Jo started good customer service and providing value by working in retail at the age of 8 in her parent’s convenience stores in the U.K. This is where she learnt the importance of good customer service and providing value to a customer.

Upon returning to Canada, at the age of 15, Jo worked initially part time with McDonald’s Restaurants in London Ontario in various stations of grill, window, lot and lobby and lobby hostess. While in college she was promoted to a Swing Manager. This experience further cemented into Jo’s skill set the importance of quality, good value and foremost being customer centric.

After graduation, Jo entered Foodservice channels first into distribution and then working for Consumer-Packaged Good (CPG) companies in both marketing, sales, and general manager roles with such companies as Campbell Soup Company Limited, E.D. Smith, Nabisco Brands and, Kraft Foods. CPG companies taught Jo the winning process of how to build a business using strategy, process, data and collaboration (both with internal and external customers). Through these roles and companies, Jo worked with her teams to find the “alternate channels” or the “white space” where their foodservice products could play a role and further build their business and provide points of difference for their retailer customers. Across Gas and Convenience, Home Meal Replacement, Instore Bakery, B2B and Costco new businesses were created and still are flourishing to this day.

Jo Heron has 25 years of experience of building new and existing food (foodservice) products into Alternate Channels and their segments. Over these 25 years, Jo has not only had the unique opportunity to build Alternate Channel business but also develop long-term and rewarding relationships with key decision makers within Retail Foodservice, Speciality Retail, B2C and, B2B segments. Building new products, new business channels is not an easy task on any day but, as it states in the definition of Sisu, we persevere on behalf of our clients to develop business despite head winds. We drive to success and guide a company to see beyond limitations to ask “What could be.”