Congratulations on the win. How did you do it? The key thing is we’ve invested in more staff. We’ve had a huge investment in extra hours, probably about 500 hours across all the departments, which has really liberated the store team.
When did the store get refreshed? About a year ago, and it’s really brought the store into the 21st century. It’s far brighter and more spacious. It’s also got much better refrigeration, which has improved quality. The changes have made the staff really proud to work here and take more ownership of what they do.
Have you given the staff much extra training? Over the past six months we’ve gone right back to basics - we’ve really almost started again.
What do customers make of the new fresh team uniforms? I think they like it. It’s very clear - it’s got fruit and veg written on the back - so customers know exactly who to talk to.
Supermarket employment of young people is very much in the news this week. How do you contribute? We have a real mix of employees, from students at Guildford University to others who may have been unemployed. There are lots of different opportunities right across the operation.
You have a Costa coffee shop in the supermarket since the refresh. How has that gone down? You always get mixed views. Some people liked the old café but I think it’s been great, very popular.
How popular are the self-service tills? We changed our queuing system to make it smoother and it’s had a real impact. About 40% of our shoppers use the self-service tills.
How do you combine your role with being lead singer of Dexys Midnight Runners? We actually named our daughter Dexy. At school once she had a question from her teacher asking who the lead singer of Dexys Midnight Runners was. She said: “That’s easy, it’s my dad”.
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