Alex Eales

Driving differentiation through product development - enabling these brands to tell fresh stories, tap into niche audiences, and create buzz across digital platforms. Meeting customers' needs one product at a time.

• Established customer loyalty through consistent delivery of on-trend, high-quality, consistent products and efficient service.
• Optimized operational efficiency by redesigning processes & reformulating for increased GP and productivity.
• Part of the executive team that doubled company turnover in 4 years, without doubling the store footprint - partly achieved by implementing & executing strategic product development initiatives.
• Managed cross-functional teams for successful project completion launching commercially feasible products within deadlines.
• Identified trends and assessed opportunities to improve market share.
• Expanded market presence by identifying new business opportunities and forging strategic partnerships.
• Orchestrated successful turnaround strategy for underperforming business units, restoring profitability of sweetbeet.
• Maintained company-wide sustainability program, reducing environmental impact and achieving industry recognition.
• Tracked trends and suggested enhancements to both challenge and refine company's product offerings.

Provided consulting services across food innovation, product development, food safety systems, and production optimisation.

Selected projects:

• Consulted for UCOOK on frozen product development and food safety systems.
• Advised Coco Safar on cold brew, iced tea, and tonic production procedures and technical systems.
• Developed flavoured rooibos and honeybush tea ranges for Rooibos Limited.
• Led seasonal menu redevelopment project for The Strangers Club restaurant.
• Investigated the use of black soldier fly larvae flour in food products while consulting for Maltento.

Lead product innovation and development for a high-care vegetable processing facility supplying Woolworths:

• Developed and launched 80+ products for Woolworths across prepared vegetables, salads, and convenience ranges.
• Received the Woolworths Difference Award for first-to-market innovation with the launch of Baby Marrow Spaghetti.
• Played a key role in establishing a high-care processing facility focused on value-added vegetable products and crop utilisation optimisation.
• Integrated consumer trends and retail insights into commercially successful product development strategies.
• Managed end-to-end product development from concept through commercial launch: Conducted recipe formulation, commercial viability analysis, product costings, sensory evaluation, shelf-life testing, travel testing, and factory trials.
• Led packaging development and product improvement initiatives.
• Coordinated suppliers, procurement, and cross-functional project timelines.
• Supported factory process controls, documentation systems, and quality management procedures.
• Conducted weekly in-store quality inspections and customer complaint analysis.
• Established strong relationships with external vendors and suppliers, ensuring a reliable network of partners for future projects or collaborations.

• Conducted MSc research focused on Honeybush tea sensory profiling and processing optimisation, creating a published sensory wheel for Cyclopia Intermedia and optimised commercial production parameters.
• Applied sensory science, analytical chemistry, and sensometric analysis techniques.
• Utilised CompuSense, XLStat, PanelCheck, and SAS for sensory data analysis.

• Investigated processing techniques and equipment optimisation for Honeybush tea production.
• Performed on-site production analysis to improve product quality and consistency.
• Maintained detailed records of experimental procedures, observations, and results for accurate reporting and replication purposes. Utilized statistical packages to analyze data and create visualizations.