The Lowdown – July 2022

Supplier Newsletter – July 2022

Lowdo n

In this issue: p2.......A message from Steve Mills and Pieter De Wet p3.......An update on the Market Study p4 ......Celebrating Matariki at Countdown p6.......Meet the growers p7........Supply Chain Update

p8.......New Stores update p10 .....Food For Good p11......Pride Month p12......Sustainability news p14......Key contacts

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Supplier Newsletter – July 2022

A message from Steve Mills and Pieter De Wet

Kia ora koutou katoa, Happy New Financial Year! We hope you’re keeping warm and have managed to get some down time relaxing with family and friends, despite how hectic things can be in the retail world at this time of year!

Inside this issue of the Lowdown, we wanted to reflect on some of what we have learned and achieved together already over the course of 2022. It’s been a busy year with inflation and rising prices continuing to dominate headlines, and so it feels very timely to take a step back and celebrate our successes despite all that’s been going on.

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In this edition, we have a look back at how we’ve celebrated Matariki at Countdown, a profile of one of our growers, a peek inside our newly opened stores, how we’re continuing to show up for our communities, news from our sustainability team and much more!

It’s a bumper issue and hopefully you enjoy getting a look at all the different things going on across Countdown. If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free

Steve Mills

Pieter De Wet

Commercial Director Packaged Goods, Everyday Needs, Drinks and Replenishment

Commercial Director Fresh and FoodCo

to get in touch with us feedback@ countdown.co.nz or through your usual category contacts.

We’d also like to say a massive thank you to all of our supply partners for their support over the last few months, and we’re looking forward to catching up with you all a bit more regularly over the rest of the year and sharing more about what we’re all up to.

Ngā mihi nui, Steve and Pieter

Check out our Countdown LinkedIn

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

An update on the Commerce Commission’s Market Study It’s been a busy few months, with the Commerce Commission’s final report published in March and then the Government announcing its response to the Commerce Commission’s recommendations in late May. As you heard from us at the time, we accept that changes are needed and we’re pleased to have a firm direction going forward. We supported the Commission’s recommendations and we’re getting on with bringing them to life - including opening up wholesale grocery supply.

Across our Woolworths New Zealand business, we’re committed to playing a positive role in a competitive grocery market for Kiwis. We’ll continue to keep you as up to date as we can with how the market study recommendations are progressing and work happening across our business to address these.

Starting work on opening up wholesale grocery supply A few weeks ago, we announced that we’re beginning work on opening up our wholesale grocery supply following the Commerce Commission’s recommendations around wholesale and the Government’s response to those recommendations.

We’ve had over 50 early expressions of interest from other retailers or organisations who may be interested in buying from us and we’ve set up a separate, bespoke team to find out more about potential demand, establish new processes and systems, and start conversations around meeting the Government’s objectives for more access to wholesale goods and prices.

The team is also starting important conversations with you, our suppliers, to talk about trading terms, products and volumes, and any other operational considerations that you think we need to be aware of. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts on how we can all help better service vulnerable communities.

If you have any ideas, please reach out.

Thank you to those we’ve already spoken to and an advance thanks to those who we’ll be speaking to soon - your engagement, ideas and support are critical to how we can make wholesale a success for everyone.

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Supplier Newsletter – June 2022

Celebrating Matariki at Countdown

The appearance of Matariki in the morning sky in mid-winter marks Te Mātaki o te Tau or Māori New Year. The arrival of Matariki is a sign for people to gather, to honour the dead, celebrate the present and plan for the future.

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This year, we were excited to celebrate Matariki with our team and customers across Aotearoa - it felt particularly special with this year being the first public holiday for Matariki.

As a team we spent time reflecting and giving thanks for the year that

has been, we shared kai (and even managed a few hangi!), coloured in Te iwa o Matariki and made our wishes for the year ahead.

It was a fantastic celebration and we’ll be looking forward to many more over the coming years - check out some of the photos.

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

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Supplier Newsletter – July 2022

Meet the growers

Say ‘hello’ to the Hinton family!

The Hinton family have been growing stone fruit in Central Otago since 1910 and have had a strong working relationship with Countdown for some years now.

The business is now run by the fourth (Nigel and Elizabeth) and fifth (Howie and Sarah) generations of the Hinton family, with the sixth generation helping out in their school holidays. The Hintons pride themselves on growing premium cherries, nectarines, peaches, apricots and plums, which are available in Countdown stores throughout Aotearoa.

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The last couple of years haven’t been without their challenges, with one of the largest rainfalls ever recorded decimating the Hinton’s 2020/21 season of cherries.

