Picnic: innovation by young talent

Picnic is a fast-growing grocery delivery company in the Netherlands. For this blog, we went to the Picnic headquarters in Amsterdam for an interview with business analyst Jenneke Evers. She told us all about how she landed at Picnic, what it is like to work there and the business itself.  

Picnic’s headquarters

For those of you who do not know it yet, Picnic is an online supermarket that delivers groceries on a time slot that suits you. The company started in Amersfoort four years ago, and right now Picnic delivers in 40 cities in the Netherlands and they are expanding to Germany as well. They have no physical stores, but they work with hubs (small distribution centers on the edge of cities) from where they deliver the groceries. 

The first thing I see as I walk into the headquarters, are two guys playing ping pong in the entry hallway of the building. Another employee leads me into the beautiful and modern canteen and makes me a cup of tea, while I wait for Jenneke Evers to pick me up for the interview. In the middle of the canteen is a big bowl of fruits and vegetables that are up for grabs. Next to the canteen is a big working space and I notice that most people in there, look quite young. As I turn my head, I see Jenneke approaching me. 

About Jenneke Evers

Jenneke is a very sweet and spontaneous young woman. She tells me that she studied technical administration and did a masters in civil engineering. After doing her graduation thesis on forecast models at Picnic, which forecasts the number of products the company will need the next day, she stuck around for a job as a business analyst. Currently, she is in the growth team, which focuses on forecasting the number of orders, on short term as well as long term basis, based on historical data and new insights. On top of that, she does some marketing work, which is especially interesting since they are now focusing on selling to businesses as well.   

Working at Picnic

As you might have noticed, Jenneke’s job entails a variety of things. Her work is very diverse and there is a lot of room to explore and try or learn new things. If there is a project going on that you want to contribute in and you have the time to do so, you can join in. Jenneke, for example, got the opportunity and the time to learn how to make models and write code in Python. Picnic makes sure that there is a lot of freedom and variation in your job, to keep it interesting. 

Employees are flexible, which makes it interesting for young people to come to work here. Plus, if you want to grow into higher positions, you can get that opportunity. The mentality at Picnic is that if you have an idea, and it is worth trying, just try it. That is probably why the company grows so fast.

Future and tips 

For the future, Jenneke is hoping to see the company grow outside of the Netherlands and she is hoping that Picnic can attract more businesses than they do right now. Right now, it is mostly families and elderly who order their groceries. She also explains to me that Picnic’s current project is to make fulfillment centers increasingly automatic with the help of robots who grab groceries from the shelves and bring it to the ‘shopper’ who has to gather the groceries. This way, one fulfillment center could serve more people with the same amount of employees. 

Lastly, Jenneke encourages you to do a master case study at a real company. Pick a company that you think you would like to work at, so that you can really get a taste of what it is like in the company and see if the company and work suits you. That is a very valuable thing to do. 

Curious about work opportunities? Check this link to go to our career platform.

Het bericht Picnic: innovation by young talent verscheen eerst op Study Association Aureus.