Waitrose has started a review of the structure of the business that will examine every part of the supply chain and may result in changes to jobs at head office.
Managing director Mark Price said the review was prompted by the retailer’s complex new business model, which includes convenience stores, franchise motorway outlets and two international stores in Dubai. Last week it announced an exclusive supply deal with Duchy Original.
“We’ve needed to look at the way the whole business functions because we’ve grown quickly with the new formats and franchising,” Price told The Grocer.
“We wanted to look at how we get goods from our suppliers on to our shelves. Every part of the supply chain has been investigated. It is all about how we reshape the business to better meet those growth challenges.”
Price insisted the changes would not result in any redundancies.
“It’s not our plan to have a redundancy programme,” he said. “But we have grown so quickly we have got scope for people to move to different jobs if we restructure in a way that affects their jobs.”
Waitrose this week reported second quarter underlying profits up 18.7% to £121.1m. Like for like sales were up 1.8%.
Price said the combined effect of strong sales of its budget Essentials range and rapid expansion of the WaitroseDeliver online service meant the retailer would continue to perform strongly throughout the recession.
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