Alsea is the leading restaurant operator in Latin America and Europe. It has a strong, globally recognised multi-brand portfolio in the Fast Food, Coffee Shop, and Full-Service Restaurant segments. Even if you don’t know it, you’ll know the brands it represents. Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s, Chipotle, and P.F. Chang’s to name a few. It’s a household name in LATAM and very relevant in Europe, especially in the Iberian market. The procurement function was very supply-focused when Gustav Schindler joined as Head of Procurement for Mexico in September 2023. He stepped in to help contribute to strengthening the function as a strategic competitiveness driver for Alsea.
Schindler’s background is in Foods Engineering. It’s a complex career with a lot of study across chemistry, microbiology, physics, maths, and technologies. Schindler was determined to put that training into practice. Early on, he decided he wanted to work for a company where he could be really hands-on and drive process improvements in Manufacturing.
He looked for a growing company that could provide a lot of opportunities for that and applied at Arisco. “It was a food company located in Goias, at the center of Brazil. It had a fast rate of growth, challenging multinationals by launching products in categories dominated by few players,” Schindler explains. “I started working in quality assurance and quickly pivoted to production. It was a family-owned business with a very fast-paced entrepreneurial environment that valued pro-activity and autonomy.”
Navigating procurement at Alsea
What Schindler brought to his role at Alsea was end-to-end procurement knowledge. What’s even more important than procurement knowledge is being able to navigate different types of businesses. Alsea is a public company in Mexico which also has an international presence. For Schindler, having previous experience in both country-wide businesses and multinationals, was a key differentiator in how he approached this role.
He says: “The fact that I had over 20 years in a multinational means I can navigate those dynamics.”
An immediate focus for Schindler was the opportunity he saw to amplify the strategic vision within Alsea’s procurement function. “Some of the key metrics that need to be measured were there, but there was room to take fuller advantage of everything our area can deliver to the business,” says Schindler.
Developing specialisations
Something Schindler noted immediately was Alsea’s strong work ethic and the commitment of the team. The key, for him, was contributing to expanding procurement’s strategic role within the business. His years of changing roles regularly taught him that it’s important to have a 90-day plan, and he used that experience to build on top of Alsea’s long term vision by going around to different teams and talking to them.
He learned the culture and the backgrounds of the people at Alsea, and vitally, asked them how they felt procurement could amplify its role. It quickly became apparent that the procurement team at Alsea felt like there were a number of key areas where they could make a valuable contribution as strategic partners to the wider business, since they were well-perceived by stakeholders as an efficient problem-solver…