New boss eager to taste success at Cadbury

Chilean-born Alastair de Raadt says joining the confectionary maker was not a hard career choice to make. Photo / Richard Robinson

One of New Zealand's best-known consumer brands has a new man in the top job.

After a five-month stint in South America running the NZ Farming Systems Uruguay dairy operation, Alastair de Raadt has returned to this country to take over the managing director role at confectionery-maker Cadbury.

Before his appointment in Uruguay, 45-year-old de Raadt spent much of his working life in the consumer brands side of dairy co-op Fonterra, most recently as Tip Top's managing director.

He said he went ahead with the temporary South American posting, which took place under PGG Wrightson's management contract, because he wanted to test his skills in a different, primary industry.

"It was fascinating - it was a huge project, with big numbers," says de Raadt. "I really enjoyed it."

He left NZ Farming Systems at the end of January after the takeover by Singapore's Olam and the end of PGG Wrightson's management contract.

Chilean-born de Raadt's Latin American background saw him posted by Fonterra to various parts of South America. He has also worked in Sri Lanka and other parts of Asia for Fonterra.

De Raadt was 5 when his family packed up and left Chile for Tasmania in 1970, just three years before the military coup that brought dictator Augusto Pinochet to power.

"The economy was very bad, the outlook wasn't good ... there was a lot of strife and my parents had five kids and thought there were better opportunities elsewhere."

His father set up a small farm in Tasmania, with a few cows and a market garden, de Raadt said.

His mother got a job as a Nutrimetics cosmetics consultant.

De Raadt said his father's farming background pushed him towards a career in the dairy industry.

Two weeks after finishing university in Melbourne in the mid-1980s he took a job with Riviana, the Australian arm of the New Zealand Dairy Board, which became part of Fonterra after it was set up in 2001.

De Raadt said the decision to join Cadbury was not difficult to make.

"I enjoy working in an industry and with products where there's a strong connection with the people around you - everyone knows your products and experiences them on a fairly regular basis."

But his arrival at the chocolate- maker comes at a time when food manufacturers are facing the impact of rising soft commodity prices.

The global prices of Cadbury's vital ingredients such as cocoa, sugar and milk have seen major rallies this year, although prices have fallen slightly, with many other commodities in the wake of the Japan disaster.

But passing price increases on to consumers is a last resort not being considered at Cadbury.

"[Ingredient prices are] always a challenge, and we need to make sure we are as efficient a producer and marketer as possible," said de Raadt.

Cadbury employs 726 staff in New Zealand, 452 of those at its Dunedin manufacturing plant.

The company completed a major restructuring in 2009, which saw its Avondale factory closed and $69 million invested into the Dunedin plant. Redundancies took place that year, with 125 staff losing their jobs in Auckland and 143 in Dunedin.

Cadbury's New Zealand corporate headquarters is still located in Avondale, where de Raadt is based.

ALASTAIR DE RAADT
* Age: 45.
* Born: Vina del Mar, Chile.
* Managing director, Cadbury (New Zealand), replacing Matthew Oldham.
* Previous position: Chief executive, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay.