From Desert Farms to Global Shelves | Arturo Hoffmann, Talsa Group

From Peru's Desert Farms to European Shelves: Building a Global Fruit Business | Arturo Hoffmann Harrison, Talsa Group

What does it take to build a multi-country fruit operation from the ground up - and lead teams across continents while doing it?

In this episode, Lucy is joined by Arturo Hoffmann Harrison, Chief Commercial Officer of Talsa Group, a Peruvian family-owned agribusiness producing avocados, table grapes, early cherries and cherry plums across Peru and Chile. Arturo also leads Onesta, the group's vertical integration project, bringing their farms closer to retail customers in Europe, the US and beyond.

Arturo takes us through his journey from agricultural engineering student in Chile to import manager in the Netherlands, before making the move to Peru — and eventually helping reshape Talsa's commercial strategy for the next decade.

In this conversation they cover:

• How Talsa evolved from blueberries to a multi-product, multi-country operation
• The thinking behind Onesta and shortening the supply chain
• How the role of the commercial leader in produce has changed
• What European retailers are demanding today, and who's leading the way
• Why attitude will always matter more than technical skills when hiring
• The leadership lessons Arturo has learned managing teams across very different cultures
• His advice for anyone stepping into their first leadership role

An honest, grounded and inspiring conversation for anyone working in or building a business in fresh produce.

About LCR International

LCR International supports senior hiring across the global fresh produce sector.

We work with businesses where roles require a mix of technical, commercial, and leadership experience, often across regions.

Typical support includes:
 • Retained executive search
 • Talent mapping and competitor insight
 • Org structure and succession planning

If you're hiring and want a clearer view of the market before you start, you can get in touch here:

👉 https://www.lcrint.com/

Transcript

– Introduction & Easter small talk from Chile

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome back to Behind the Fruit. I'm Lucy Robinson. What's the one thing that separates the people who succeed from the ones who don't? In this episode, Arturo has a clear answer, and it's not experience. Welcome back to Behind the Fruit Podcast. I'm Lucy Robinson, and today I'm really pleased to be joined by Arturo Hoffman. Hi Arturo, thank you so much for joining me today. It's great to have you here.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Thank you for having me, Lucy.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

No worries. And how are things for you in uh Chile now in the run up to Easter? Because we're nearly Easter weekend is is coming.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yeah, very good, very good. Looking forward to to Easter weekend and to have a holiday in a moment on which our farming operations are on the on the low side of the intensity range.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

So that's nice, yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you normally do for Easter? What are your are there many sort of traditions that you tend to do?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yeah, we try to, you know, Easter is a is uh is uh a Christian, a Catholic uh holy for for for for me. So I try to, you know, just to to to relax with the family, go to a farm and and and have a uh a weekend on the on the countryside.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Nice, nice. That'll be good, yeah, yeah. Same here really. We don't tend to do much, but we have the uh we have the Easter bunny here, so the kids, I don't know if that's that do you have that for you?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

The same. I have two kids waiting for for the for the for the eggs.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

For the eggs, yes, the chocolate eggs. There'll be lots of chocolate in our house this weekend. So yeah. Looking forward to that. So perfect. So let's let's start by just a bit of an intro. If you could give us an introduction to yourself and honest, more just a top-line introduction would be great.

– Introduction to Talsa Group & its history

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Perfect. Well, I'm the chief commercial officer of Talsa Group. Uh Talsa is um is a family-owned business uh that belongs to the Quevedo family. Uh is uh is a Peruvian family that started in the agri business uh at the end of the 1960s uh with a poultry business. Then at the end of the 1980s, they started the farming business uh with Talsa. And they have been the pioneers on many businesses in in Peru. They started with uh green asparagus, then you know uh they added uh white asparagus. In the middle of the of the of the of the history, they they have done artichokes and and many other things. At the early years of the 2000s, they started with uh hasa bocaos. Now we are one of the main uh hasa a bocado growers in in Peru. Um and in 2010 they started trying blueberries, and they became the the largest uh the largest farm of blueberries in in Peru in a very short period of time. And then that ended up in a in a merger with uh with Ortifruit. Uh so Talsa made an decision of the blueberry business and and uh joined Ortifruit as a as a as a shareholder. And that happened in 2018, and from then uh we have been developing our farming operations. Um we have um a table grape uh farm in Ica in the south of Peru. And uh we are developing a very interesting project of early cherries and cherry plants uh here in Chile. So basically, my responsibility is to look after all the all the commercial uh strategy and execution of the of the fruit that our farms are uh producing and also of the vertical integration project that we that we have.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Uh nice okay, amazing, thank you. So we'll we'll come back on to we'll talk about Talsa and Ornesta in a bit more detail. But Ferzi, could you take us back to the beginning? It'd be great to understand how your journey into fresh produce actually began, if you can yeah, take us back.

