Peter Pokorny has resigned from his role as general manager of fresh produce at major Australian retailer Coles after little more than a year in the job.
Wesfarmers drafted in Mr Pokorny last June to help turn around its newly acquired Coles supermarket market business by revamping the chain's fresh food offer.
The experienced produce head previously played a similar role at rival retail chain Woolworths, where he helped to initiate the Fresh Food People programme, which involved a fundamental shift in the retailer's approach to fresh food.
Wesfarmers has pinpointed an increased focus on fresh food as critical to closing the performance gap between Coles and Woolworths, with Mr Pokorny's experience and intimate knowledge of the Australian fresh food market seen as key to achieving this goal.
While Mr Pokorny has made some headway in his mission, the pressures of commuting between Sydney, where he is based, and Coles' head office in Melbourne, have proven too much, according to a Coles spokesperson.
'Peter has been commuting between Sydney and Melbourne for more than 12 months now and he's found it difficult in terms of managing a work-life balance,' the spokesperson told Fruitnet.com. 'He's now looking for less hectic career options in the business.'
Mr Pokorny's decision to resign, which took effect last Friday, was purely for personal reasons, according to the Coles source. 'There were no performance issues and it was not a restructuring,' he affirmed.
'Peter's played an important role in laying the foundations for a better fresh produce offer in Coles - we're now looking for someone with different skills to grow the business from those foundations,' the spokesperson added.
Mr Pokorny reported to director of merchandise John Durkan, who joined Coles last July from the UK where he had previously worked for Asda and more recently as COO of Carphone Warehouse. Mr Durkan is now overseeing Coles' fresh produce operations while a replacement for Mr Pokorny is found. 'We'll follow the usual internal and external recruitment process to appoint a replacement,' the spokesperson said.
While unable to provide any figures underlining the improvement in Coles' fresh food business since Mr Pokorny took the reins, the Coles spokesperson said the positive results were very tangible. 'Our new fresh produce offer has been well and truly received positively by customers,' he stated. 'We can see the results of the overhaul in terms of sales and fresh penetration.'
