Grocer Gold Awards 2022: factory manager of the year

Winner: Zaggy Zachariou – Dalehead Foods Linton

Zaggy Zachariou has worked at Dalehead Foods’ Linton Site for 16 years and has overseen consistent growth since becoming site director. His greatest challenge came in 2020 when faced with soaring grocery sales, Zachariou needed to find a way to adapt Dalehead’s site to meet demand while protecting staff. To do so, Zachariou and his team launched the ‘Feeding the Nation’ project, an initiative that led to a doubling of weekly output to 400 tonnes while maintaining service levels at a 99.6% average. One of the key steps was to begin a ‘hot house’ to bring team members from different parts of the business together to share ideas. The ideas that emerged from the sessions improved the productivity of two of the site’s lines by 30% while reducing the number of staff required to work on the lines by a fifth.

Zachariou also responded to rising customer demand for higher-quality products last year, launching 32 new lines with the support of the Passion For Food culinary academy.

These changes contributed towards sales margins doubling and the sites number of customers rising from two to five.

Zachariou is passionate about supporting his team’s development and has helped a number of employees who speak English as a second language to be promoted to management roles. He prioritises engagement, offering rewards and bonuses, and arranging social activities for employees and their families.

Shortlisted:

• Stephen McComb – Finnebrogue Bacon Factory
• Angela Whatling – Heck Foods