Waitrose will reopen three of its rebranded Somerfield stores by June. But the store openings, in Sudbury, Paddock Wood and Hythe, will mean Waitrose's services department will be "uncomfortably stretched", as the company rushes to open the other eight. MD David Felwick said he was expecting its store services team to be running at full stretch for some months. "The Somerfield acquisitions have dominated our thoughts and actions. We have had to consider both preparation for opening and the servicing afterwards," he said. He said extra help would be needed in a number of areas. Waitrose's new Training 2000 initiative, launched at its senior managers' conference, is aimed at helping integrate Somerfield staff. l Waitrose has also rolled out a range of chilled petfood ­ the first multiple to do so. Fresh Recipe products are available in 11 branches, stored in chilled cabinets within the pet food fixture. They come in 89p serving bowls with peelable lids and are made with farm assured meat. Non food buyer Ted McFadyen said: "By using techniques used for human food we can produce the high quality meals customers want for their pets, but in a ready meal format." {{NEWS }}

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