– Arturo's journey into fresh produce

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Super. I'm an agricultural engineer. Uh I'm Chilean. I study here in Chile in the um uh Catholic University of Valparaíso. Uh and um I was uh doing internships uh while I was uh studying every every summer one month, you know, and uh and I started working in the in the technical part of the of the business, in the in the farming side. Um and uh I realized that I liked more the the what happened after after harvest. So when I graduated, I I tried to find a job that uh would give me that exposure. So um I was lucky enough to be hired by a part-time uh professor uh that was also a partner in an office in in Europe, uh an import an importer in Europe. Um so I joined him as his assistant. So I was looking for you know, I was from driving to technical uh matters to commercial uh things uh you know related to the import programs of the company. The company was called Oriinfruit Direct, now it's called Oriin Fruit Group. It's a company that came from the vertical integration of a grower of citrus and uh grapes in in South Africa uh in 2005 more or less. That company in South Africa was called AfriFresh. Um so I started you know uh traveling within Chile, but also going to Peru, to Argentina, to Brazil, to many places, to the markets as well, to Europe, uh which uh was the base for the company, but they also had a branch in in China. Um so I started getting this uh exposure to to different uh uh farming operations in in these countries, and also to the to to to two you know big areas uh that for us are uh are key markets as you know Europe and and Asia.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

So nice that's that's how it's been lots of international work and international travel, very much from the early days then.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yes, yes, yes. I was lucky enough uh to do it, and and I actually uh yeah, I'm very, very grateful to have had that opportunity because I think it was uh pivotal for my for my journey afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

So it must have been quite a learning curve at that point, you know, from just coming out of university, obviously did some technical work and then moving on to the commercial side, traveling internationally. Sounds like it would have been quite a yeah, a learning curve at that time, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Definitely, definitely. I always tell to uh to to to my my b my pre my first boss that uh that for me looking back it was more like a postgraduate study uh instead of a of a job, you know. So yeah, no, it was very good, very good.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Yeah, great experience. And then how did you go from that to um what point did you join TALSA?

– Moving to the Netherlands & managing South American supply

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, well, that was uh around 2009-2010. So after four years working in with uh, you know, living in Chile but traveling abroad, um I joined the the headquarters of the company in the Netherlands. Uh also an amazing experience. Um and I took the job of import manager uh for all the products coming from South America and India. Uh so the company had like you know three main sources. One was South America in general, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, but then Argentina started diminishing. Then India, and of course South Africa, and a couple of other things like Egypt and so on, but we're small. And um, so I took uh I was in charge of of uh all all the relationship and programs with the growers in in South America and India, uh and I stayed for uh a little bit more than three years.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Was that in the Netherlands then? Were you living in the Netherlands?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

In the Netherlands, yeah. Living in the Netherlands, and yeah, it was an amazing time. I was uh recently married as well, so we went with my wife to to to live to Europe. I was working a lot, but also enjoying the weekends, uh traveling, so it was traveling around Europe, yes, yes, it was a great experience, yeah, and kid free, I guess, at that time.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

So you travel, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

And um so when I was uh in that job, um I um you know always uh looked uh with uh very good eyes what uh was happening in Peru, you know, um because it was very unique in my opinion, you know, especially comparing to what was uh happening with the rest of the industry industries that I that I that I had the chance to visit. So I started comparing and I said, look, Peru has many conditions to be a powerhouse of uh of fruit production. So when I was uh in that job, I was offered to take the job of commercial manager of Agricola Don Ricardo, uh, which is one of the main and and the best uh growers of uh table grapes in in Peru. Um Don Ricardo also had back then citrus, avocados, and blueberries, but the but grapes were the main business and still is nowadays. So I with uh you know with a lot of um sadness uh on one side but a lot of excitement on the other side. I I uh took that job. I convinced my wife to go to go to live to to Peru. So I ended up working uh Friday in the Netherlands and on Monday I was working uh in Peru and and that was my entry to the country. Uh so I stayed there?

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Were you in Lima now? Yeah.

