PAPA welcomes a new chair.

Keith Griffi ths, head of food innovation & technology at Pizza Hut Europe, has been elected as the new, incoming chair of PAPA. Here, he gives his thoughts on the direction for the Association, and the industry in general, as well as revealing some of his background in the pizza industry.

PIZZA PEDIGREE

With Pizza Hut being the largest pizza brand in the world, Keith Griffi ths’ area is Europe, including Russia, Israel and Palestine - some 200 plus outlets of which 60% are delivery. The UK having a mix of dine-in restaurants and delivery outlets, he is well placed to have a good knowledge of where the industry is and in which direction it should be heading, commenting: “It is my intention to uphold the role to lead and focus on strategic matters concerning the Association members and to provide the support required and represent the Association as the fi gurehead.

“Pizza has been my life for the last 35 years, although I started my career as a French culinary chef before training as a pâtissier, specialising in chocolate and pastillage. This is where I developed my interest in science which eventually led to a degree in food engineering.” Keith Griffi ths’ career then took him into bakeries and then to United Biscuits (McVities) before he moved to the UB Restaurant Division where he was responsible for Pizzaland, Perfect Pizza and Wimpy which is where, he says, pizza got into his blood!

There followed a move to chilled and frozen development when UB purchased Ross Young’s, at which point he became the lead in pizza and dessert development. Following this, he moved to Heinz, and then Greencore, with responsibility for pizza for the multiples. He joined Yum Brands in 2003, heading up food safety and QA for Europe and in 2011 moved to lead the food innovation technology for EU. As a FIT Leader Yum Restaurants International, he also sits as the company’s dough specialist.

WHERE WE ARE

“At the moment, the challenge to the industry as a whole with all the government policies around salt reduction, trans fats and general health initiatives, as well as the white paper on HFSS, is an example that the industry still needs clarity on and fairness across categories. The pandemic brought a lot of creative thinking from the industry with an attitude of ‘how can we?’” says Keith Griffi ths. “I was incredibly impressed with all that was done by the market as a whole and particularly our Association members and the support we all gave to the NHS and compounded by