Richard Hayhoe has joined Booker, taking responsibility for the development of its new Family Shopper fascia just six months after leaving rival Palmer & Harvey.

Former marketing director Hayhoe was part of a wider cull of management roles as P&H looked to move to a more distribution-focused operating model ahead of its recent tie-up with Costcutter.

He took up his new role as head of Family Shopper stores this week. Reporting to sales director - retail Steve Fox, he will be responsible for launching Booker’s new discount format. The role involves working closely with independent retailers, Booker branch teams and central functions.

The Family Shopper format is currently being trialled at one 2,000 sq ft store in the West Midlands. It stocks just 1,110 SKUs as opposed to the circa 3,000 normally found in a c-store of the same size.

As more consumers look to retailers such as Aldi and Lidl for top-up shopping, Booker is aiming to tap into the discounter trend as well take advantage of sites too small for such operators.

“I’m really delighted to be at Booker and excited to be working on this project” Hayhoe told The Grocer, adding that his first week had involved getting to know the Booker business and spending time in the Family Shopper store.

He joined P&H as marketing director in July 2007 from Roadchef MSA, where he had been director of retail. Before that, he had held a mixture of retail and marking roles with Wickes and Safeway.

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