– The move to Peru & Agricola Don Ricardo

SPEAKER_01 11:32

In Lima, the the operations were in Ica. So my yeah, my day, my day to day was or my week to week was when I wasn't traveling, you know, visiting customers on on Monday and Friday, I was in Lima at the office, and from Tuesday to Thursday, normally speaking, I was uh I was uh at the farm.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah, nice, nice. So more travel at Peru than at that point, less than international, or were you traveling internationally as well?

– Joining Talsa & the creation of Onesta

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Both, both, both, both, yeah. Yeah, both. Both. Uh so that was the story how I ended up in Peru, and in 2022, uh I took the decision with uh Talsa. Um you know, they were coming out of this uh big operation uh of blueberries they put a lot of attention for about nine years. Uh it ended up, as I said, with the with the decision of the blueberry business and the merger with Ortifruit. So Ortifruit was in charge of all the execution of the of the blueberry business and still is uh until today. And they say, okay, well, what else do we do? Uh so they started a project in uh related to avocados. That was the the initial the initial plan, you know, to have a a 52-weeks uh supply of avocados uh to to the market by investing in farms in countries that are complement that are complementary to Peru. We ended up changing that plan uh because the the the reality of uh investing in in those countries was not as we as we expected. Um and then they started this uh uh uh business in Chile with uh early terries and and terry plums. Um and in my case, I was uh you know the the the project that I took uh responsibility on was uh honesta. Honesta now is an office that we have in Europe, but the concept behind Honesta is that we say we need to be closer to uh our customers. Uh we need to be uh much more present in the markets, uh, and we need to be much more transparent uh uh you know with uh what happens in our farms, I you know, uh in front of the customers and and to give the chance to the customers to understand really what's uh what's uh going on at Source. So Honesta basically is our uh vertical integration philosophy that you know is a is a project that we execute in the in the in the day to day, and and basically we want to you know to to to uh to get all these you know two parts of the of the chain closer in a more transparent way and to and to reduce costs also uh in the in the supply chain because when you make uh an analysis between uh you know what is uh each part of the chain getting for a kilo of fruit, you end up realizing that the the grower uh takes a small portion of it. Of course, you know, shipping lines, transport companies, the you cannot do too much about it. And then on the on the marketing of the fruit, uh you realize that you need to be much more efficient than what normally happens in the in the supply chain. So basically for us is to you know to to be closer to a customer, to give them a good service, to give them a lot of information, um to give them consistency, to be able to uh honor the commitments uh that we that we close based on on what we forecast uh to have in our farms, um and to and to shorten you know the supply chain and and and create more more uh efficiencies in the in the journey.

– How the business is structured today

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Right. So so you so uh nesta was established, you had the the idea behind Anesta whilst you were in Peru, opened up an office in Europe essentially to become closer to the customers, um improve the the supply chain, give more visibility. Um talk to me about exactly how is the business structured now? So what does it look like today?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Today, well, today we have three farming operations. Uh Talsa grows avocados and blueberries. Blueberries is the product that that the only product that we don't sell, uh we give the blueberries to to ortify. Uh so in Talsa for for for our day-to-day are uh in terms of sales are uh avocados that we have from available from March until the end of September. Then uh in Talsa Grape Farms in Peru, uh we have our farming project of table grapes. Uh we are reaching a million cartons, uh 8.2 equivalent. Uh 85% of that production is uh Autumn Crisp, and then we have some cotton candies and uh candy hearts and sweet gloves, but mostly autumn crisp. So it's a project on which we are focusing on premium quality and premium customers, and a long window. Uh we we have the traditional window of Peru from from Ica from December until February, but we also have uh a late uh season as we call it. So we harvest fruit from March until until the end of April, which is very very unique in Peru.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

And uh in Chile we have uh the project of uh early cherries. By early, we mean harvesting uh the first week of October. That's a fruit that we you know we are harvesting on week 41, 42. Uh and we go until mid of November with that with that production. Uh that project is based on on genetics and technology. Uh, so it's also a project that has a lot of um different uh points that make us uh different, you know. Um and then we have cherry plums, which is a new category. Uh we have a we have a partner in that project that brings all the all the knowledge, the technical knowledge, and the varieties. Um so it's a it's a very, very interesting project. Cherry plums is is kind of a I think I have said it, uh like a new category of fruit. Uh and we believe that we are going to be able to add a lot of value to the customers basically, because at the moment that we produce cherry plums, normally speaking, in the world, there are no good uh stone fruits available in the northern hemisphere, you know. So cherry plums are you know like a plum, but smaller, but very crunchy, very sweet, and they hold very well the transit.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

