Altrincham, England, United Kingdom
Peter Harrison serves as a Non Executive Director at Symplicity Foods, helping the business take the next step towards long term growth. Previously Chief Commercial Officer at Quorn Foods and has 28 year’s experience in sales & marketing within the food industry, starting at Mars as a graduate trainee in 1995. Before his tenure at Quorn Foods, Peter worked for over 12 years at Kellogg’s in a number of brand and marketing roles, overseeing several household name cereal brands.
In this role at Quorn Foods, Peter is responsible for all sales & marketing activities globally. Under Peter’s care, Quorn has evolved from a vegetarian meat alternative brand to a healthy eating brand with a full re-launch in 2017, that brought food and values to the core of the brand, evolving the brand from a vegetarian meat alternative brand, to a sustainable healthy eating choice for all and not just aligned with flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan diets. New product development and innovation to meet changing consumer needs has always been at the heart of what Peter does. This is most recently illustrated by the launch of a fully vegan range of products in 2016 which also gained Vegan Society accreditation. Peter is passionate about conveying Quorn Foods’ different approach to making delicious and nutritious foods. Quorn Foods is proud to take a different approach to making protein. They don’t start where other people start, with livestock. They start with a natural nutritious fungus that grows in the soil. The result is a delicious range of products that produce less GHG emissions, use less land and less water. So it’s from the earth, for the long term benefit of the Earth. This is something that Peter is committed to communicating through his work. Peter is Quorn Foods’ representative to the Forum for the Future’s Protein Challenge 2040 and The World Resources Institute’s Better Buying Lab.
In this position at Quorn Foods, Peter was passionate about ensuring that Quorn Foods communicates itself in an authentic and credible way, especially around its deeply-rooted sustainability credentials. He was instrumental in the 2017 Quorn global brand relaunch. Under Peter’s care, Quorn has evolved from a vegetarian meat alternative brand to a healthy eating brand with a full re-launch in 2017, that brought food and values to the core of the brand.evolving the brand from a vegetarian meat alternative brand, to a sustainable healthy eating choice for all and not just aligned with flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan diets. New product development and innovation to meet changing consumer needs has always been at the heart of what Peter does. This is most recently illustrated by the launch of a fully vegan range of products in 2016 which also gained Vegan Society accreditation. Peter is passionate about conveying Quorn Foods’ different approach to making delicious and nutritious foods. Quorn Foods is proud to take a different approach to making protein. They don’t start where other people start, with livestock. They start with a natural nutritious fungus that grows in the soil. The result is a delicious range of products that produce less GHG emissions, use less land and less water. So it’s from the earth, for the long term benefit of the Earth. This is something that Peter is committed to communicating through his work. Peter is Quorn Foods’ representative to the Forum for the Future’s Protein Challenge 2040 and The World Resources Institute’s Better Buying Lab.
Following a successful tenure at Kellogg’s, Peter moved to take on the role of Marketing Director and Head of US Business at Quorn Foods. In this role, Peter is responsible for all marketing activity. This spans Quorn™ brand communications, new product development, innovation and sustainability; not just in the UK, but internationally as well. Sustainability is a central tenant of what Quorn Foods stands for and is an area that is very close to Peter’s heart. Quorn™ products are helping people reduce their meat consumption by offering varied and tasty alternatives. Previously a mainstay of vegetarian diets, Quorn™ is now a highly popular range of products. Peter has actively shaped the innovation and development of Quorn Foods both in the UK and internationally. In particular, he has driven huge success in the US, simplifying Quorn Foods’ approach, driving individual Quorn™ brand awareness in a ripe market and driving 35% growth. In addition, Peter has helped to deliver and drive a huge perceptual step change for Quorn Foods. Peter’s recent re-launch of Quorn™ products has built a strong footing for further growth whilst continuing to appeal to people who understand the positive aspects of a meat-free diet and as Quorn Foods aims to become a billion-dollar business by 2027.
Peter was the Marketing Director of the second largest cereal market in the world. In this role he oversaw and led the cereal arm of the business. Peter was instrumental in driving Crunchy Nut to be a central brand in the Kellogg’s portfolio refocusing the brand on the things that consumers loved about it and driving new products into its portfolio to extend the brands reach. During his tenure at Kellogg’s, Peter also began to spearhead projects centred on changing the perception of the nutritional value of cereals, especially children’s cereals. This was challenging in the face of increasing negative debate around high levels of sugar in some children’s food products, but one that Peter rose to.
Peter was involved with overseeing brand communication across a number of well-known cereal brands in the UK, including; Coco Pops, Crunchy Nut and Special K. During his time at Kellogg’s, he was responsible for delivering a significant number of pieces of communication and it was not unusual for that to be over 100 pieces in a year. His favourite brand will always remain Coco Pops where the chance to tell an exciting brand story through a series of adverts centred on two iconic characters integrated into multiple print, broadcast and digital platforms never stopped being a great pleasure.