By Lukas Vanterpool, founder and co-owner of The Sterling Choice
Key takeaways:
- Hiring from big-brand companies feels safe but often backfires in scaling food businesses. Corporate experience doesn’t translate to lean, fast-moving, ambiguous environments.
- The real hiring failure is less about capability and more about context. The right question isn’t “Who has done this before?” but “Who can succeed here?”
- “Toolbelt” candidates, those with varied, non-linear experience across business models, consistently outperform prestige hires in growth-stage environments.
Most mid-sized food and beverage companies in the US are making the same hiring mistake, and it’s slowing them down at a critical point in their growth.
They’re hiring from big brands.
On paper, it makes sense. Candidates from global names like Nestlé or Mondelez bring credibility, structure, and years of experience. However, in practice, those hires often struggle to deliver in the environments they’re being placed into. Why? Scaling businesses don’t operate like corporates.
That mismatch is becoming increasingly costly at a time when food manufacturers are already operating under significant workforce pressure. According to Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, the US manufacturing sector could require as many as 3.8 million new employees by 2033, with up to 1.9 million of those roles potentially going unfilled if workforce challenges persist.
In that kind of labor market, companies can’t afford to hire people who look right on paper but are fundamentally mismatched to the pace, pressure, and realities of the business itself.
The environment gap few are accounting for
We’re seeing a fundamental mismatch that internal hiring teams frequently overlook.
Large, established food companies are built on:
- Defined processes
- Layered teams
- Significant resource
- Clearly scoped roles
Scaling businesses, particularly those that are PE-backed, founder-led, or growing through acquisition, look very different:
- Limited resource
- Rapid change
- Ambiguous roles
- High expectations with less infrastructure
You can’t take someone who has spent their career operating in a highly structured environment and expect them to thrive in a business that is still building systems, teams, and processes in real time.
And yet, that’s exactly what many companies are doing.
Experience doesn’t always equal effectiveness
This is where hiring decisions start to break down. Many teams focus hiring on:
- Recognizable brand names
- Years of experience
- Familiar job titles
But they overlook a far more important question, which is, “Can this person operate effectively in our environment?”
The reality is that most hiring failures aren’t about capability, they’re about context. This is particularly important in food manufacturing, where labor shortages, succession gaps, and competition for operational and technical talent continue to place pressure on production teams and growth plans. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, attracting and retaining a quality workforce remains one of manufacturers’ biggest long-term business challenges.
A candidate can be highly skilled and still be the wrong hire if they are not equipped to handle certain kinds of pace or pressure, a lack of structure, constant change and broader, less defined responsibilities
In growth-stage businesses, those factors aren’t exceptions, they’re the norm.
When “safe hires” aren’t safe
Hiring from large brands is often seen as the “safe” option, but in scaling food businesses, it can introduce risk.
Candidates coming from corporate environments may be used to larger teams and support functions, perhaps more defined processes, and maybe slower decision-making cycles.
When they move into a leaner, faster-paced business, they are often expected to:
- Take on wider responsibilities
- Build processes from scratch
- Make decisions with less data and support
That shift isn’t just operational, it’s behavioural, and not everyone is set up for it.
The rise of the “toolbelt” candidate
The most effective hires in these environments tend to look different.
They are not always linear in their careers, and they don’t always come from the biggest brands.
Instead, they bring a broader mix of experiences, varied exposure to different business models and the ability to adapt quickly and solve problems in real time
These are “toolbelt” candidates, people who have built up a range of skills and perspectives that allow them to operate in less predictable environments.
They may not tick every box on a job description, but they are often far better suited to the realities of a scaling business.
For companies navigating complex hiring challenges, this is where a more consultative food and beverage recruitment approach becomes critical, one that goes beyond resume matching and focuses on environment fit, role scope, and long-term potential.
A shift in hiring mindset?
For food and beverage companies in growth mode, hiring needs to evolve.
That means shifting from hiring for experience, to hiring for environment fit. Instead of asking “Who has done this before?”, it means asking, “Who can succeed here?”
It also requires a more realistic view of what success looks like in a role, and a willingness to challenge initial assumptions around candidate profiles.
As more US food and beverage businesses expand, whether through private equity investment, new product categories, or increased competition, getting hiring right becomes a critical lever for growth.
As we know, the cost of a mis-hire isn’t just financial. It impacts everything from team performance, speed of execution and overall business momentum
And in lean, high-growth environments, those costs compound quickly.
There is no shortage of capable talent in the market.
But there is a shortage of candidates who are matched correctly to the environments they are entering.
Until hiring strategies shift to reflect that, businesses will continue to make “safe” hires that don’t deliver. And in a growth-stage company, that’s a risk few can afford to take.
Lukas Vanterpool is founder and co-owner of The Sterling Choice, specializing in recruitment across the consumer goods ecosystem — spanning FMCG, food, drink, CPG, and packaging — across the UK and US.