So many other companies growing those at the moment? Are they becoming a bit more popular? No, so it's quite rare.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

No, no, yeah, it's quite rare. Well, there is one variety that is grown by other companies, but all the new varieties on the pipeline uh are mostly are mostly ours. So that's also also very interesting. So we have these three farming operations, and in the following the philosophy of Onesta and our vertical integration, as you correctly said, we have an office in Europe, uh in Spain, uh where we import avocados from our farms, uh, we ripen them, uh, we use uh the soft ripe technology, um which is uh very interesting because uh gives you more shelf life, reduces the losses of the of the fruit during ripening, and it gives you a lot of consistency on quality after after ripening. And we have that technology in exclusivity in in Spain for a period of time. But in that office we are also developing sales for our products. We have an office in in the US as well, uh, to which we we were invited. It is called Flavor Farms, and with that office we um the main goal is to develop um relationships uh to sell cherry plants and cherries, but we also uh do you know in coordination with our customers because we have other customers in in the US. Uh we try to not clash with the same retailers, so we are developing retailers, but making sure that we're not clashing with uh with our current customers. That is the same that we do in Europe as well. You know, we we try to we we try to not um enter to you know to uh through more than one channel to one retailer. Uh so basically with our vertical integration projects, we are trying to look after the retailers that we don't already that we don't have already, you know. Um and uh we have an office in Chile where we also import uh avocados and we ripen them and we sell to wholesalers and and and uh and a large retailer here in uh here in Chile. Uh and we are doing um you know um our partner in the In the cherries and cherry plants business has a small office in China, which we are developing in order to become uh our our uh uh market platform in in that market.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Okay, amazing. So let's talk about the growth because obviously TALSA has evolved from being a single farm in northern Peru and now is a multi-country operation. What would you say has been the key driver behind that growth?

– The drivers behind Talsa's growth

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Well, basically, I think um uh the board of TALSA has um uh a very interesting view of the of the business and and how they want to allocate the resources, so they like a lot the um the idea of uh producing uh fruit and hence food, you know. Um they also like a lot the idea of developing the places where they operate, you know. Um in Peru is a very good example of that because we we are we're growing you know fruit and creating uh uh employment in places that otherwise would be a desert. So so there is um uh like um uh uh an interest and a and a drive uh to do that in order to you know to put a a grain of sand in the in the in the in the in the world. Uh also um they value a lot the fact uh that there are opportunities to build these projects with a lot of uh differentiator factors uh against the competition. And then comes technology, genetics, um, and of course a way of doing uh things that allow you to build uh these operations to offer something different to the customers and to execute accordingly. So that's a that's another important important factor. And um I would say that you know they also have been uh smart enough to to convince people to to join them in this uh in this idea, which is uh requires hard work, you know, but uh the price uh can be immense, it's it's very uh the the the feeling when you are uh hitting some milestones in each project is uh is amazing, uh it's super good, you know, to build something, to build something different, to be able to you know to to to pass the storms uh and still be navigating uh and reach your your destination or the destination that you that you have uh proposed yourself uh for that for a given period of time is is the feeling is amazing. So I think those are the those are the drivers. There are many opportunities. This is a business that is in constant change. Uh I have been in the business for about 16 years and the and I have seen many things, you know, countries that were you know leading the the industry uh you know were going downwards, and our new places were going upwards, some genetics were genetics were disrupting the industry. Uh technology also has played uh uh a pivotal a pivotal role in the in the industry as well. Uh consumer dynamics, uh consumer interests, um, you know, digital tools. Uh there are many things happening. And and when you have this idea that the the board of TASA Group has of you know uh ecosystem. You know, we have farms with different products, we have markets, we have consumers, we have technology, uh, we have digital tools to connect, uh it it becomes uh uh like a life project.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Yeah. And it's obviously it's really exciting, you know, to hear exactly where it's come from. Obviously, you've built Onesta from scratch um and to hear about the growth. Um, obviously, you mentioned storms as well, because it's you know it sounds very exciting, but realistically, it's not always smooth. You know, there's always challenges and things that come in the way. But um, what would you say have been the main challenges in the market over the last few years?

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Well, I would say, well, many. Uh first of all, normally speaking, uh, if you analyze a lot an idea, probably you you will never do it.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

You know, if you because analyze.

