Booths has hit on the right formula, says fresh produce buyer Chris Treble, and the strategy has been consolidated throughout the year. “2006-07 was all about building on our strengths, gradually doing things better and maintaining our position,” he says. “We have a successful formula. We are close to our suppliers, we listen to our customers, and we make sure we have fresh fruit and vegetables on the shelves.”
Together with his team - buyer Gail Jordan, Hannah Waring, a buyer specialising in flowers and plants, Val Gibson, quality manager, and administrator Emma Smith - Treble has maintained the high standard at Booths. “Winning the Re:fresh award for the second year in a row was a great recognition for all our hard work,” he says.
But how does Booths continue to thrive in such a competitive retail environment? And what are the secrets to its success? “We are judged in the food marketplace as a whole, but what we offer is a focus on quality, taste and provenance,” says Treble.
The fresh produce offer is central to the business, he adds, and this is reflected in the effort that Booths puts into the department. Fresh produce turnover has reached £30.5 million, and some 12.5 per cent of store takings are made up of fruit and vegetable sales. “Fresh produce is a very important part of trading at that kind of percentage and, while it is only a part of what we offer, it continues to be one of the reasons why people shop at Booths,” Treble says.
New ideas are one of the best ways to drive business and there is no shortage of them at Booths. “There are a lot of ideas around when it comes to new products,” says Treble, “and it is just a case of making them happen.” Booths offers a range of products that are hard to find elsewhere, such as loose, unwashed Wilja potatoes in the winter, or loose cherry tomatoes on the vine - normally found in pre-pack formats - so that shoppers can pick exactly what they want. The retailer will be launching dug-this-morning carrots for the first time this year for four weeks in the summer, as an extension of its range of dug-this-morning spuds.
“It’s about the value that shoppers place on the product, its quality and taste,” says Treble. “The strategy is to get the best and freshest possible product onto the shelves,” he adds. “We are always looking for points of difference. This gives shoppers a reason to come back to Booths - and we try to never disappoint. Repeat sales are the key to fresh produce.”
A number of factors have made the business what it is today.
Booths is no stranger to local sourcing, having emphasised local products for the last 159 years. The retailer puts together a Britishness score and a local score every month. “If it’s possible to source UK products, and if the taste and quality is right, we will always strive for British and local fruit and vegetables,” says Treble. “This is ingrained in our policy at Booths - it almost goes without saying. We have a close relationship with farms and growers so that, for instance, in the summer, all our tomatoes will be sourced from the UK.”
Treble adds that Booths has a higher percentage of local or British produce than other retailers because the larger the chain, the more likely it is that it will have to source from overseas to get sufficient volumes.
The 26-store chain uses its size to its advantage. “The small catchment area means we have a short supply chain, so produce can be on the shelf very quickly, and this is fundamental to the quality of fruit and vegetables,” says Treble.
“We believe we are closer to our customers because we are small, and we listen more. Feedback from stores and requests can be listened to and acted on very quickly.
“The major multiples are mind-bogglingly big and complicated. But we have quick and easy methods of talking to our staff. It’s like your friendly greengrocer, that knows his customers inside out, but in a supermarket.”
The size of the chain means it is possible to get an accurate birds’ eye view of the business. “One person can see the whole business and, in terms of management, that is enormously efficient. And the advantage is that, with just one person seeing all the stores on a regular basis, this keeps them all on the same wavelength.”
Keeping staff at the top of their game is key to the service that shoppers can expect at Booths, says Treble. “We have a tight community of people who look after the fruit and veg on the shop floor - they understand the produce,” he adds. “The fact that we train our fresh produce managers, many of whom have been with us for many years, is part of our offer.”
The fresh produce managers at every store take part in development groups on a quarterly basis. “The idea is that someone from a big store and representatives from a couple of small stores get together to share knowledge and best practice ideas,” says Treble. This gives fruit and vegetable managers the opportunity to exchange ideas on new products and handling methods, and to get quick and easy feedback from the shop floor up to the buyer, he adds.
The team is taken out to visit a supplier at least once a year as an integral part of training, with the most recent trip to a mushroom supplier in Ormskirk last autumn, which involved a farm tour to see how the product is produced and handled.
Treble sees fruit and vegetable managers as “frontline ambassadors” who play an important role in communicating what the consumer wants to the buyer and making sure shoppers can pick up produce in tip-top condition. “This is what makes us different to other retailers,” he says.
Booths has a lot to look forward to this year. The first addition to the chain since the Chorley branch opened its doors in 2005, a new flagship store in Lytham, south of Blackpool, is set to open its doors in September, and the flowers and plants side of the business is to merge with the fruit and vegetable department to boost the fresh produce offer.
No comments yet