Priya Lakshamanan is the Chief Operating Officer at The Food Factory. She has worked for over a decade in the Hospitality and Food & Beverage industries in the UK and UAE. In her previous roles as Vice President (Technical & Production) of Fit Fresh, she has developed and implemented strategic business plans for technical and production departments; Implemented BRC issue 7 & 8, FSSC 22000 issue 4 & 5, SQMS, SWA, RBI standards. Priya extended her experience by heading operations for Carrefour’s first central production unit which belongs to Majid Al Futtaim in Dubai, where she excelled in tailor making the ERP system to ease the operation and data collection and to keep the traceability accurate. She focused on KPIs such as service level achievement, gross profit management and customer satisfaction. Since her move to Malta in 2022, she is leading The Food Factory’s efforts to upgrade company standards to international levels and thus facilitate global exports. Current projects include working on obtaining certifications such as BRC, IFS, FFSC 2000, change management, implementing liner flow, planning, and executing mass production to control and reduce operational costs, developing HPP preservation systems.
With extensive experience in planning, production, and safety in food and beverage manufacturing units in the UAE, Priya adds immense value to the food manufacturing and safety culture at The Food Factory. Her commitment to innovation keeps her going and she is keen to discover potential ways to improve processes and reduce costs.
In the area of technology, Priya has initiated a project with the software development team to establish and implement end-to-end system driven operations. This will go a long way in enabling transparency, setting more accurate targets, and measuring KPIs.
Priya has a Master of Science in Hospitality & Tourism Management from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK and a Bachelor of Science in Catering & Hotel Management from Bharathiar University in India.