On January 13, 2026, two significant stories in the world of category management and commercial strategy emerged, highlighting both the rapid evolution of procurement practices and the strengthening of leadership within the airline catering sector. The convergence of these developments underscores how organizations across industries are reimagining their approaches to category management, leveraging technology, and investing in talent to meet the growing complexity of global markets.
Spend Matters published an in-depth interview with Tristan Fletcher, CEO of ChAI, a market intelligence solution provider, who offered a candid look at the sweeping changes transforming category management (CatMan). According to Fletcher, CatMan is experiencing a fundamental shift: "Category management is undergoing a structural shift: from a cost-focused discipline to a risk-intelligent one." This transformation is being driven by several factors, including the need to manage price volatility, supply disruption risk, sustainability regulations, and increasing geopolitical uncertainty. As commodity markets move faster than traditional annual sourcing cycles, procurement leaders are compelled to seek near-real-time intelligence and adapt to rapidly changing conditions.
Fletcher explained that planning cycles are getting shorter, while supply chains are becoming more complex, often affected by scarcity, tariffs, and regulatory shifts. This complexity necessitates deeper knowledge across regions and suppliers, and has led to a new era where category managers must collaborate closely with teams from procurement, finance, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), risk, and operations. "Technology is therefore critical to: automate the lower-value work (searching, monitoring, gathering data, etc.); provide predictive insights and scenario analysis; make market information more accessible to non-experts and accelerate decision-making through shared intelligence and collaborative tools," Fletcher noted.
Despite the promise of technology, organizations face a host of challenges in implementing CatMan activities. Common pain points, as outlined by Fletcher, include a lack of reliable, real-time market intelligence, market uncertainty fueled by global geopolitical shifts, internal misalignment, budget constraints, embedding risk management into day-to-day decision-making, and securing long-term physical supply in volatile markets. He also pointed to a subtle but persistent issue: "Many teams remain overly dependent on supplier-provided intelligence, creating information asymmetry during negotiations."
Digitizing category management brings its own set of hurdles. Data quality and readiness often present obstacles, as procurement data can be messy, inconsistent, and siloed. Integrating new solutions into existing workflows is a challenge, especially since processes vary widely across organizations. Building trust with AI tools is another major barrier—after all, relationship management is pivotal in procurement, and trust is traditionally built on human connections, not algorithms. Skill gaps in data analytics and large language models (LLMs), difficulty capturing tacit knowledge, and rigid organizational processes further complicate the digital transition.
Yet, the role of artificial intelligence in supporting category managers is growing rapidly. Fletcher highlighted that AI now plays a central part in price forecasting and volatility prediction, supply chain risk monitoring (including geopolitical and regulatory risks), automated information gathering, summarization and market monitoring using LLMs, and decision support that translates market shifts into procurement-ready insights. AI also enables faster, more informed negotiation preparation by providing market summaries and supplier-specific insights. "The technology is ready—the challenge is helping people see the impact on their everyday workflow," Fletcher said.
Organizations that successfully adopt CatMan technology share several key traits: an innovative mindset from leadership, a flexible and agile culture, a senior internal champion for technology adoption, and a realistic approach to expectation management. Value is realized when tools deliver measurable improvements, such as faster access to reliable market intelligence, better negotiation outcomes, clearer understanding of price drivers, time savings, and greater confidence in planning and budgeting. Fletcher observed, "Adoption is steadily rising, but maturity varies. Tools that integrate easily, demonstrate value quickly and reduce complexity tend to succeed fastest."
CatMan is also increasingly intertwined with other procurement-related areas, such as risk management, ESG compliance, and supplier collaboration. It acts as a strategic intelligence hub, linking finance, operations, risk, and suppliers. ChAI, for its part, ensures that its intelligence remains validated and actionable through rigorous model validation, multi-source data triangulation, built-in explainability, real-time updates, and a robust client feedback loop. Clients operationalize ChAI’s insights in budgeting, supplier negotiations, risk planning, and hedging, either via a user-friendly web app or deep API integrations with existing systems.
Looking ahead, ChAI’s roadmap includes embedding carbon-premium pricing, hedging suggestions, early-warning indicators for volatility and supply tightness, and scenario planning tools to help teams model risk across multiple dimensions. The company is committed to evolving with regulatory, sustainability, and supply-chain complexity trends by maintaining a modular architecture and fast iteration cycles. Fletcher’s advice to the market is clear: "We would encourage organizations to be more open to innovation and less risk-averse in trying new solutions. Many of the tools needed to navigate today’s volatility already exist—they simply require internal champions willing to drive adoption."
Meanwhile, in another corner of the business world, Hospitality & Catering News reported that En Route, a global leader in airline catering solutions, appointed Rebecca Neale as category development director. This move is seen as a strategic reinforcement of En Route’s focus on accelerating innovation, expanding its passenger solutions portfolio, and delivering greater value to airline and airline catering partners worldwide. Neale brings over 20 years of senior retail experience, having held pivotal roles at Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, and Waitrose, where she was instrumental in shaping award-winning own-label product ranges.
In her new role, Neale will lead the evolution of En Route’s category strategy across its global portfolio, ensuring that product development is fueled by consumer insight, creativity, technical excellence, and commercial efficiency. She will oversee new product development and technical teams, aiming to deliver differentiated, high-quality, ready-to-serve food and beverage solutions that support airlines in providing top-tier passenger experiences. Expressing her enthusiasm, Neale said, "I’m thrilled to join En Route at such a dynamic stage of its growth. There is huge opportunity to accelerate innovation and develop products that not only delight passengers but also offer strong commercial and operational value to our airline partners."
Nick Wiley, Managing Director of En Route, underscored the significance of Neale’s appointment, stating, "Rebecca’s appointment represents a significant strengthening of our leadership team and our category development capabilities. Her depth of experience, strategic mindset, and passion for innovation will play a central role in helping us expand our proposition, enhance our portfolio, and continue delivering high-quality, commercially effective solutions to our customers worldwide."
Taken together, these developments illustrate a broader trend: category management is no longer a back-office function focused solely on cost. It has become a strategic, cross-functional discipline that requires a blend of technological innovation, data-driven decision-making, and experienced leadership. Whether it’s harnessing AI for procurement risk management or appointing visionary leaders to drive product development, organizations that embrace change and foster innovation are positioning themselves to thrive amid the growing complexity of global supply chains and consumer expectations.
As the landscape continues to evolve, those willing to adapt—by investing in both cutting-edge technology and exceptional talent—are likely to find themselves not just keeping pace, but setting the standard for excellence in category management and commercial strategy.