However, thanks to a much more settled summer season this year, the Hinton’s have been able to supply delicious, quality cherries, which was not only great news for them, but our customers too!

In addition to growing great stone fruit, the Hinton’s have also continued to invest in new technologies and systems. Three years ago, they installed a new cherry grader and punneter, and are also looking at a new stone fruit grader, to make handling and packing through the packhouse more efficient and to help them maintain their competitive edge.

With the last of the nectarines and peacherines shipped out at the start of April, the focus is now on getting the orchard pruned, tidied and ready for the 2022/23 season.

We’re honoured to work with families like the Hintons right throughout our supply chain and we’re excited about what’s ahead as we keep growing our businesses together!

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

Supply chain update

Auckland Fresh Distribution Centre now open!

We’re very excited to have finally opened our first purpose-built Fresh Distribution Centre in Wiri, Auckland with a number of our growers and local Councillor, Angela Dalton joining us for opening day.

Auckland Fresh Distribution Centre has been built to a four Green Star standard and is a massive investment in making sure our growers’ fruit and veg stays in beautiful condition from farm to fork.

Our growers put an immense amount of care and effort into the produce they supply us with and we have a responsibility to show that same level of effort and care as it travels through our supply chain. We’ve embedded cool chain integrity into the new facility and every element of AFDC has been designed to put the quality of locally-grown produce on display - from the refrigerated trucks that transport the produce through to the varied temperature-controlled zones or ripening rooms that ensure produce is in peak condition when it reaches our stores.

AFDC is also next door to the Hilton Meat Plant, which supplies our North Island stores, and the completion of the new DC means that we can now co-pack a single truck with both meat and produce to head out to stores, rather than sending a separate truck for each, ensuring greater efficiencies and fewer carbon emissions.

We’re really proud of the new AFDC and hope to show a few more of you around soon!

Christchurch Fresh Distribution Centre We’re also very excited to have now broken ground on our new Fresh Distribution Centre in Rolleston, Canterbury which will open in 2024 and means customers right throughout Aotearoa will be able to experience our dedication to freshness.

Take a virtual tour through the CFDC – click here.

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Supplier Newsletter – July 2022

Take a look inside our new stores Countdown Waiata Shores

Countdown Awapuni

We’re absolutely thrilled to have opened our first Green Star rated supermarket in the North Island with the MP for Takanini, Dr. Neru Leavasa helping us to officially open the brand-new Countdown Waiata Shores store earlier this year.

After eight years of planning, development and construction, it was pretty exciting to finally open the doors to the long-awaited Countdown Awapuni this month!

It’s not simple or cheap to build such a sustainable store, especially when you throw a few COVID-19 and supply chain challenges in the mix, but we think it’s well worth the investment. We’re proud to have created a supermarket that not only meets customer needs now but also leaves a lighter footprint for future generations.

If you’re in the neighbourhood, pop in and check out the digital shelf labels that help reduce our paper use, see if you can spy the solar panels on the roof helping to power the store, and make use of the integrated cycle lanes and bike parking!

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The 3,565sqm Countdown Awapuni store has been built to meet the needs of the Palmerston North community with a modern look and feel, extensive fresh foods section, in-store bakery, cellar and a purpose-built space for online customers to pick up their orders.

The supermarket also features some of our latest sustainability initiatives including electronic shelf labels to reduce paper use, electric vehicle charging stations for customers choosing lower emission transport, an electric online delivery truck, a transcritical refrigeration system, and doors on all fridges to reduce energy use and lower carbon emissions.

Check it out in the video below – our Store Manager, Tayna will show you around.

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

Countdown Greville Road

Countdown Balclutha

Metro Herne Bay

It was fantastic to open our brand-new Countdown Greville Road store and we were honoured to have a number of special guests join us for the celebration including MP for East Coast Bays, Erica Stanford

We were thrilled to welcome the local community into our brand new, state-ofthe-art Countdown Balclutha store after 12 months of construction.

Herne Bay locals now have a fresh, new grocery shopping destination on their doorstep, with the opening of our fourth Metro store on the corner of Kelmarna Ave and Jervois Road.

The store is a great place to shop with a modern look and feel and we’ve implemented a number of planet-friendly features as part of the build. We’re also proud to be partnering with KiwiHarvest to rescue any food that can’t be sold, but is still good enough to eat, to ensure it goes to our communities in need rather than to landfill.

It was a bit of a race to the finish line to make sure all the final touches were ready to go for trading, but what an incredible job our team has done! Don’t forget to pop in to say kia ora to the team when you’re next in the neighbourhood!