– Biggest challenges: don't over-analyse, keep moving

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Exactly, exactly. So don't overanalyze, follow, of course, uh you need to know what you're doing and you and you need to have a plan, but um, but you need to go ahead, you know, and you need to try and you need to do it, and you need to be uh flexible enough and quick enough to make changes when when it's needed. I think that's a that's a a learning a learning point for me, especially, uh which is very, very important. Um and I would say that building teams uh is uh is probably one of the biggest uh challenges in the in the in the journey. Uh to to have people that is uh really convinced in the in the purpose of what we are doing. And by that uh idea, they are uh you know they have the drive uh on the day-to-day business to to make the things uh happen. I would say that you know though that point is probably uh the the most difficult one.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

And just talking about people, um obviously it's a you know it's an interesting subject, something obviously I like to talk about. Um you've worked across many cultures, many countries. What have you learned about managing teams and people across different cultures?

– Managing teams across cultures

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Well, uh first of all, you need to be uh or my style is to be uh uh a hands-on uh uh leader. You know, I want to work with them uh and I want them to see how we work and the way that we do things uh in order to make them repeat that behavior. Uh otherwise is uh difficult. We have been developing this project for almost four years, so and we have been doing many things. So it's difficult to spend enough time with everyone. So so I think um probably that's one of the of the biggest challenges. Um when you when you are you know working with the people, you in the day-to-day you uh trespass them uh values, you know. We want to do the things you know uh very in line with the rules, we want to do things with a lot of transparency, and we want to do the things with excellence. Uh I think when you are building a team and not just one team, you know, we we if you make the if you count at the end of the day, we have like six companies, you know, three marketing uh platforms, three farming operations. So uh it's not easy to to give enough time to to everyone, but the um but the yeah, uh that's what we try to do, and that's why for us it's super important to hire the right people. The the the right people call you a lot, you know, uh they ask you a lot of things that are not the irrelevant, that are you know aligned to the way of doing things. Uh, and uh and I think that that people for us is uh is like to find a a gold mine. You know, it makes our life uh much much easier. And of course, you need to understand the culture of every place that you go, uh because that also uh defines a lot your strategy of how you're going to build a company, how you are, you know, what what you're going to ask to the teams. It's not the same to have a team in the US than to have a team in Spain. Uh, the way of working, you know, the the way of living is different, the way of looking at the life is different, you know.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

And of course, if you compare Peru and Chile is also uh is also different. So we are trying to do this in a way that we uh respect a lot the the the way of living of of everyone, but that the when when we are working, we we work with uh with the same culture. So it's uh that's that's also a journey that that that probably will take us forever.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Takes time. If anybody's listening to this who's looking at maybe they are managing teams across um cultures that they they haven't before, maybe it's their first global role. I mean, what would you say is the best way to learn about managing people in different cultures and how you maybe need to adapt your management style depending on the individuals?

– Listening as the foundation of leadership

SPEAKER_01 32:15

I think listening is an important part. Uh looking is an important part. Uh, normally speaking, uh the the when you have a leadership role uh and you don't have enough time, you go and talk too much, you know, and tell too much how to do things. Um I think you need to be very clear on what the purpose is. You you need to be very clear on what we need to do and achieve. But when you have the time to sit with them, you know, uh spend time listening to them, you know, uh ask questions, understand their feelings, you know, how they look at it, how is their day-to-day, how you can help them. Uh, I think that's uh that's an important uh thing. I think you you you become a leader uh when you start helping your team. Um and and that's a a transition, uh, at least for me, has been a big transition from an executor to somebody that executes but also serves as a you know like a like a light to to the team and and helps them to do their to do their day-to-day in a in an easier way, in a more uh effective way.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

So it's about providing them support, so not just listening and understanding, but making sure that you're there to support them essentially. Because I think other people do they see it differently, don't they, in terms of leadership. They feel that it's about um, I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but about you know, giving orders, making people do what they need to do. But on the other side, would you say it is more about being supportive, making sure you're listening, understanding, so having that element. So more of the, I guess it's the emotional, emotional intelligence and the softer skills.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Definitely, definitely. I think uh uh especially in this business that is so ectic, we are we're we're uh dealing with uh with a product that is dying in the supply chain, you know, a product that you need to harvest in a certain moment. Um of course you need to be very clear on what has to be done, but when you see your teams struggling, you need to sit and ask and listen and look and help them. Because sometimes they don't have the answer, but you have it. Uh, or you have an idea of it. So you can help them uh to unlock those those issues. I think that's um the most important thing, to have the time, to have the time to talk, to listen, uh, because then you start pressing the the right buttons in the in the in the day-to-day. Otherwise you you you very easily are in a position in which you are not optimizing the potential of your team, or you are putting so much pressure that you know you you will never build a team, you know, because the people will live.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

And what would you say are the hardest skills to find? Is it the the technical expertise? Is it more the behavior, so the drive, the commitment, or is it finding somebody who just backs the brand and bracks the backs the idea?

