Supplier Network Co-Presidents' Letter
Dear Supplier Network Members, In her song, “Hold My Hand,” Jess Glynne sings “I’m ready for this, there’s no denying.”
As this most unusual year continues, it’s important that we highlight, focus and reflect on the positives that have occurred. Doing so will help you to overcome the negativity when it creeps into your day.
Many of you are still working from your home office and though this presents its own set of challenges, we would guess that you have found the silver lining in this work environment. First of all, your commute has been cut down to next to nothing. No need to search for a parking spot, wait for a train or worry about the weather and how it will affect your commute. Every day is Casual Friday and slippers, flip flops and athletic shoes are the norm. You can eat at your desk and no one pops in to ask you a quick question. Admit it – you miss those days.
As promised, the Supplier Network has continued to creatively find ways to keep you connected. Since the Pandemic first hit we’ve hosted a variety of webinars to help you learn how to navigate the “new normal” that you’re dealing with. Many of the webinars focused on ways to adapt to the changes that seemed to happen overnight. At McDonald’s request, in April we hosted a
COVID-19 Employee Health and Wellness Roundtable to hear from some of your fellow Suppliers on how they were making changes to secure their facilities to protect the health and safety of their employees. We’ve always felt that best practice sharing was a key benefit of membership in the Supplier Network and this was certainly evident as Suppliers discussed how they were dealing with the challenges that the virus presented at the workplace.
We also featured webinars on
Top Tips for Virtual Negotiation, The Art of Leading Remote Talent, Taking Care of our People as we Move into Recovery and a workshop on how to
Refocus During Recovery and Shift from Urgent to Important. Jack Lee from Datassential presented the data that illuminated expected consumer behavior in a Post-COVID world in our
Ready for the Awakening webinar.
Armada gave us a peak under the tent in June with their webinar on
Managed Freight and the New Next as they shared how freight may be impacted going forward. This was followed up in July with a spotlight on
Chef Chad Schafer and the Culinary Leadership Team.
Gartner rounded out this list of events with their presentation of
2020 Supply Chain Lessons from Leaders. This webinar highlighted learnings from the Top 25 supply chains in the world.
This month allows us to return to one of our more popular Supplier Network Events – an
Executive Meet & Greet on September 15th. Yes, it will be different than those that we’ve previously hosted at MHQ. Our special guest,
Bob Stewart, new in his role as
Corporate Vice President Global Strategic Sourcing Food/Digitization, will appear via Zoom. And although past Executive Meet & Greets allowed us to move upstairs for appetizers and casual conversation with Bob, this will not be the case. Instead, aside from live Q & A at the conclusion of Bob’s remarks, you can submit any questions you have for Bob via the question link on the Event Invitation and we will make sure to get them answered for you.
We will continue to move forward with Events that are of interest and use to our members. Please let us know what’s on your mind as we strive to keep our Supply Chain strong and tightly connected during these unprecedented times.
Jan Perrino and Shari Antonissen – Supplier Network Co-Presidents
Jeanne Gannon - Emerita
All members must be current suppliers to the McDonald’s system in North America. A “supplier” is defined as those suppliers who have a signed Business Relationship Agreement with McDonald’s, and who have been approved by McDonald's to offer products and/or services to the McDonald’s system or whose pricing is nationally managed by McDonald’s North American Supply Chain. Other suppliers or service providers who don’t meet the above definition but would like to participate in the SN may be granted membership at the discretion of the SN’s Board of Directors and with McDonald’s approval.