The $18 million dollar development is the first Countdown in the area and has a number of key sustainability features like electronic shelf labels to reduce paper use, bike racks for customers, a transcritical refrigeration system, and doors on fridges.

It is also another important milestone in our $50 million programme of investment in Otago and Southland, which will see a further four new store or existing store renovation projects delivered over 12 months.

We were honoured to have Clutha Mayor, Bryan Cadogan, open the 2,530sqm Countdown Balclutha for us. The Balclutha store has also created 80 new jobs which we’ve been able to fill with the support of the local council and the Ministry of Social Development, so it was great to have the Mayor there to thank him ourselves!

We’ve designed the 1,600m2 store to suit the needs of the local community and have also created 65 new jobs with the development, with around half the team living within walking, cycling or scootering distance of their new workplace.

We’re already hearing great feedback from customers about the premium range of products on offer like barista-made coffee, ready-to-go meals, fresh-made sandwiches, salads, health-focussed snack options, take-home dinners and fresh pizzas made in store. If you’re in the area, we’d highly recommend stopping in for a bite!

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Supplier Newsletter – July 2022

Using our Food for Good

Countdown support for the Red Cross Pacific Tsunami Appeal Earlier this year, we were all devastated to hear about the Pacific tsunami and its impact on the people of Tonga and surrounding islands. Countdown is a founding partner of the New Zealand Red Cross Disaster Response Alliance and so we were able to take swift action to get involved and help make sure practical support was available to the impacted communities.

Thanks to the generosity of our team and customers getting involved with fundraising in our stores, we were able to raise $151,00 for the Red Cross Pacific Tsunami Appeal - an incredible result. On top of this, Countdown donated another $20,000 to help with emergency relief supplies and equipment.

It’s expected that recovery from the tsunami will take many months and we hope that our contribution can play a small part in accelerating the recovery and helping our Pacific neighbours get back on their feet as soon as possible.

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Supporting KidsCan As we’ve done for a few years now, this Easter we once again supported KidsCan with a portion of sales from our everpopular hot cross buns being donated to their early childhood education programme.

KidsCan does incredible mahi helping to make sure that our littlest Kiwis have free, healthy meals available during their day and with the number of preschoolers arriving hungry to early childhood education centres on the rise, we think it’s critical that we get behind initiatives like this and use our food for good.

We’re proud to be able to support KidsCan and in 2022, we’re hoping to have raised around $100,000 with 5c from every pack of Countdown’s traditional hot cross buns sold being donated to KidsCan.

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

Pride month and fundraising for Rainbow Youth Unfortunately, COVID-19 restrictions meant that many of Aotearoa’s usual Pride events had to be put on hold or cancelled this year. While clearly disappointing news for us all, this turn of events made it even more heartening to see our team bringing Pride celebrations to life in our stores and helping to raise money for Rainbow Youth’s incredible mahi.

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

It’s incredibly important that we continue to demonstrate our commitment to inclusion and creating a workplace (and supermarket!) where everyone feels welcome. Supporting organisations like RainbowYOUTH is an important part of this, so we kicked off things with a $30,000 donation and thanks to our customers rounding up at checkout, we were able to raise another $91,000 of funds to support queer, gender-diverse and intersex young people in Aotearoa.

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

Growing for Good For the fourth round of our annual Growing for Good grants, we put a call out for innovative, climate change focused projects, and for the first time ever we opened up applications to secondary schools.

We received over 150 applications for the grants and were absolutely blown away by the care and consideration each school took in applying.

We love that our youngest Kiwis are some of our strongest advocates for climate change action and we’re really proud to support that kaupapa with $63,000 of grants to bring to life projects that will help tackle climate change in early childhood centres, schools and their local communities.

We’ll be announcing the schools that have been awarded grants very soon - keep an eye out!

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Supplier Newsletter – July 2022

Sustainability news - a look behind the scenes

Introducing our updated Seafood Sourcing Policy We’re absolutely committed to sourcing sustainable seafood that treads lightly on our environment - supporting fish stocks, marine ecosystems, fishing communities and all the while providing a nutritious source of food to Kiwis.

We know this is really important to our customers too and to articulate how we’re working closely with our supply partners on this, we’ve just updated and published our Seafood Sourcing Policy. Whether you’re part of the seafood industry or not, it’s well worth a read to understand how we’re working to improve outcomes and do better for all our stakeholders.

100% Sustainable seafood caught locally or from verified sources

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Questions about any of our sustainability work?

Reach out to the team at sustainability@ countdown.co.nz

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

Countdown’s Animal Welfare Survey

Phasing out single-use plastic produce bags:

For the last three years, we have been running an annual animal welfare survey with our supply partners who provide us with beef, lamb, pork, chicken, eggs, dairy and farmed fish.