– Hiring for attitude, drive and purpose

SPEAKER_01 35:40

For me, in uh in a in a recruiting process, definitely uh the what you say that the meal, the the drive, yeah, the responsibility, uh the sense of purpose, those three things uh for me are uh the most important things that are the most difficult things to see uh when you are uh interviewing somebody. Um I think though those uh the attitude makes all the difference. Uh technical skills uh either you bring them or can be learned. Um you know the to to embody the brand or or what we want to do is something that you get convinced to. So there are different different drivers to be uh leaving the the brand and leaving the the you know to to feel proud of the of the company, but but I think the most uh important one uh is to have the to have the attitude to especially in our in our in our in in our uh part of the journey on which we are building now. So every and each member that we that we have, regardless of the position, we look after that.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

And do you think um have you ever seen anyone that has developed the right attitude whilst working for you, or is it something that just comes naturally and they have to have it before they join?

SPEAKER_01 37:19

I think uh in most cases it comes. It's a way of living the life, you know. Uh it's a way of looking at the life. Um and in some places, as we you know, uh have a uh experience with uh people in in different countries, in some places it's easier than others. Uh but uh in general, um I would say that is uh kind of uh something with you know I don't know if if we are born with that, but definitely something that we develop in the early years because it's you know you see it from from you know from the school, from the university. Um it's not that you know everyone is the best student or so on, but at least in what they are interested in, they give the extra mile. And the in sports, if they if they like that sport, they do you know the extra mile. And and that people that you know that does the the extra mile and and and you are able to link your purpose and what you know what you are doing with that attitude, I think that combination is super is super powerful. And we like to find that because at the end of the day, uh the majority of us, we are giving eight, ten hours per day to our to our work, uh from Monday until Friday. Uh so is the result is different when when when when when the when the executive is you know with that drive for eight and ten hours per day, uh against when you know you have somebody that is just going, you know, not in the right mood, uh not uh you know pushing uh the result is super different. And again, regardless of the position, uh, that's uh also an important thing because uh it's not just the leader, it's the is from bottom up as well.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Um so we're talking about you know the the behaviors, the drive, uh the motivation, or just other behaviors, but how are you able to spot if somebody has those through an interview process? Because it's typically difficult, right? Because people can say one thing but do another. So is there yeah, have you learned any techniques along the way of how to actually spot that during an interview process?

– How to spot the right person in an interview

SPEAKER_01 40:01

We we try to dig a lot in the in the story of the of the of the person that we are interviewing. So what from where from where they are coming from and why they are in in the position and one and why they are interested to work with us. Um so normally speaking, what I have learned uh is I try to be uh to trespass our purpose and the important things that we want to achieve. And I also in part of the conversation, I I'm kind of negative in the day-to-day. So I say, look, this is hard, this is you know, this and that, and you need to look into this, and you need to look into that. So so I make the the expectations uh uh low.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

So then I realize if if if the person says, no, but you know what, okay, I understand, but I can do this, and I can do that, I can help on this, I can help on that. And normally speaking, that's the people that helps you uh in the day-to-day to develop their their area of uh of uh of execution, you know, the with the people that uh understand the challenges and they are uh willing to move forward, to push forward uh in order to create value. So those two things for me are important to understand, um to explain and to and and to put expectations expectations low because that's a filter. Immediately you filter people that wants to join the company but doesn't work to that doesn't want to to to work too hard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yeah, it's similar in what we do actually in executive search because it is yeah, very challenging. Um you know, at the end of the day, we're dealing with people on both sides, candidates and clients, and at any time they can change their mind, you know, it's people. So you have to be very resilient and understanding of that. But we do similar actually in terms of almost saying, like, this is difficult, you need to overcome this, this, this, and this, and then the ones that push through and say, Yeah, I'm up for that challenge, they can see the the benefits, but also they don't you almost want to try and scare them off in a way because then you know that they're not cut out for it. So yeah, yeah, so it's very, very similar. Um how would you say the role of the um of the commercial leader in produce has really changed over the past decade?

