The Grocer Gold Awards 2025: Tesco’s Ken Murphy wins The Grocer Cup

Winner: Ken Murphy

When Ken Murphy joined Tesco in October 2020, he had it all to prove. He was an outsider – from Walgreens Boots Alliance – and he was following in the footsteps of Sir Dave Lewis, whose turnaround of Tesco was the stuff of legend. Indeed for some time there was a sense that Murphy was riding on the coattails of his predecessor as the UK’s biggest grocer continued to thrive.

But quietly and effectively Murphy has set his own stamp on the business as the country emerged from the pandemic – taking it in new and important directions and to ever greater heights. Indeed it’s a measure of its heightened ambition that Tesco has moved from playing defence against the discounters, to setting ambitious targets for market share growth. 

Among the most notable developments under Murphy’s leadership are the successful launch of Whoosh and the confident reintroduction of a new Tesco Marketplace; the stepchanges to Tesco Clubcard and the agenda-setting transformation of its retail media offer.

In a commemorative video colleagues, suppliers, retailers and City analysts highlighted the qualities Murphy has brought to the role.

Clive Black, the Shore Capital Markets director, said: “Ken Murphy has quietly and effectively delivered incredible execution at Tesco in the last four or five years, which suppliers have noticed, shareholders have noticed, and shoppers have noticed.”

John Shropshire, the chairman of G’s Fresh said “the most important thing for me is that Ken provides a vision”. It’s a vision not just around growth or bottom line results but linking executive pay to sustainability targets. “And we can all buy into that because there’s a genuine aim to have a more sustainable business that delivers for customers.”

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Roisin Currie, the Greggs CEO who won the Grocer Cup in 2024 also showered praise on Murphy. “I’m absolutely delighted to hand over this magnificent trophy to Ken Murphy. It’s a fantastic retailer, firing on all cylinders, and I leave it in Ken’s very good hands.”

Her views were shared by Bakkavor CEO Mike Edwards. “I’ve worked with Tesco for a long time, and there’s been plenty of ups and downs but right now, I can tell you, they’re completely on top of their game. This isn’t a fluke. It’s down to the leadership and, as much as anything, it’s down to Ken’s simple and down to earth leadership style that provides real focus for the business.”

Accepting the trophy Murphy said he was “very proud and humbled to receive [the Grocer Cup], it’s a great recognition for all the amazing work the team have put in for customers over the last five years”.

And in an exclusive interview with The Grocer (to be published in next week’s issue) Murphy identified a bold, exciting, AI-driven, digital future.

“We’re very excited for the future because we think technology can unlock a whole new world of better customer propositions and easier, more convenient retail opportunities.”