{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Grounded","title":"Every Piece Matters, with Kristi Kingery of Tropical Smoothie Cafe - Grounded Podcast - Episode # 002","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2618,"description":"Welcome to the recent episode of Grounded! Join us as we hear from top-tier producers in the food service industry to hear their perspectives from all links throughout the supply chain. Each guest will discuss their brand development, company culture, global supply chain strategy, culinary innovation, and leadership. Please welcome our guest, Kristi Kingery! Kristi Kingery is the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Kristi is an ambitious leader who constantly strives to make a difference by inspiring others and developing creative solutions to complex challenges. Takeaways:Kristi started her food service career as a fashion designer. She graduated from college with a fashion design and marketing degree. Kristi met a great team over at ARCOP, the supply chain for Arby’s, which brought her into the organization as a buyer, which resulted in starting a great career path for her. Two things Kristi believes are the greatest improvement within the supply chain or food service industry:Kristi thinks that it is a huge advancement as an industry that people know and can identify what a supply chain is. A supply chain is a connected system of organizations, information, and resources designed to source, produce and move goods from one place to another.Lastly, she believes that the accessibility of data, the evolution of analytics, and the visibility that her company can get of what's inside of its supply chain has made a difference.Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s supply chain is two-part when it comes to produce: fresh produce supply chain, and the frozen produce supply chain. When it comes to fresh produce, the timing window is critical. Three winning recipes for Tropical Smoothie Cafe:They have franchisees who care about their company and guests. It makes it simple for Kristi’s company to get its franchise on board with different programs such as the Fresh Produce Program through Produce Alliance.Tropical Smoothie has an outstanding field team....","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/5ifFaCdvYcrBiG9pQr1sjMmYVq_UPEaZCMyFMkTRPv0/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kMjY3/ZWY2OWRiYzQyOTk0/ZTI5NmJhMmM3N2Ux/ZTFmYS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}