Amazon’s global grocery stores chief Tony Hoggett is departing from the company after less than three years.
Hoggett joined Amazon at the start of 2022, ending a decades-long career at Tesco, where he had begun his grocery career in 1990 as a trolley boy in a Tesco car park in Bridlington.
In a LinkedIn post, Hoggett said his time at Amazon had been “incredible” but “it’s time for the next step in my career”
“I’m optimistic about the work Amazon is doing to improve the grocery shopping experience for customers, and have no doubt the teams will keep the momentum going in my absence,” he added.
According to Fortune, Hoggett is to join delivery-focused restaurant chain Wonder as its chief operating officer.
Wonder operates 27 fast-casual restaurants in the north east US that offer multiple menus and cuisines to diners out of a single location. The company has raised $1.5bn since its founding, and is planning to operate a total of 100 locations by January 2026. The company – run by former CEO of Walmart’s e-commerce business, Jet.com founder and NBA team Minnesota Timberwolves owner Marc Lore – is also trialling versions of its restaurants within four Walmart stores.
In August last year, in his first interview as Amazon’s global grocery stores chief, Hoggett said the Amazon role represented “the intersection between something I really love and enjoy, something I think I’ll be good at, and something the world needs”. He added other grocery heavyweights to Amazon’s ranks, such as Claire Peters from Woolworths in Australia and Boots retail director and fellow Tesco veteran Peter Bowrey.
“The world doesn’t need another standardised, big-box grocer. We’re inventing the new because we want to do it differently,” he told The Grocer last year.
According to analyst Brittain Ladd, Hoggett’s departure from Amazon “proves he doesn’t believe Amazon will become a leader in groceries”.
“As for Amazon, they’re back to where they started prior to hiring Hoggett,” Ladd said. “Amazon only controls 2.7% market share, and the company doesn’t have a viable grocery strategy that can be scaled. Amazon isn’t a threat to anyone in groceries.”
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