Hello and thanks for visiting my site. I'm Shaz the creator and founder of Popular Produce. I have been lucky enough to be working in the produce industry for the past 20 years! When my kids were growing up, they would ask me what I did for a living, I would always reply "selling healthy sweets!"
My love affair with produce started in the M&S Brixton store in London. This is where I managed the produce shop amongst other areas in the year 2000. The amazing different colours and shapes and the fact everything was grown from nature and inherently fresh and healthy was so compelling to me. Two years later I was given the opportunity to work at the M&S head office supplying fruit to all their stores!
My fascination took me back to the cradle of all produce. Where the magic starts... in the soil. I spent 4 years working with growers and importers in the Uk and all over the world, helping and managing their businesses. This is where my fascination started with innovation, breeding and varietal development. I was amazed at all the work that was and still is going on in farms around the globe and my passion is to ensure that this hard work is realised on the shelves of retailers so that customers can enjoy the best produce money can buy!
As fortune would have it I was able to combine my selling skills and growing knowledge buying fruit for M&S. The perfect job as I was able to bring to the market new and interesting fruits as well as improve upon the quality of the existing portfolio. During my time buying I launched brand new products to the market and changed the supply chain models so that the grower and retailer had a closer, transparent and more direct relationship.
I was privileged enough to manage the trade of a £750 million+ produce business at M&S. Combining my customer, commercial, growing, supply chain, mentoring and new product development skills. Merging the successful Joint venture between M&S and Ocado was an invaluable experience that I had the distinction of leading the M&S produce commercial team through.
The time has come for my next adventure in discovery! My passion is to keep learning about produce and finding new varieties and products by working with growers and retailers to bring them closer together and alongside it the "wow" factor to the shelves for the customer. There are many undiscovered gems out there and knowing that I can help bring these to the market place keeps me motivated and energised.