Food Tank recently had the opportunity to speak with Scott Davis, formerly chief concept and innovation officer at Panera Bread, who was one of the speakers at the 2015 Food Tank Summit in partnership with The George Washington University.
Food Tank (FT): What will your message be at the Food Tank Summit?
Scott Davis (SD): Customer attitudes are changing fast for restaurants, staying relevant and competitive requires transparency and clean food from sustainable sources.
(FT): How are you contributing to building a better food system?
(SD): Helping manufacturers rethink how to provide clean alternatives. The Panera Bread Food Policy is a great example of a restaurant company taking a stand and doing the hard work.
(FT): What are the biggest obstacles or challenges you face in achieving your organization’s goals?
(SD): Managing the tradeoffs between profit growth and costs, food safety, internal and external acceptance of the mission and its ability to drive long term traffic and profitability.
(FT): Who is your food hero and why?
(SD): Michael Pollan. Through his books and speeches he has given a voice and language to the movement of “Real Food”.
(FT): In 140 characters or less what is the most important thing we can all do to help change the food system?
(SD): Be aware of what you eat! What you eat is how you feel.
