Name: Louis Hockton de Castañeda
Age: 26
Job title: Senior partnerships specialist
Company & location: Too Good To Go, London
Education: Italian & Spanish at University of Edinburgh
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A TV chef. I was always fascinated by food and the way it can bring people together.
Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? I grew up obsessed with food, as well as the culture and community that comes with it. Working in an industry so essential to our lives felt like a no-brainer.
Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): I work in the partnerships team at Too Good To Go, bringing new food businesses onto the app, and helping them get set up so they can start making the most of their surplus food. That can mean working with anything from an independent bakery to a national chain.
“Seeing first-hand the impact the app could have on a single bakery gave me a much more tangible understanding of the business”
What does a typical day look like for you? Fortunately, every day looks fairly different! A large part of my role is researching and prospecting food businesses, so I use every tool at my disposal to stay on top of what’s new and opening up across the country.
I also spend a lot of time speaking with prospective partners, from independent operators to larger businesses with multiple stakeholders. The variety of people and businesses I get to speak to is one of the most rewarding parts of the role.
Tell us how you went about applying for your job: I’d just finished some work experience at a food waste tech startup, so I had a fairly targeted approach to my job search. When an opportunity came up at Too Good To Go I applied directly as it felt like the perfect fit.
What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? It’s such a tough climate for hospitality businesses in the UK, with margins increasingly tight and costs continuing to rise. Yet around 18% of the food purchased by the sector is wasted.
It’s enormously satisfying to work for a company where I can be part of a solution to such a significant economic and sustainability challenge, particularly given the environmental implications of food waste.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? That there is only one route into the industry. Food and drink has an incredibly diverse ecosystem, spanning hospitality, food tech, sustainability, logistics, retail and software, so there are many ways to build a career around your interests.
I’ve always found climate tech particularly appealing, but food has always been my real passion. Too Good To Go offers a great combination of both.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? The industry is so interconnected, so try to get whatever experience you can, even if it doesn’t feel immediately applicable to your end goal.
After graduating, I worked in hospitality in London, where part of my job was packing Too Good To Go ‘surprise bags’ at the end of the day. Seeing first-hand the impact the app could have on a single bakery gave me a much more tangible understanding of the business when I later interviewed for my role.
What’s your ultimate career dream? Ultimately, I’d love to start something of my own that can create more change in the industry, while being successful enough to support my eating-out habits.
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