As managing director for Just Eat Ireland, Amanda Roche-Kelly oversees all aspects of its business from finance to sales. She talks to Donna Ahern about her role to date.
How would you describe your role?
As managing director for Just Eat Ireland, I oversee all aspects of our business from finance to sales. Together with my leadership team, I’m responsible for developing a strategy that will drive the growth of the business here in Ireland and overseeing the implementation of that strategy.
We live in a digital age and consumer tastes and trends change regularly, so as a business we’re laser focused on innovation – evolving the level of service we provide to our customer but also to our 2,100 restaurant partners across Ireland.
Leveraging business intelligence allows us to track trends and anticipate the needs of our customer, but it also helps us to empower our local restaurant partners.
We share these invaluable insights to inform smart decision making, helping them to plan for future growth, respond to trending and evolving menus or even alter opening times, so that aspect of my role is particularly interesting.
Recent years has seen the industry evolve dramatically in terms of the range of food that people now expect to be able to order for delivery. Through Just Eat customers can access their favourite local eateries for lunchtime and evening options with a choice of over 40 cuisines.
What was your first-ever job, and what did you learn from it?
My first job was selling tights with Swedish Match out of the back of a van, which really kick started my passion for sales.
I then went on to become a sales manager with that company which gave me a really good grounding in business. Having studied marketing and French in college, sales was a bit of a departure for me, but one that I really enjoyed.
I went on then to work in Irish Distillers, where I was focused again on sales for seven years before dipping my toes back into marketing with a senior brand manager role. While I enjoyed it, I really missed being out on the road and the buzz of the sale - closing the deal and most importantly delivering for the customer.
What do you enjoy most about your current job?
For me the marriage between sales and customer engagement, changing the landscape of the customer experience, is what I find most rewarding.
I realised I had a passion for sales early in my career and while the product or service I was selling has changed over the years, the opportunity to understand the customers’ needs and give them what they want has remained a constant.
While my current role involves more than sales, engaging with customers and selling a proposition is the core of what we do. We have ambitions to continue to grow and to do that we need to maintain our sales focus, something I like and am good at.
That passion has driven me throughout my career. I feel a great sense of achievement when I see our numbers continue to grow and positive customer and client reviews come in.
What is your advice to people starting out in the industry?
You need to decide what you want to become and must make deliberate decisions that will get you there.
Whether that is selecting a mentor, doing more study, choosing a job to learn a skill and then moving on, or simply taking on additional tasks in your current role – don’t be passive, be deliberate. And who knows what you may become.
Another piece of advice would be to be interesting and interested.
The world of work, and in my case technology, is changing so fast so we need people who are inquisitive and who are always thinking about what is next rather than just focusing on what is needed today.
Be willing to collaborate and work as a team.
In the past there was quite a lot of competition internally in companies – the best ideas were not shared but hidden – today, managers want to see people bring the ideas into the room and to work them through with teammates. Don’t be a solo player – you won’t win!
What was your worst job, and what was so bad about it?
Would have to be work in a green bean factory in Northern Australia. However 6 weeks in that job afforded me 6 months traveling through South East Asia so well worth it!
What do you think the government could do to help business in the current climate?
In our industry we know that there is a real shortage of chefs. We need to find new ways to encourage more people to pursue a career in the sector and also look at clever ways of recruitment and in some instances where recruitment within Ireland isn’t possible look at ways to attract talent from across the EU and beyond.
It’s such a vibrant sector but the recruitment challenge is real and something our restaurant partners talk about to us regularly.
What three businesspeople do you most admire, and why?
Aoibheann O'Brien and Iseult Ward because of their insightful invention of the Food Cloud product. This technology led social enterprise enables businesses to redistribute surplus food to those in need and working in the technology industry myself I really admire female innovators and inventors.
Sir Richard Branson is someone who’s leadership style I relate to.
He prides himself on working with a team that share the same core values he does; who believe in themselves, believe in others and most importantly believe in their work.
He is known to be highly visible amongst his employees and has a philosophy to run large businesses in the same way as a small one‒by being responsive and friendly.
Locally in the industry I think you’d have to admire Paddy McKillen jnr and Matt Ryan of Press Up Entertainment Group.
It’s amazing to see how they’ve grown over past couple of years and continued to evolve and respond to the changing food scene with a great diversity of choice in their restaurants, many of which we now deliver through Just Eat.
What advertising campaign have you most enjoyed in recent months?
I think the Heineken 0.0% campaign is one that stood out to me recently because of the similarities in our approach.
Responding to the busy consumer demand for an authentic non-alcoholic offering it engages with the target audience by tapping into the different touch points in their daily lives- sharing the Just Eat philosophy of choice without compromise.
The new product offering allowed the brand to target the consumer in a different way, with their most recent fuel forecourt and service station take-over something I thought was very clever.
Who would come to your ideal dinner party (living or dead)?
I am a passionate believer in promoting women in business and improving the gender balance, so I’d have to reserve a seat for Marian Wright Edelman.
Marian Wright Edelman was a civil rights activist and the first black woman admitted to the Bar in Mississippi - she worked with Martin Luther King. In 1973 one of the issues she raised was the lack of ethnic minority photos in schoolbooks in the US. This is when she famously said, “it’s hard to be what you can’t see.” This statement also applies to women in business, until there are more women in leadership positions, we will not increase the number of females in business.
What is the best piece of advice somebody ever gave to you?
Understand what your customer wants and always think from their perspective. If you’re delivering with them in mind, then you’re on the right track!
What do you like to do in your spare time?
My favourite down time is the time spent with family. With the working week so busy I like to relax at the weekend with them.
How much time do you spend on social media in an average week?
Social media is an integral part of our business. It allows us to listen and interact with our customers and inform our restaurant partners, but like everything in life balance is key.
I try to limit my social media consumption when I’m spending time with family, but I like to keep up to date with trends.
Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn?
All of the above for Just Eat customers and partners.
Most likely to say?
Think positive, picture positive and positive things will happen.
Least likely to say?
That’s too big a challenge!
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
