News & Events

​MorePeople has been in business for 20 years in 2020. As part of our celebrations for hitting this milestone, we’re asking some of our valued clients and candidates from over the years to look back at some of their highlights and challenges and make predictions for the next 20.We spoke to Steve Murrells, CEO of the Co-op Group since 2017 having previously led the Co-op's Food business since 2012.1. What do you see as your biggest accomplishment of the last 20 years?Saving the Co-op from going under and turning around the Group and its Food business from being the laggards of the Industry to 7 years of growth.2. What has been your most memorable career moment of the last 20 years?Becoming Group CEO at The Co-op and being recognised by my peers as Retail business leader in 2017.3. What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in the last 20 years?My biggest challenge would have to be steering the Group through the Covid-19 Pandemic. Running a Food, Funeral, Insurance, Legal Services and Health business has meant we have fed and cared for the nation at a time where we needed to look after our colleagues and help communities.4. If you could go back to the year 2000, what one piece of advice would you give yourself?Bring about change faster and identify and develop people capability sooner.5. What do you predict will be the big trends in the food/fresh produce industry in 20 years’ time? The food trends ahead are e-commerce, Hyperlocal and VFM – Value For Money.6. What do the next 20 years look like for your business? The future looks bright for the Co-op - our ethical model of doing business in a different way and focusing on social issues in society and communities plays into the genre of what people are looking for, and they can see Co-op leading in this space. Our Vision of ‘co-operating for a fairer world’ and recognising that ‘doing good is good for business’ holds us in good stead for another 180 years!7. What is the best piece of advice you could give to a 20-year-old candidate just starting their career in the industry?Go and work for a business that has a purpose-driven strategy and goes way beyond CSR.8. How long have you been a client/candidate of MorePeople?On and off for the last 10 years. 9. Where/how did you meet MorePeople? I have known Guy for nearly 20 years, first getting to know him when I was Trading Director for Produce at Tesco.10. In 20 words or less, how would you describe MorePeople?Authenticity and focused sum up the culture and approach of this business.Read more Q&A's:- Nigel Trood- Tony Reynolds- Guy Moreton

Morten Andresen from our Commercial team recently celebrated his 9 year anniversary with MorePeople. Congratulations!Here he is talking about some of the highlights and answering some of our favourite interview questions, such as 'if you were an animal, what would you be and why?'!​

