Donald is on holiday, and this week’s column has been kindly penned by Markup de Price, Chief Eating Officer of Waitrosé.
Just one of the wonderful things about Waitrose is that we really love quality. And value. Quality and value, that’s us. And we love the fact we can deliver quality without sacrificing value. There’s no possible contradiction there. So I’m happy to say that I’ve agreed to write Donald’s column for just 20% more than he would charge. And I swear the quality will be EXACTLY the same.
I like to look on Waitrosé as an extension of myself. Not hard, you may say, given my ample proportions! Ha! I might be the Chubby Grocer, but really I’m quite slim, albeit in a plump sort of way. You’ll all have read about my exciting attempts to lose weight – I’ve been doing so much swimming and eating so much fish that sometimes I think I’m becoming a half-man, half-fish, as I said in a chance remark to all the main retail diarists, individually. A chub, perhaps. Ha! But there’s no contradiction, really, between the world of Fish and the world of Man. So I’m the fish-like, slim Chubby Grocer.
There’s been a lot of talk about price competition. At Waitrosé we are aware some of our customers are up against it, financially. Whereas our car parks would once be full of Bentleys, Aston Martins and Bugattis, it’s now an ungainly litter of Audis, Beemers and even the occasional Ford! Ha! But we’re a broad church and don’t turn anyone away, unless they’re scruffy in a non-designer sort of way.
So whatever the so-called “big four” may say (and I’m a bigger man than Leahy, King, Bond and Bolland combined – Ha!) we can offer great value to customers and I’m here to make a solemn pledge. However tough things get, and however much food prices rise, Waitrosé WILL NOT use the opportunity to change its margins. There, I’ve said it.
Just one of the wonderful things about Waitrose is that we really love quality. And value. Quality and value, that’s us. And we love the fact we can deliver quality without sacrificing value. There’s no possible contradiction there. So I’m happy to say that I’ve agreed to write Donald’s column for just 20% more than he would charge. And I swear the quality will be EXACTLY the same.
I like to look on Waitrosé as an extension of myself. Not hard, you may say, given my ample proportions! Ha! I might be the Chubby Grocer, but really I’m quite slim, albeit in a plump sort of way. You’ll all have read about my exciting attempts to lose weight – I’ve been doing so much swimming and eating so much fish that sometimes I think I’m becoming a half-man, half-fish, as I said in a chance remark to all the main retail diarists, individually. A chub, perhaps. Ha! But there’s no contradiction, really, between the world of Fish and the world of Man. So I’m the fish-like, slim Chubby Grocer.
There’s been a lot of talk about price competition. At Waitrosé we are aware some of our customers are up against it, financially. Whereas our car parks would once be full of Bentleys, Aston Martins and Bugattis, it’s now an ungainly litter of Audis, Beemers and even the occasional Ford! Ha! But we’re a broad church and don’t turn anyone away, unless they’re scruffy in a non-designer sort of way.
So whatever the so-called “big four” may say (and I’m a bigger man than Leahy, King, Bond and Bolland combined – Ha!) we can offer great value to customers and I’m here to make a solemn pledge. However tough things get, and however much food prices rise, Waitrosé WILL NOT use the opportunity to change its margins. There, I’ve said it.
No comments yet