Leading food distributor identifies strategic risks to streamline process and reporting

Client background

A nationally based organization is known for being a leading distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods. Operating in the food industry, the organization provides a wide range of products including groceries, fresh products and health and wellness items to supermarkets, natural food stores and other retailers. The organization has a robust supply chain, employs more than 30,000 people and generates $30 billion in revenue.

The business challenge

The organization was looking to identify, assess and prioritize their key risks. With a decentralized operating model, the organization needed to identify the various risks within each business unit and evaluate them across the enterprise. Due to the nature of the assessment, the organization needed risk reporting to remain anonymous which encouraged greater participation by respondents, resulting in additional insights and feedback.

Strategy and solution

Baker Tilly worked with the organization to identify the key stakeholders and schedule collaboration sessions to enhance the information collected. Leveraging RiskSynergy™, a typical 10–12-week process was reduced to four weeks, aggregating more than 100 business unit-specific risks into 15-20 enterprise risks. The Baker Tilly team also provided stakeholder education sessions and helped to coordinate the assignment risk owners and actionable next steps to fast-track risk mitigation management and reporting.