Andrea Prohászka: The whole family had to learn to play different roles – Future Talks, Trade magazin’s Business Podcast continues

– Your company is a family business that originally started out making ice cream powder. Today you have around 2,200 different products: all kinds of powders and dietary supplements.

Andrea Prohászka, managing director of Tutti Kft.

– Yes, we can manufacture anything that can be made from powder – confectionery or convenience products, beverages and even nutritional supplements.

– There are countless articles about how harmful powders are and that it is impossible to know for sure what we are actually ingesting when we consume them. Do you encounter this?

– Absolutely, but this attitude was much more pronounced 5-10 years ago, with many prejudices based on tabloid articles. We try to act up against the phenomenon by explaining that powder doesn’t need preservatives, because it contains no moisture, so the microbiological processes that require preservatives don’t even start.

– What else will appear on the small labels on food packaging that we try to read for information?

– The current trend is to include as little information as possible – clean labelling is very popular, meaning that the label should be transparent and understandable for the consumer, the product should contain as few ingredients as possible and no unnecessary additives should be included. I think this will continue to be the case in the future.

– Do you follow trends or you also intend to set them?

– I would like to say that we create the trends, but we are too small for that. We have innovative ideas, but in many cases we import them from abroad or our partners come up with their own ideas.

„ also consciously pay attention to giving my colleagues space to make mistakes – even if this doesn’t truly have a culture in our country”

– What trends do you see right now?

– There are many trends right now, often contradictory ones. One of my favourites is the rise of functional foods. We have gone from the ice tea mix enriched with vitamin C of yesteryear to soft drinks, yogurts, etc. enriched with protein, collagen or whatever else.

– What kind of challenges will the food industry face in the coming period?

– Consumers only saw that food prices had surged dramatically, but we also saw the same thing happen with raw materials. The economic environment isn’t exactly ideal either. Consumer confidence is very low and shows no signs of recovering from this low point.

– Do you think insect protein production will take off at some point?

– Absolutely. Three insect-derived proteins have already been approved in the EU, but there is still a lot of resistance in the general public. I think acceptance will come when meat consumption starts to decline – in part because of its high price and also due to sustainability reasons.

– How does a generation change affect family dynamics?

– It is very thin ice, so you need to tread carefully. I believe that family always comes first – no matter what conflicts we have, we must always keep in mind that we are first and foremost a family. The whole family had to learn to play different roles, to behave as owners of the company.

– Do you see a difference between being a female leader and being a leader?

– Yes and no. As a leader, I have never experienced any disadvantage of being a woman. There are few female managers and I have realised that we need to be much braver and put ourselves out there.