My food & drink job: Lucy Dennis, category & insights manager, Dr Oetker

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Lucy Dennis Dr Oetker

Name: Lucy Dennis

Age: 29

Job title: Category & insights manager

Company & location: Dr Oetker, Leeds

Education: Business Management at Northumbria University

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I think this changed a lot, starting as an actress but quickly squished by school drama classes. As I grew older (and probably still maybe now) it was a food critic, as I would be paid to eat!

Why did you decide to go for a career in food & drink? I actually didn’t know what career route to take once I’d graduated but I’ve always been a foodie (and I’m yet to encounter a food I don’t like). Ninety-nine per cent of my spare time and money is taken up by going out for food or cooking and baking. I knew I wanted to work with people every day and I didn’t want to do the same thing day in, day out, so when Dr Oetker came up it felt like the right fit – and even better that pizza and cake are some of my favourite things.

“It’s fast-paced, creative, always evolving and I get to interact with people every day, which I love”

Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): Using data and market insights to collaborate with retailers to grow their frozen pizza category sales through compelling storytelling.

What does a typical day look like for you? My day can vary so much, from working on presentations on ranging, promotion analysis and merchandising, to hopping around London on a pizza safari discovering the latest trends, flavours and formats.

Tell us how you went about applying for your job: I knew I wanted a job straight out of uni and I wanted a change from living in Newcastle, so I went to a recruitment agency in Leeds, where I wanted to move to, and there I discussed what I was interested in, my experience and skills. From there an interview opportunity at Dr Oetker came up quite quickly for an insight analysis role.

This included two stages of an initial interview, then a second stage where I was given a set of data and I had to turn it into a short and compelling presentation.

After a couple of years in this role I applied for an internal promotion to category executive, and after this applied for my current role as category manager. It was another two-step interview with a presentation and then an Excel exam, which I can confirm I didn’t enjoy as someone who barely scraped by their IT GCSE… but my Excel skills are something I’ve been developing since then.

What’s the best part about working for a food & drink company? Working in an industry you are actually passionate about, and being able to shape and influence what ends up in people’s baskets. It’s fast-paced, creative, always evolving and I get to interact with people every day, which I love. I’m never just sat behind a desk and not one day is the same.

And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? I think the biggest misconception is that when I say who I work for, they think either I work in a factory making pizzas or that I deliver pizzas. I think my friends think I just eat pizza every day (which is sometimes true). Most people haven’t heard of my job before, so I think it’s more about the complexity and breadth of teams and people that are behind these businesses.

What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? It’s such an exciting industry that’s always changing! Despite being in an analytical role, it’s still so creative which I was worried it wouldn’t be – you are constantly challenged by the changing environment, meeting new people and you’ll never have two days the same.

What’s your ultimate career dream? I don’t have a set ‘career dream’ as I feel it’s always evolving and changing as I am. I think being challenged every day is important, but being in a senior position is the goal as I’d love to manage people and have my own team. I’m excited to see where my career in fmcg will take me!