Empack: Tell us about yourself and your career, what were your beginnings like and where does your passion for the world of catering come from?

Jesús: We can say that my passion for the restaurant business started when I was very young, as my family ran a restaurant in Murcia. I started from the lowest positions and that’s how I got to know the restaurant business from the inside. Unlike many people who grow up in these environments, I did not opt for the kitchen, but rather for service. Afterwards, I tried different types of business within the sector until I arrived at QSR, where I was shop manager and area manager until I reached franchise management and operations management within other brands of the group, to finally arrive at Domino’s, first as operations director and later as general manager, a job I have been doing for four years now. I am very proud of the road I have travelled because, starting in a shop and getting to know the business in depth, gave me the opportunity to have a more real vision of the operations and dynamics of the employees, as well as being more aware of the problems and challenges they may face on a daily basis.

Empack: Tell us about ALSEA EUROPE and your day-to-day work, what brands does the company bring together and what does it mean to be general manager of Domino’s Pizza?

Jesús: Alsea is the leading restaurant operator in Europe and Latin America. It has more than 4,300 restaurants and shops in 11 countries and manages some of the world’s most recognised brands in the casual dining, quick service and coffee shop segments. Alsea’s portfolio of brands includes Domino’s Pizza, Starbucks, Burger King, Chili’s, P.F. Chang’s, The Cheesecake Factory, Italianni’s, VIPS, El Portón, Foster’s Hollywood, Archies, Ginos, TGI Fridays, OleMole and Corazón de Barro. In turn, these brands are spread across Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, France, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Uruguay.

My main task is to share the day-to-day work with a team that lives the business with the same enthusiasm and passion as I do. Working with this great team makes us face the great challenges ahead of us very well prepared. Among the great challenges ahead of us is to guarantee the highest quality and service of the brand, which is something that characterises Domino’s, defining the strategy of the business within the areas of operations, talent and marketing, with a profitable development and growth.

Empack: As a company you will have a quality management system for your products, what are the pillars on which it is based and what purpose do you intend to fulfil?

Jesús: The basis of our business is precisely that there are evaluation and safety processes in place for the quality and hygiene of the food. To ensure the quality and traceability of raw materials throughout the value chain, as well as compliance with our Food Safety and Quality Policy, we require all our suppliers to have a certification recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), and we carry out audits to verify the quality management systems in their facilities and processes, as well as to strengthen compliance with established food safety and health requirements. In addition, we have been working for some years to promote local development and impact, and for this reason, 84% of our purchases are made from Spanish suppliers.

Empack: Where do you think the food packaging industry is heading, and what are the keys to the future of the sector?

Jesús: We find ourselves in a context where all initiatives and measures related to the packaging world are aimed at reducing the generation of plastic waste. So the industry is in constant transformation to reinvent itself, take care of our planet and contribute to the new objectives within the world of packaging recycling for 2025 and 2030.

Sustainability, improving the user experience of packaging, automation and digitalisation will be the milestones that mark the present and will shape the future. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding about what they buy, they are taking responsibility for the footprint they leave on the world, and we, as a responsible brand, want to fight in that direction.