All about Peter's Career

Can you tell us a little bit about your current role? What does a typical day or week look like for you?

My current role is the Quality Manager for Thompson’s Teas and a typical day is varied as I oversee the management of food safety, quality and compliance on site as well as the Environmental and H&S management systems. The site holds accreditation for BRCGS, Tesco Food Standard, ISO 14001 and 45001 so there is always lots to do in ensuring that all requirements are met alongside guaranteeing the finished product remains to our very high standards at all times. I am assisted by my Quality Supervisor Nanci (another QUB Food graduate), who I also manage.

 

What was your career path following graduation? Did you always plan to work in this industry/position?

Following graduation, I rejoined my placement company, Genesis Bakery, as a Group Technical Graduate which allowed me to work within the team both at Genesis and its sister company Pasta King in the south of England. This gave me good experience in working with a large-scale bakery and various retailers as well as a smaller food preparation business and the different challenges associated. I then progressed to Assistant Technical Systems Manager, which involved taking on additional duties and managing on site Supplier Approval for over 200 ingredients and 50+ items of packaging amongst other things. After several years at Genesis, I then made the move to Thompson’s Teas in Belfast and have been here for over 2 years now. Once I had decided to do a Food Science degree I was firmly set on working within the food safety/ technical/ quality roles in food and drink manufacturing.

 

What do you enjoy most about working in quality management within a local company like Thompson’s?

I enjoy playing my part in ensuring that Northern Ireland’s most loved tea continues to stay number 1 whilst helping to drive continuous improvement on site to help do things as best we can without compromising on quality. Being able to work with a brand I grew up enjoying and working so closely to the Thompsons family feels very rewarding. My knowledge and expertise are valued here and I feel listened to regarding all matters of quality and food safety. I was honoured to be nominated and shortlisted for the Rising Star award at the recent NIFDA awards, which validated the hard work and effort I put in to helping the business within the remit of my role.

 

What’s something people might not expect about your role?

All the tea tasting is completed by the Thompson family themselves; they taste every blend to ensure it meets their own meticulous standards. We all drink plenty of tea, just not in an official tasting capacity! The work life balance is fantastic here, with all staff in the Operations team availing of a 4-day week. The site runs Monday to Friday, but we all get a day off a week to do with as we please- which works really well!

 

What advice would you give to students who are interested in pursuing a career in food quality?

I would encourage students to pursue a food quality career; there are lots of varied jobs with varying sizes of companies out there that will suit most people. The chance to work with some of the biggest brands, retailers and suppliers is great and the variety of roles means that it isn’t all factory-based environments- which mightn’t be for everyone!

 

All about Peter's Time at Queen’s

What first sparked your interest in studying Food at Queen’s?

My first interest in studying Food at Queen’s was because my uncle did so at my age and told me how much he enjoyed it and the career he had since. Doing Food Technology at GCSE then AS and A level further cemented this.

 

Did you enjoy your course and what was your favourite moment?

I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying at QUB and my favourite moment was finding out I had achieved First Class Honours after 4 years studying and 1 year placement.

 

Did you complete a work placement as part of your programme at Queen’s? If you did can you tell us a bit about your employer and placement role?

Yes, I completed a year at Genesis Bakery as a Quality Assistant alongside my best friend. Genesis is a large-scale bakery making a range of products from breads to cakes and cupcakes under their own brand and some of the major retailers’ own labels. We conducted internal audits, quality checks and even got to do some tasting of all the baked goods as part of the taste panel.

 

 

What other key steps at Queen’s do you think helped develop you most - and impacted on your early career path? 

The Business Innovation module I found was great to bring together different individuals to fulfil unusual (to me) roles within a team function. I found this helpful for my early career path when working within multidisciplinary teams across a food business.

 

Looking back – how would you advise your first year self to make the most of your time at Queen’s?

That is a hard question to answer, I feel I really did make the most of my time at Queen’s. I look back with fond memories of my time studying, both the course content and the social aspects, which the course content and timetables allowed me to do. 

 

Peter Doran

Quality Manager, Thompson’s Teas

MSci Food Science