MANCHESTER, England, 2016-Oct-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — The Co-op beat off stern competition to win three major awards at a prestigious business event which celebrates the best in the food and grocery industry.
The Co-op has been recognised by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), the global food and grocery experts, for its ‘food to go’ product range and the ‘service rocks’ learning and development initiative. While Co-op retail chief executive Steve Murrells pipped a host of top supermarket and food manufacturing executives to join the grocery industry’s hall of fame.
The awards were collected at last night’s IGD Dinner at Westminster’s Park Plaza Hotel.
Steve Murrells said: “The Co-op’s food business has transformed itself over the last three years and the awards are recognition of the hard work and dedication of our colleagues in turning the business around. We are the fastest growing non-discounter in the UK and the most frequently visited store.
“We’ve brought back the famous Co-op cloverleaf brand, reinvented our membership proposition, reinvigorated our stores and the quality of our own-brand food really is Irresistible, as its name suggests.”
On his own award, he said: “I’m honoured as it was a high calibre shortlist and delighted that members of the retail industry voted for me.”
The ten-strong Grocer Cup award shortlist featured CEOs and senior leaders of many national chains including Aldi, Lidl and Tesco.
The Grocer Cup is awarded to the individual who has contributed most to the industry over the past year and has shown exceptional leadership in inspiring their company to achieve exceptional results in the preceding year. The award is voted for by readers of trade magazine, The Grocer, and industry professionals.
Co-op beat off competition to win the food to go operator of the year award, reaffirming its commitment to become the leading convenience food retailer in the UK. The Co-op recognise the importance of the FTG category and through innovative products, increased space, trial stores, brand new packaging and increased availability, has seen substantial sales growth ahead of the competition.
The John Sainsbury Award for Training and Development was awarded to the Co-op’s service rocks initiative. The initiative instilled the basics of customer service, inspiring store colleagues to deliver and live and breathe great service. It involved 6,500 store and team managers, delivering training to 47,500 colleagues. This IGD award recognises the fabulous team effort and huge amount of work involved in this successful and inspiring programme.
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Source: Coop