The 'first for fresh' programme will reinforce the perception and quality of the fresh foods the Sainsbury's stores offer, and produce has the largest role to play. Roadshows took place over three locations; Newbury racecourse, Kempton Park racecourse and Old Trafford. And over 1,000 of Sainsbury's staff had the opportunity to learn much about their roles in the campaign in an 'interactive' day.
The events were project managed by Claire Rowbury, Trading & Retail Specialist, Fresh Produce. She said: 'They are 'a fantastic opportunity to fully engage our retail colleagues in the 'first for fresh' launch, and reinforce that they are the most important link in the chain as they determine a customer's shopping experience.' The goal of 'first for fresh' is to make Sainsbury's number one again. Sara Weller, deputy managing director of the supermarket said: 'We want Sainsbury's to be the place to buy fresh food. And the key factors are abundance, availability and quality.' Weller believes that fresh food is critical to make Sainsbury's different and produce is top of the list of what drives customer choices.
One of the day's intentions was for all produce and duty managers present to take away the ideas and execute them in stores across the country. It was also intended they share this knowledge with fellow staff. Weller wants staff to be 'greengrocers', to be knowledgeable about their products.
Tony Sullivan, general manager of Produce echoed these feelings. Sainsbury's has won fresh produce retailer of the year for the last two years but Sullivan believes more is required. 'Delivering fresh and well merchanised displays is vital. This will be achieved with higher levels of labour, interacting with customers and knowledge of the product,' he continued: 'We must have quality products, if you wouldn't buy it then don't put it on display.' Sainsbury's use a dedicated team of growers and suppliers. Part of the day saw suppliers giving short presentations to groups of colleagues. Graham Nicholls of MBM Produce gave a presentation about potatoes explaining the time, care and attention that goes into their work. He said: 'We keep samples of each product we send to stores so we can keep a check on the shelf life of the product.' Other suppliers spoke to staff about tomatoes, bananas and floral following the presentations their knowledge was put to the test in a 'Who wants to be a millionaire' style quiz.
Lee Davey of Sainsbury's category training team stressed the importance of hygiene and the need to understand and comply with DEFRA and encouraged staff to sample products something that they were soon to get a taste for. The tasting session that followed proved to be a real winner. The motto being 'try before you sell', and there was plenty of fresh produce to try. Minor, Weir and Willis Limited who supply 80 per cent of Sainsbury's exotic fruit were present. At their stand fruit included Asian pear, lychee and fresh fig. Chris Abram of the company said: 'It's great to get people excited in fruit. We have a very good relationship with Sainsbury's.' A new television campaign featuring Jamie Oliver begins on 4 June.
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