​MorePeople has been in business for 20 years in 2020. As part of our celebrations for hitting this milestone, we’re asking some of our valued clients and candidates from over the years to look back at some of their highlights and challenges and make predictions for the next 20. We spoke to Nigel Trood, Non-executive Director/Adviser in the fresh produce industry and former Managing Director of The Fresh Produce Centre, part of Fresca Group. 1. What do you see as your biggest accomplishment of the last 20 years?Whilst there are many, I would have to say building and leading successful teams in business to deliver sustainable profitable business growth. I have been fortunate enough to manage a major global branded company and own label businesses working in partnership with most of the major UK retailers. I enjoyed challenging the various business models to improve their relevance in the market and ultimately create greater commercial momentum.2. What has been your most memorable career moment of the last 20 years?Prior to joining Fresca, I was Managing Director of Red Bull UK. We wanted to host events at some of London’s most iconic venues and, despite significant bureaucratic challenges, I made this happen. A huge amount of planning and logistics went into getting them off the ground, but we held live events at places like the Battersea Power Station and the O2, attracting crowds of around 40,000.3. What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in the last 20 years?To be honest, I find my current situation the most challenging. When I left Fresca, my plan was to live between Austria and London, working as a non-exec or adviser for a number of businesses. While I can still carry out these roles, the Covid-19 pandemic has made travel really difficult so I’m having to rely on video and phone calls. I know many of us are facing the same challenges, but produce is a real people industry and I much prefer to work face-to-face with people and teams. I think many of the great business ideas are generated when people are mentally and physically together. 4. If you could go back to the year 2000, what one piece of advice would you give yourself?Be more open-minded to what goes on outside your particular area of expertise. You can pick up so many ideas from other industries that can be applied to the fresh produce industry. 5. What do you predict will be the big trends in the food/fresh produce industry in 20 years’ time? Covid-19 has created huge momentum for the healthy eating agenda and I think this will continue to grow. People are becoming more interested in where their food comes from and a preference for local produce is emerging. 6. What do the next 20 years look like for you? I plan to carry on working with businesses on an advisory basis, and I’m also keen to give something back to the sector through either a charitable initiative or a not-for-profit business. Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign has really inspired me. 7. What is the best piece of advice you could give to a 20-year-old candidate just starting their career in the industry?If you’re not passionate about the industry, then it’s not for you. Working in food and fresh produce is something that, in my experience, is in your blood and it’s more than just a job. 8. How long have you been a client/candidate of MorePeople?I’ve known Guy for well over 20 years, but met him as a candidate back in 2012 when I was looking to leave Red Bull. He helped me secure a role in the fresh produce sector with one of the major players in the industry, which was the Fresca Group.9. Where/how did you meet MorePeople? I started life as a fresh produce buyer for Sainsbury’s and met Guy when he was a flower trader. Despite not dealing with him directly, I knew who he was as he lit up the office when he was around. He was so passionate… and still is! 10. In 20 words or less, how would you describe MorePeople?Passionate about the market. Caring about people. Always wanting to learn more. I consider Guy to be a real friend, however I have to say that when it comes to choice of football teams I have no respect for him! Read more Q&A's:- Tony Reynolds- Guy Moreton

​Back in early May, I was almost lost for words after witnessing the impact that the pandemic was having on people and businesses, including our own (read that article here). Recruitment all but ground to a halt, whether because clients had been forced to temporarily close their businesses or were just too busy coping with the unprecedented increase in demand. Fortunately, despite the lockdown lasting longer than any of us expected, hiring became a priority again as things started to calm down and people were keen to ‘get on with it’. Video interviews and virtual onboarding became second nature and life started to feel more ‘normal’ as lockdown measures were gradually eased. We found ways to thrive as a team despite remote working, but it was great to have everyone back together in the office. Having gone to great lengths to make the office ‘Covid safe’ with screens between desks, hand sanitiser everywhere and new office ‘rules’, we were extremely disappointed when the guidance changed again so quickly. No more office camaraderie for a while, which is what I will really miss. So, now that we’re all back to remote working for the next four weeks, it would be easy to feel like we’re back to square one, but I really don’t think we are. It feels very different this time – we’re better prepared, more savvy and determined to keep the momentum going. We’re lucky to be part of a really great sector with clients who are innovative, hands-on and excel at solving problems. And our team are all set to help wherever we can with that problem-solving. I’ve seen lots of posts sharing tips for surviving another lockdown, so I won’t try to add to those. If you want to run every day, that’s fine. If you want to hibernate and watch Netflix, that’s also fine! Personally, I’m looking ahead to 2021 and feeling positive as we restart our business growth plans and look to strengthen our team. Stay safe everyone. As you probably know, I love to talk, so am here if you need to!

