- Passion and determination have driven Piotr Wieczorek’s development since the beginning of his career.
- Negotiations, relationship building, and working in an international environment were key.
- Joining Foodcom paved the way for partnership and new challenges.
- His greatest success has been team building and people development.
How did your career path in commerce begin 14 years ago?
Fourteen years ago I started my career with a multinational company that had three branches, in Hong Kong, Dubai and Austria, and originated in Poland. It was an operating model very similar to what we have today at Foodcom, which is B2B trading. The company traded in a wide range of electronics, such as smartphones, games consoles, cameras and other popular devices.
I ended up there on the recommendation of a friend in the retail industry and was introduced to the owner of the company, who became my mentor. He taught me everything from negotiation strategies, to sales tactics, to running a business in an international environment. At the time, electronics was a very hot topic in the market, so I had the opportunity to immediately enter the world of high turnover and intensive work and cooperation with the biggest players in the industry.
What skills or experiences gained at the beginning of your career helped you in the following years?
The most important thing was the ability to reach out to the customer, draw out real needs from them and connect them with a product that we could offer. Initially this applied to electronics, but the principle is the same in any industry, including food. A customer may need a thousand cameras or a specific food ingredient and in both cases it is about matching the offer to clearly defined expectations. Negotiations were also a huge lesson.
In addition, I have gained a solid grounding in work organisation. From prospecting customers, to gaining their trust, to maintaining long-term relationships. These skills are the foundation of what I still do today.
Did you think about a career in an international environment from the beginning, or did it emerge over time?
I got into my first job in sales somewhat by accident. However, looking back over a dozen years, I can see that it was my calling. I had previously profiled and educated myself in terms of the energy business. It was, and still is, my passion.
However, fate led to an opportunity in international trade. My background in diplomacy and international relations was a perfect fit. The opportunity to operate in different markets and meet people from different cultures immediately drew me in. Recently, recalling my thesis on gas extraction, I thought that fate had led me exactly where it should. I’ve been doing this for 14 years now and I know I’ll be doing it for the rest of my life.
How did you end up at Foodcom and what convinced you?
The circumstances were quite funny. I found out about Foodcom from my colleague Matthew, now a Partner and a top trader in the company. He was working for a large UK bank at the time and told me he was moving into dairy trading. He told me what it was going to look like and I thought that was exactly what I was doing and sounded interesting. I asked him to arrange an interview with me. I met with Alexander, our CEO, and we immediately caught up. The conversation lasted literally a few minutes, I liked his vision and he liked my approach.
At first I was convinced by the terms and conditions. The commission was ten times higher than at the previous company.
In addition, I was also convinced by the sheer potential for growth. Foodcom was a small company at the time, and Alexander’s vision and Matthew’s skills gave me the feeling that it would all grow quickly. We had a young, ambitious team and we saw the company take off in a short space of time.
What was your start at Foodcom like, the first challenges and successes?
The biggest challenge was learning how to work with food products. In electronics, which is where I came from, it was easier because the product is known from everyday use. Here you had to learn the parameters, how to store it, the expiry dates. I was most interested in the cheese trade and that’s where I started to develop.
My first big success was gaining the trust of several large Dutch companies who entrusted us with selling their products locally. At the same time, we convinced large Polish companies to sell their products abroad with our help. It was a ‘win-win’ model. We supported Polish business and at the same time introduced attractive offers to our market.
How have your responsibilities and role in the company changed over the years?
In the beginning, when we were developing the company, Mateusz focused on selling fat products and I was in charge of cheeses. I quickly became director of the cheese division and specialised in this area. This segment was growing rapidly and I also had a nose for people, so many of the current employees are people I recommended myself and brought into the company.
Just before the pandemic, we saw an opportunity in plant-based products. I decided at that time to move away from dairy altogether in order to fully focus on developing this segment. This proved to be a hit. Plant-based products quickly gained ground and we started to enter more sectors.
During this time, I found myself increasingly comfortable in my role as a manager. Commanding teams, supporting people, developing juniors and promoting them to further positions gave me great satisfaction.
