Kellogg Food & Agribusiness Club (kFAB) | Daily Harvest - Anisha Chandra

Can you describe your internship briefly?

During my internship, I worked across the supply chain function on the following projects:

• Assessing Blockchain Feasibility for Daily Harvest: Interviewed suppliers and food blockchain providers to understand if Daily Harvest should invest in blockchain
• Sourcing Redundancy: Identified, assessed and approved new suppliers to find secondary suppliers for all ingredients
• Global Sourcing Traceability: Spoke with current suppliers to map out all ingredient touchpoints, including country of origin, to understand complexity and inefficiencies of current sourcing contracts
• New Distribution Center: Analyzed forecasted demand to determine the optimal location for a new distribution center

Was there room to go beyond the initial setup of the internship?

Originally, I came in to do just the blockchain and logistics projects but after 2 weeks, I had already completed the blockchain project ahead of schedule. I sat down with the head of sourcing, as it was the area in operations I was most interested in, and asked if I could take on a project that would most closely simulate what it would be like to be a sourcing manager. He then put me on the sourcing redundancy and sourcing traceability projects so I could build relationships with suppliers and learn how to negotiate externally and internally.

How was the interaction with your colleagues?

The operations team was great and gave me a lot of autonomy to work on my projects on my own time, which meant I also had flexibility with my work schedule when needed. It was also great to be surrounded by people who were so passionate about food and finding the best ingredients and recipes for our customers. However, I physically didn't sit with my team which was isolating at times.

To what degree did the internship provide you with a good understanding of the industry and function? And to what degree did it provide you the opportunity to develop new skills, knowledge (e.g., via coaching or training) or a relevant network inside and outside the company (conferences, touchpoint with relevant people in other departments…)?

I felt like I learned so much about how our global food system works and now understand all the layers food goes through before it gets to our plate. Understanding complexities of achieving subdepartment priorities (e.g., sourcing vs food safety vs produce development) was the best learning I got from my internship, especially dealing with frozen and how that plays a role with the types of suppliers you can engage in. I definitely walked away with some great connections that I have already tapped into my second year at Kellogg and look forward to maintaining my entire career.

Would you see yourself working there in the long term? Why/why not?

The internship showed me that although I was fascinated by the food supply chain, for a full time position I wouldn't have the ability to span across different projects like I did over the summer. Furthermore, the way the operations team is structured at Daily Harvest, culinary manages most of new product development, which is something I was also interested in doing more work on.

Looking for full time roles, I would like to straddle product development and supply chain feasibility and have found some cool roles at other direct to consumer meal companies that satisfy that.

Based on your experience, what advice would you give current students seeking positions?

I think a big thing to look for in all companies is understanding the background of your CEO as that will usually define what the overall company priorities are. Although our operations team was world class, in my opinion, their priorities were usually assessed after marketing priorities since the CEO has a marketing background.

Based on your experience, what advice would you give current students seeking positions at Daily Harvest?

I would definitely say the operations team was great to work for, although the COO that I worked for has left so culture and priorities may have shifted. Happy to chat more if you are looking into a role at Daily Harvest for the summer!