– How the commercial leader's role has changed

SPEAKER_01 42:43

Well, I think uh yeah, it has changed uh I don't I don't think uh it's difficult to make a comparison uh because it all depends on on what you have seen and the companies that you have seen, but uh but but but I think this comparison is is probably is probably uh my my reflects my my view. When I started working, there were like large companies, multinational, uh uh dealing with uh different growers in different countries uh with different layers, you know. Um and I think um they were um probably more uh restricted to you know the executives and the people were uh in in each position was much more restricted to their area of influence. So my feeling was always that they were not very interested to really understand their business. So you had a grower that said, Okay, I'm gonna harvest and my job. Finishes here, and then an exporter that was receiving the fruit and saying my job finishes when the fruit arrives, and you know, good or bad, that's that's the end. And then you know the rest of the of the of the chain. I think uh for for me and and in my personal story uh has been to really understand the why you are doing what you are doing, you know. And in the case of Peru, uh for me has been uh very important on this view because the majority of the of the companies that are successful are not were not uh founded by growers. They were founded with you know, of course, technical knowledge, people, you know, partners were some cases uh were very good agronomists and people that know what they were doing, but the investors were people coming from other industries. So I I call that you know the agro industry view, on which you realize that your success or failure comes on how you behave on the shelf of the retailer, you know, uh, and how you serve your customers and how you add value to them. And all the power that you have at the at the farm level and in your operational source, uh how you can leverage that power in order to uh create a difference uh in front of the in front of the market. And you know, to have like like two like like two uh a comparison of two factors, that's the ang agro industry view, modern agro-industry view, against the grower-based uh view, which is much more fragmented. So I think uh many executives nowadays uh are looking into these two things. You know, the uh in our case, we are taking uh the technical team, teams at the farm, the the people in charge of quality assurance to the market, you know, to understand what is happening with our fruit at the shelf. We are really trying to understand how to what are the problems or the of the retailers and how we we can help uh to solve them. Because if they do good and the consumer is happy, we'll sell more. Uh and that's uh we spend a lot of time on on doing that, and and of course, uh that requires a lot of effort of uh in the positions that I am uh to bring all that idea to the farming operation, to the operations manager, to the packhouse manager, to the technical manager, to the quality assurance team. Um so so I think that's probably one of the biggest changes that I have seen over the past uh 16 years.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

And what would you say um the European retailers are expecting today that they maybe didn't expect 10 years ago? What's changing? What's yeah, what what's more important, or what are they talking about more at the moment?

– What European retailers expect today

SPEAKER_01 47:34

Yeah, it it depends when you when you you know Europe is diverse. Uh you know, it has more or less the same population as the US, but with you know, in more or less in the same area, but with 27 countries and and with different strategies of the retailers, you have uh intercontinental retailers, you have national retailers, you have regional retailers, you have you have the UK that is not not Europe now, but it's also a a very important uh uh market that I think it is a market that has been probably leading the idea of creating efficiencies and getting closer to the growers uh over the years. So I think if you put the UK as the as the as the market that has done much more uh brainstorming and uh trials of getting closer to growers, understanding how to manage better the categories, uh uh focusing on getting consistency, focus on on getting uh you know fruit uh sources from uh farms that you can trust that they have uh corporate social responsibility initiatives, food safety, and so on. But I think if you group all of that, that that is uh uh I think uh a way of looking at the business in a in a very proactive way and and and and and and uh and in in constant uh uh focus on creating uh a business that is sustainable. I think the rest of Europe was super behind on that, and now you see in every country retailers that are interested in following that. From Portugal until you know Czech Republic, places that were not developed at all in that in that way of thinking, that they were much more on the day-to-day or week to week buying from different uh importers. They are much more interested in getting to know the grower, getting to know the operations, getting to you know to understand better. Uh because the uh with information they can plan better as well. So we see that in Scandinavia, we see it in Germany, we see it in in um Eastern Europe, uh, of course, the Netherlands. Uh we see it in Spain, more and more. Uh we see it in uh in Portugal. We don't see it that much in France, to be honest. Uh, now that I think. Um but but I think they will probably catch up on that.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Yeah, I was gonna say, do you think other countries will start catching up, whether it's across Europe or maybe other continents as well?

