Advising Digital Product M&A Activities and Buy vs Build at Global Food Logistics Company

The Client: HAVI

HAVI is a global supply chain management and logistics company that provides services to various industries such as food service, retail, and healthcare. The company offers a range of solutions, including supply chain optimization, packaging and labeling, distribution, and analytics.

In the food service industry, HAVI partners with leading restaurant chains to provide innovative packaging solutions, delivery logistics, and data analytics to help drive efficiencies and reduce waste. For example, they work with McDonald's to manage their supply chain and provide packaging solutions for their products.

In the retail industry, HAVI offers solutions to help manage supply chains and improve sustainability. They provide services such as inventory management, transportation, and warehousing to ensure that products are delivered efficiently and on time.

In the healthcare industry, HAVI provides services such as temperature-controlled transportation and logistics for medical devices.

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The Mission

HAVI’s Product & Innovation leadership wanted to crank up its product-management muscle while sizing up several new market opportunities (Ghost Kitchens, Quick Commerce, Meal Kits, Convenience Retail, Restaurant IT, and more).

With bandwidth stretched thin, they called in Product People to act as Interim Product Managers + Strategic SWAT team.

Our remit:

• Stand up a repeatable, modern Product-Management playbook (and train the org).
• Run deep market-and-capability assessments for the “next-horizon” segments HAVI was eyeing.
• Shape the go-to-market vision, pricing, and roadmap for HAVI’s data products (OPUS, Supply-Chain Visibility, Connect).
• Leave behind frameworks, docs, and up-skilled teammates so HAVI could keep the momentum long after our stint.

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Our Main Quest

First Deliverables and Results

1. Product Management - Quick intro: A brief and informative overview of Product Management and the most efficient and widely used frameworks and methodologies.
2. From Idea to MVP - A much more comprehensive and detailed playbook of Product Management best practices, documenting the iterative process of discovery and design.
3. Product Management Academy Curriculum - A collection of training courses and books that Product People recommends for professionals with various levels of Product Management experience.
4. Summary of Gartner Reports on Product Management Best Practices - Describing the Product Manager role, common Product Management pitfalls as well as best practices when hiring and developing PMs.

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Explore and Conquer: Solved for the Client

Initiative 1 - Ghost Kitchen, Quick Commerce, and Meal Kits

Problem: The merger between convenience and retail stores brought along new challenges for HAVI since the company had been servicing the convenience stores sector for years. To tackle this, we started with research on the convenience stores sector, combining it with a Capability Mapping exercise focused on new customer segments.

What has been done:

• Ghost Kitchen, Quick-Commerce, and Meal Kits Market Segment: We wrote a comprehensive market research report in which we analyzed the current Ghost Kitchen, Quick-Commerce, and Meal Kits Market and assessed the most impactful future trends as well as the probability of serving the current needs of these sectors.
• Capability Mapping Meal Kit Sector: after having previously done a comprehensive analysis of the Ghost Kitchen, Quick-Commerce, and Meal Kits Market Segment, we moved on to identifying the needs of the Meal Kit sector and comparing those needs to HAVI’s product portfolio. In parallel, we also tested our assumptions through interviews with HAVI representatives regarding the collaboration with a third party.
• Map Capability Ping Convenience Sector: just like in the Meal Kit companies and Ghost Kitchen, we conducted user and market research focused on the convenience store sector. We thereby identified the needs of the sector and compared those needs to HAVI’s product portfolio. In parallel, we also tested our assumptions through interviews with HAVI representatives regarding the collaboration with a third party. We also conducted extensive and detailed market research and analysis of the convenience sector with a focus on petrol station stores. The report we created contains market data and information about the current market trends, challenges, and threats for the sector, as well as considerations for the future. We also mapped the main needs and next steps.

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Initiative 2 - Connect Restaurant

Problem: HAVI launched the Connect Strategy and Vision Formulation initiative to define a unified direction for a new digital product aimed at improving restaurant operations through data-driven insights and centralized service offerings. The initiative needed clear strategic alignment, a prioritized feature roadmap, and stakeholder buy-in across business units to move from concept to execution. However, in its early stages, the project lacked structure, cross-functional clarity, and a concrete framework for decision-making and prioritization.

What has been done: For this purpose, we designed various frameworks, prepared and organized 5 workshops and Brainstorming sessions to gather and analyze the input from the stakeholders at HAVI.

