What are your thoughts on the price wars and brand-matching schemes going on right now? We just think: ‘Bring it on!’ Morrisons is having a massive push on sales and our fresh offering – fresh represents our credentials. Morrisons has great momentum at the moment so we need to keep that up – that is what we are doing to combat our rivals. What we are doing with our ready meals also makes me feel really confident. 

Is the new M Kitchen range going well? Customers love it – I love it. The Bistro meals are my favourite, I had the beef bourginon on Friday night and it was lovely. We are doing a lot of tasting and sampling upstairs among the staff and the whole range is going down really well. My sales are up 23% on last week because of ready meals alone. 

What else is selling well? Seasonal is starting to pick up. We just put in our Halloween, fireworks and Christmas ranges. We had a promotion on the big Christmas chocolate tins so sold plenty. The store is in quite a rural location. 

How is the local competition? It’s really just a very large Tesco Extra just under a mile away. We go to check on it about once a week to see what it is up to, but what we are doing makes me feel confident. We are far better. 

How do you personally make a difference in store? I make sure that I get involved, supporting our colleagues, working alongside them. You have to get involved at the grass roots, so I spend a lot of time out on the shop floor. Staff have to see you there. 

What is Morrisons doing to support and develop its colleagues? We have just had a massive boost in benefits for our staff, such as the Mastercraft Scheme Academy, which will teach people butchery skills and so on. We are really pushing to see what people can do and how we can improve. 

What is the hardest thing about your job? The biggest challenge is just staying on top of everything, driving sales and making sure our customers leave happy. I want them to get everything they need and provide a great service at the same time. 

How long have you been at this particular store? I’ve been here about 18 months. I had a bit of a change around of staff, which benefited us. I put some long-term employees into some different departments and that gave them a real lease of life. I have a good bunch of colleagues here, and a good relationship with the locals. We have a good rapport.

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