

Woodward and his team have reinvigorated the brands and launched new ones. Some 115 products have been introduced in the past year — from tikka sauce to Deli Mayo, a premium tomato sauce whose sales are 50% ahead of forecast, and new types of baby food. Sales of traditonal tomato sauce have been boosted by new bottles.

Woodward also believes that despite the rising cost of raw materials his firm is well placed if the economy stays in the doldrums. He has noticed customers are going back to the staples they associate with times of austerity. “If you look back to 1980 to 1994, they were the glory years for Heinz,” he said.

Woodward has set himself a target of two more years to prove that the recovery in the UK division is sustainable. As one former colleague said: “He has his eyes on a much bigger prize at Heinz, but he has to prove that the recovery is not a flash in the pan.”

Getting the workers fired up

A NUMBER of initiatives were launched by the Heinz UK boss Dave Woodward to reinvigorate the company.

- He introduced 8 am tasting sessions every Monday for his top 12 managers to sample every new product, including baby food, so they know what is going onto shop shelves.

- Monthly meetings with 2,300 workers give them the chance to air their views and debate issues. Those in factories around the country follow the sessions on big screens. To help start a debate and avoid embarrassment, Woodward asks staff to text questions before and during meetings.

- He identified a team of 42 leaders, called Level 42, who have to spend time working in the factories and watch food being produced. They also have to visit retailers, walk the aisles and talk to shopfloor managers to see how Heinz products and sales could be improved. To get closer to customers, Woodward makes them spend time in a consumer’s home.

- To stimulate innovation he introduced a “Dragons’ Den” programme for staff to pitch their ideas. This led to Heinz’s “hidden veg” range, vegetables blended into tomato sauce so that reluctant children eat them without knowing it. Staff ideas are rewarded with free use of company cars, working in the bosses’ offices for a week or even free beans for a year. Woodward believes it makes staff feel part of Heinz.

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