• Prioritized Features List: Based on the workshops and brainstorming sessions that we organized, we prepared and moderated further meetings with the Connect Strategy team, centering them around identifying, listing, and prioritizing features that should be included in the Connect Initiative.
• Strategy Canvas: To formulate the Connection Mission, Vision, and Strategy, we used the Business Model Canvas and adapted its fields to fit our product requirements. The Connect Strategy Team provided their inputs, which were centralized and incorporated into the Connect Strategy Canvas.
• Strategy Scorecard: To prepare the path for the Connect Strategy Formulation and Implementation, we identified the most relevant insights gathered during the previous steps and structured them into Strategic Objectives and Initiatives.

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Initiative 3 - HAVI OPUS Productization and Pricing

To support the HAVI OPUS team, we delivered a report on pricing considerations and recommendations regarding pricing strategy, methods, and models. We also proposed the OPUS subscription plans.

To empower the HAVI OPUS team to continue the productization of their tool independently, we introduced the team to the JTBD framework and, together with the team, mapped JTBD for the OPUS users.

💡 JTBD Framework: The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework is a product management approach that focuses on understanding customers' underlying motivations and needs when they hire a product or service. It involves identifying specific jobs or tasks that customers are trying to accomplish, mapping out the steps they take, and using insights to inform product development and design decisions. By understanding customers' jobs, product managers can design products that better meet their needs and help them make progress toward their desired outcomes.

In further support of the HAVI OPUS team, we designed and delivered a Product Development Organizational Playbook where we made product development recommendations based on industry best practices and methods.

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Discovery Mini-Missions: Our Side Quests

As Interim Product Managers, we supported HAVI’s team with the following mini-missions:

• HAVI Core Current State, Future Directions, and User Research Proposal
  • Interviewed key stakeholders and prepared a summary of the current state and future directions for HAVI Core.
  • Conducted pilot user research of HAVI Core and Connect users, as well as collected and analyzed previous user research data.
    • Based on these results, we proposed to deepen user research and develop a detailed plan for it.
    • The main focus lies on collecting feedback to understand the current level of satisfaction, identifying pain points and user interests, as well as formulating recommendations for the next steps.
• Restaurant IT Services Research and Recommendations
  • After the successful roll-out of HAVI in Poland, the company was evaluating to productive restaurant IT services and offered them to a big third-party restaurant chain in other countries and other QSE and convenience chains.
  • To help with decision-making, we did a comprehensive analysis of the Restaurant IT services market of the competition and of the current and potential HAVI service offerings. Then we formulated recommendations based on the gathered insights.
• Product Performance Management Framework
  • For assessing product performance from several perspectives, we created a framework based on the Balanced Scorecard approach. We identified four perspectives and their definitions for performance measurement and improvement in these areas.

💡 Balanced Scorecard Approach: is a strategic management framework that helps organizations align their goals and objectives with their vision and mission. It provides a way to measure and manage product performance across multiple dimensions, including financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth perspectives. Product Managers can use this approach to set goals, track performance, and make data-driven decisions to prioritize investments and achieve long-term business success.

• Supply Chain Visibility Competitor Research
  • In support of the Supply Chain Visibility product, we conducted research on some of the main competitors, their clients, and their products, prices, main specifications, and features.
  • Since most prices of the identified competitors were not public. We sent emails to 17 companies and had several discussions with over 10 of them to obtain more information.

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Mission Achievements: Delivered Outcomes

💡 Product-Management Muscle, Amplified.  We rolled out a practical four-part enablement pack - intro primer, “Idea-to-MVP” playbook, curated academy curriculum, and Gartner best-practice digest - then coached 70+ stakeholders via live sessions and office hours. The result: a common vocabulary and repeatable PM workflow that HAVI teams now use to shepherd ideas from concept to launch.

💡 Insight-Driven Growth Roadmaps.  Deep-dive market and capability reports on Ghost Kitchens, Quick Commerce, Meal Kits, and Convenience Retail equipped leadership with TAM sizing, trend radar, and “where-to-play / how-to-win” recommendations. Those findings, combined with our Connect strategy canvas and scorecard, now anchor HAVI’s three-year expansion plan.

💡 Monetizable Data Products, Ready to Scale.  For OPUS and Supply-Chain Visibility, we built JTBD maps, subscription tiers, and a balanced-scorecard framework to track adoption, CSAT, and revenue. Pricing architecture is already live in pilot deals, while the new performance dashboard lets product teams iterate (and execs invest) with clear, data-backed confidence.