I have also always enjoyed ‘hunting’. Meeting new people, convincing them of our vision and looking for new solutions and markets. This is one of the skills that contributed a lot to my becoming a partner at the firm.
How did you come to be a partner at Foodcom?
I think several things contributed to it. First of all, full commitment. From the beginning, I made a bet that I would not do any side business or investments. I put all my energy into Foodcom, believing that this would be the best solution for me. And it has worked out well.
I also had a clear goal – to become a partner within a certain timeframe. I am of those who write down goals, plan and consistently work towards them. This was one of those moments that confirmed that this strategy was working. Within the allotted time, I gained shares and became a Partner. Now I’m setting further goals and we’re on our way to the next win.
In one month you became a Partner and moved to Spain. What is it like working there?
We have an office in Malaga, on the Costa del Sol. The location is capital. The city is growing fast, it’s great for tourism, and recently big companies like Oracle and Google have moved here, and Netflix is building a huge hub. There have also recently been direct flights to Miami and New York, so Málaga is becoming a bit of a new Dublin in the big tech world.
This gives us the opportunity to cover business in this part of Europe. What captivated me the most is that our team in Malaga is made up of real plodders, they are ambitious, hungry to succeed, hard-working. They are constantly on the phone, doing business, fighting. On top of that, they are highly educated, speak many languages, are young and fit perfectly into our requirements.
Spain is also an easier market than Poland. People are willing to trust each other, many businesses are family-oriented, and with local employees from different provinces and cities in the team, it is easier to establish relationships – sometimes they are linked by a football team or a common hobby. This helps a lot in building a business.
The Spanish language also opens us up to the whole of Latin America. In Málaga, we have representatives from various countries in the region, which allows us to operate in Spain and Portugal, as well as planning expansion into Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina. Being here locally, it is much easier to develop and scale these directions.
Do you see the potential for the FDCM platform to be promoted in Spain as well? I have heard that the HoReCa sector is quite strong there.
One hundred per cent, of course. We even had a funny situation at the beginning: when our traders from the main B2B business saw how the platform worked, they quickly realised that it could be serious competition for them. There was even concern that it could replace some of their traditional work in the future, so naturally they started thinking about re-branding.
And this is hardly surprising. Today we all shop online. We buy on Allegro, we order through Lisk, we book a hairdresser online. The Spanish market is very modern in this respect and consumers are keen on e-commerce. With our background and experience, we can enter this area with a really strong impact.
What do you consider to be your biggest success in your career so far?
It’s actually the people. I consider my biggest success to be being able to see the potential in people and creating space for them to grow. This has brought me much more in my professional life than the business itself, which I have managed to acquire.
Of course, I can talk about convincing clients or winning contracts, but this is my daily bread. The real success for me is building long-term relationships that often turn into friendships and are based on a lot of trust. I have a nose for picking out good people, the kind who later become our loyal, committed ‘soldiers’ or ‘commandos’, as we sometimes jokingly say only the beginning of such stories.
What values do you try to promote in your work and in the team you manage?
First and foremost, mutual trust. Added to this is a complete focus on achieving goals, support in difficult moments and the ability to manage crises quickly. Business culture is also important, it’s an absolute must.
There is no room for games or social engineering. What counts is culture, i.e. the ability to be polite, control emotions and keep them in check, even in stressful situations. I try to look at everything in the long horizon, both people and problems that arise.
At this point you are already a partner and managing an office. How do you envisage your future role and the development of Foodcom in the coming years?
My main goal is to develop the operations of the Malaga office and build on its strong position in the market. Spain fits perfectly with our business model, so I have a solid belief in the continued success of this branch.
I want to strengthen the team as much as possible and then identify my successor from among the current traders. I am confident that I will prove myself in this role and, once the plan is implemented, I will be ready for the next step.
In our strategy, the next targets are the US and Asia. I wish, hope and am even sure that one of these places will become the next base where I will build a team and transfer the model proven in Spain to a new continent.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a similar career path?
Have clear goals and consistently work towards them. Treat failures as lessons and keep a positive attitude because it opens many doors.