SPEAKER_01 50:38

We we see it, uh we see it in every in every in every market that we approach. Uh we see it in the US as well. The US is much more, I would say, easy to see the the change because uh it's a country on which uh you have like 15 retail chains and they move the 80% of the volume. So whenever a retailer takes that decision, is boom, you get a 5-10% market share. You know, it's uh it's uh it moves the needle very easily, whilst in Europe it's it is much more fragmented fragmented and much more atomized. But but I think everyone will catch up because it's the the production is consolidating. Um we are probably weird because we are a family-owned business, um very professionalized, but a family-owned business. Uh but if if we look around us, we are you know uh surrounded by uh institutional funds, private equity funds, uh, and there are a lot of mergers and acquisitions uh coming to the uh to the business that are creating this consolidation. So that allows um you know retailers to deal with uh you know not too many actors and to and to get you know big part of their problem solved. So I think uh it's a trend. You know, we we will not be able to to stop it.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

And just moving forward then, so when you're thinking about Telsa and Ornesta, let's say five years from now, like what does the future look like? Where do you hope what do you hope the business will look like at that point?

– The future of Talsa & Onesta in 5–10 years

SPEAKER_01 52:29

For me, for me, basically, is uh being able to execute in the farming operations what we what we are looking at, which is you know to have uh to be uh one of the best uh growers on each product that we participate on, uh hopefully in the in the in windows that are as large as possible, uh, and to develop the farming operations in uh in a in a very good way, you know, following all the things that for us are important, you know, to to to develop the people that work with us, you know, to to hopefully have the the people working uh for for more most of their career with us. Um because um we strongly believe on on the experience, you know, link with the drive and link with the brand gives you very very good very good results. So that's um that's one thing. Uh secondly, to be able to develop the markets in the most efficient way. We want to be in the market. Uh it's not that we want to sell all our fruit through our market platforms, but we want to understand, we want to uh to to take the right decisions in order to get closer to the to the retailers, um and to and to have the uh a very good cooperation with them to have the chance to talk to them, to have the chance to s to tell them all what we are doing. We're doing investing in technology, we're investing in uh research and development, uh we have uh you know test plots in every product that we that we that we are on, on which we're trying root stocks, we're trying varieties. Uh we have dealings with many uh or agreements with many uh genetic companies in in all the products that we that we are working on. We have labs uh on which we are trying, in the case of the avocados, we we are uh trying a control atmosphere, we are trying uh ripening uh in order to understand the best the better the best recipe for our fruit uh in each stage and and and to simulate the trip to the markets. Um we want to be uh to build um an ecosystem as we call it uh that is uh trustworthy, you know, that is efficient. Uh and uh and then we you know we think that with those factors we will be able to uh you know to to to keep the role bowling and to you know where when you get that momentum, you get the best people, you get the best customers, you get so, and then you just need to make sure to continue in that in that way. So that's how I see our our ecosystem of companies uh in the in the next uh in 10 years from now, probably.

– One piece of advice for new leaders

SPEAKER_00 55:39

Nice, nice, yeah. No, it's very exciting, and uh yeah, you're definitely on the right the right path. I'm sure you absolutely achieve those goals. Um last question then, so we'll we'll finish after this. What if you could give one piece of advice to somebody um let's say they are their first role into leadership um within agriculture, what piece of advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Well, um you need to love the idea because the journey is gonna be tough. Um there are moments on which you will you will be scared, so don't worry, that also will pass. Um go ahead, work a lot, uh get the right people, uh make quick changes, uh understand when you're wrong, uh and be humble. Uh ask a lot, you know, watch a lot. Uh I think those those are my probably my key my key points.

SPEAKER_00 56:42

Amazing. Okay. Great. Arturo, thank you so much for for joining me today. That's it for this episode. But yeah, it's been a great conversation, um, lots of insight. So yeah, really do thank you for your time. If anybody wants to reach out and connect with you after this, um, where's the best place? Should they connect with you on LinkedIn or anywhere else?

SPEAKER_01 57:01

Yeah, LinkedIn is fine. Uh so happy to to to connect with with anyone that is interested in what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Amazing. Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much, Raptoro. Thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

Thank you very much, Lucy, for the invitation. It has been it's it has been great to be with you.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

Thanks for listening to Behind the Fruit, a podcast by LCR International. We are global experts in fresh produce executive search. Hit subscribe if you enjoyed this episode, and for more industry insights, connect with us on LinkedIn.