Morrisons has sent over 1,000 of its office workers out onto the shop floor to deal with an anticipated spike in demand brought on by news of a heatwave this week.
The supermarket chain’s Hilmore House HQ in Bradford is currently operating with only a skeleton staff, according to the Yorkshire Post, as marketers, lawyers and even board level directors work shifts at Morrisons stores instead.
The unusual step was reported in the newspaper on Sunday, following news of a heatwave, expected to hit the UK this week.
The warm weather, being referred to as a “Spanish plume”, was initially expected to bring temperatures in the high 20s on Wednesday. But current forecasts are have revised temperatures down to the low 20s in most parts of England and Wales.
The move will add an extra 8,000 service hours to Morrisons’ supermarkets, allowing in-store staff to concentrate on baking extra buns, pressing more burgers and opening additional checkouts to deal with consumer demand.
The retailer expects sales of cold drinks, salads and sun cream to soar in the next few days as customers make the most of good weather to have barbeques and picnics.
Morrisons people director Clare Grainger said: “Customers will want to picnic and party in this very welcome spell of hot weather so we need our Head Office team to help serve them and support our in-store staff.”
During a warm weather week, Morrisons anticipates ice lollies sales to increase by 250 per cent, and meat sales to go up by 150 per cent and ice cream sales to rise by 75 per cent. In addition, the retailer expects to sell seven million sausages, 70,000 bottles of water (500ml), and 42,000 packs of burger buns.
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