​MorePeople has been in business for 20 years! As part of our celebrations for hitting this milestone, we’re asking some of our valued clients and candidates from over the years to look back at some of their highlights and challenges and make predictions for the next 20. We spoke to Tony Reynolds, Managing Director of Reynolds Catering Supplies:1. What do you see as your biggest accomplishment of the last 20 years?Building a scalable company that is 100% family owned and has built several different teams of management over the years to try and achieve the best possible results. 2. What has been your most memorable career moment of the last 20 years?Moving to Waltham Cross in 2005 was a massive step-change. We came out of Spitalfields Market on the Saturday and started delivering from our new Warehouse on the Monday.3. What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in the last 20 years?Every day is a challenge if you want to get better. Like all businesses we’ve had our fair share of setbacks but without these experiences we wouldn’t be the company we are today.4. If you could go back to the year 2000, what one piece of advice would you give yourself?I’ve been really lucky but probably trying to act with more facts and less emotion may have been good advice.5. What do you predict will be the big trends in the food/fresh produce industry in 20 years’ time? Technology in how we operate, whether that is the way we communicate or make smarter supply chains.6. What do the next 20 years look like for your business?As long as people want to keep eating fresh food outside the home, then we want to keep helping our farmers and customers sell more fresh produce. 7. What is the best piece of advice you could give to a 20-year-old candidate just starting their career in the industry?Don’t be afraid of failure. You learn more from your defeats than your victories.Be prepared to surround yourself with people that are better than you.If you want to be the best never accept second best. Always aim for the stars.Always show integrity with your leadership and be prepared to make big decisions, especially regarding people.Try to turn negatives into positives, glass half full.8. How long have you been a client/candidate of MorePeople?Many years!!!9. Where/how did you meet MorePeople? Guy was my first contact.10. In 20 words or less, how would you describe MorePeople?I’ve always enjoyed building good relationships with people. Guy has always given me respect and that reflects in the culture of MorePeople.Thank you Tony, it's a pleasure working with you![Read Guy Moreton's Q&A]

​MorePeople has been in business for 20 years! As part of our celebrations for hitting this milestone, we’re asking some of our valued clients from over the years to look back at some of their highlights and challenges and make predictions for the next 20. To kick off the campaign, our CEO, Guy Moreton, tells his story…1. What do you see as your biggest accomplishment of the last 20 years?I’m very proud of the fact that MorePeople have made it to 20 years! But, more importantly, that we’ve stuck true to our original vision, built a strong brand and a great team. Back in 2000, Peter and I set out to create a specialist recruitment business that was run by industry experts who fully understood the sectors and the challenges that our clients faced. This is still very much how we operate the business today and why we employ the people that we do. 2. What has been your most memorable career moment of the last 20 years?I love every day at work, but I think one of the most memorable and significant moments for me was the day that we appointed Andrew Fitzmaurice as Managing Director around 10 years ago. With his experience in building and managing high performing teams for large recruitment businesses in London, he gave us the strategic thinking that we were lacking to really grow the business. 3. What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in the last 20 years?Despite the challenges that the current Covid-19 pandemic has thrown at us, the recession of 2008 had a bigger impact on the business. Job vacancies dried up for a period of about four months because everything literally ground to a halt. It didn’t matter how good we were at recruitment when there weren’t any jobs to fill! Fortunately, this was followed by six REALLY good months, so we quickly got back on our feet. 4.If you could go back to the year 2000, what one piece of advice would you give yourself?I would tell myself to take more risks in life and be more ballsy! As the saying goes, ‘Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.’5. What do you predict will be the big trends in the food/produce/agri/garden industry in 20 years’ time? I’m excited to see how the move to more sustainable methods of agriculture develops. We’re already seeing innovations in this area, driven by a new generation of more commercially minded farmers. In the shorter-term, it seems that Covid is making us more health conscious, so there’s likely to be increased consumer interest around where food comes from, which is great for the fresh produce industry. Personally, I’m looking forward to the food service comeback and restaurants thriving once again. 6. What do the next 20 years look like for your business? We had ambitious growth plans pre-Covid and aim to get these back on track as soon as possible. Our focus has always been on how we can add value to our clients, helping them to solve problems and providing an ongoing talent service.7. What is the best piece of advice you could give to a 20-year-old candidate just starting their career in the industry?The same advice that I recently gave my own children as they started their careers:Work hardGo the extra mileBe enthusiastic and positiveDon’t be afraid to ask questionsIt’s ok to make mistakes, but own up to themSay yes to opportunities – you never know where they might leadDo what your boss says!8. In 20 words or less, how would you describe MorePeople?MorePeople are a leading recruiter in the agri-food space and passionate about adding value to all our candidates and clients.