Wholesaler Booker is laying off almost 20% of its head office staff less than two months after the business was decoupled from Iceland following the acquisition of Big Food Group by Icelandic group Baugur.
In an interview with The Grocer, chairman and chief executive Hans Kristian Hustad, revealed that 82 of the 440 HO workforce would lose their jobs, mostly as a result of shedding group functions. “Everything needs to be simplified. The group functions created a lot of bureaucracy,” he explained, adding that the rationalisation was also part of Booker’s effort to “focus on the customer”.
But he acknowledged: “It is a tough market. We are fighting against last year’s negative figures. We have to work hard to generate more growth. People are aware that something needed to be done.”
The remaining staff will be split into three customer teams, one covering retailers and impulse channels, one caterers and one tobacco and alcohol.
In an interview with The Grocer, chairman and chief executive Hans Kristian Hustad, revealed that 82 of the 440 HO workforce would lose their jobs, mostly as a result of shedding group functions. “Everything needs to be simplified. The group functions created a lot of bureaucracy,” he explained, adding that the rationalisation was also part of Booker’s effort to “focus on the customer”.
But he acknowledged: “It is a tough market. We are fighting against last year’s negative figures. We have to work hard to generate more growth. People are aware that something needed to be done.”
The remaining staff will be split into three customer teams, one covering retailers and impulse channels, one caterers and one tobacco and alcohol.
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