From 25 July, customers across Aotearoa will be going without single-use plastic produce bags as we kick off a pilot that will remove the bags from a further 19 stores, joining Metro Herne Bay which opened without the bags in June.

This is part of the wider work we’re undertaking to increase transparency and reporting on animal welfare within our supply chain, and to demonstrate the great work we know our supply partners and farmers are doing to care for animals while helping put food on the table for Kiwis. We have just completed this year’s survey thank you to all who worked with us on this.

We’re now working through the results of the survey which will support our Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare ranking and help to get customer recognition for this important work. You can read more about our work with supply partners on animal welfare and how we’re caring for animals here.

Plastic is a real concern for all of us, and these bags have been a hot topic for a number of years now. Despite that sentiment, there are still around 50 million of these bags being used each year!

Throughout the pilot, we’ll be seeking feedback about the change and to understand how we can help Kiwis make the switch to reusable options for the long-term. This feedback will be invaluable as we look to roll it out to more stores in the coming months and as the government ban on these bags comes into effect in mid-2023.

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

Our 20 pilot stores are: Countdown Browns Bay, Auckland Countdown Bethlehem, Tauranga Countdown Takapuna, Auckland Countdown Napier, Napier Countdown Greville, Auckland Countdown The Valley, New Plymouth Countdown Grey Lynn, Auckland Countdown Rotorua, Rotorua Metro Herne bay, Auckland* Countdown Awapuni, Palmerston North Countdown Mangere East, Auckland Countdown Johnsonville, Wellington Countdown Manukau, Auckland Countdown Cable Car, Wellington Countdown Waiata Shores, Auckland Countdown Blenheim, Blenheim Countdown Hamilton, Hamilton Countdown Ferrymead, Christchurch Countdown Bridge St, Hamilton Countdown Eastgate, Christchurch

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Please consider the environment before you print this report.

Supplier Newsletter – June 2022

Your key Merchandise and Replenishment team contacts.

Please reach out to your category or merchandise manager as your first port of call but if you need to get in touch with one of the merchandise leadership team, you can find their details below.

Steve Mills

Pieter De Wet

Andre Visser

Commercial Director - Packaged Goods, Drinks, Everyday Needs and Replenishment.

Commercial Director Fresh and FoodCo

Head of FoodCo NZ

EA: Chris Appleton chris.appleton@countdown.co.nz

EA: Chris Appleton chris.appleton@countdown.co.nz

Andrew Dixon

Angela Deehan

Greta Taylor

Head of Grocery Non Food, General Merchandise and Pharmacy

Head of Grocery Food and Liqour

Head of Commercial E: andrew.dixon@countdown.co.nz M: 027 483 0009

Nikhil Sawant Head of Meat, Seafood, Deli and Perishables E: nikhil.sawant@countdown.co.nz M: 027 333 8383

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E: angela.deehan@countdown.co.nz M: 027 444 077

E: andre.visser@countdown.co.nz M: 022 352 9983

E: greta.taylor@countdown.co.nz M: 021 702 756

Ryan McMullen

Tash Toswill

Head of Produce and Bakery

Head of Replenishment and Store Planning

E: ryan.mcmullen@countdown.co.nz M: 027 444 2032

E: ntosswill@woolworths.com.au M: 021 823 083

WELCOME

MATARIKI

GROWERS

SUPPLY CHAIN

STORES

COMMUNITY

SUSTAINABILITY

GET IN TOUCH

Our Grocery Food and Liquor team

We also wanted to give you an updated contact list for our grocery food and liquor team after a few changes in responsibilities recently.

Pantry and frozen:

Beverages, breakfast and snacking:

Liquor:

Craig Douglas

Merchandise Manager E: jono.fisher@countdown.co.nz M: 021 914 175

Stefanie Spandow Merchandise Manager E: stefanie.spandow@countdown.co.nz M: 027 399 9239 Baking & Frozen - Sweets Katrina DeWitte Category Manager E: katrina.dewitte@countdown.co.nz M: 027 298 4132 Chanel Samaratunga Assistant Category Manager E: chanel.samaratunga@countdown.co.nz Cooking Josh Bycroft Category Manager E: josh.bycroft@countdown.co.nz M: 021 537 799 Rohan Solanki Assistant Category Manager E: rohan.solanki@countdown.co.nz Pasta, Rice, Noodles, International Richard Tonkin Category Manager E: richard.tonkin@countdown.co.nz T: 09 275 2760 Erin Bell-Hira Assistant Category Manager E: erin.bellhira@countdown.co.nz Canned & Frozen Fish, Veg, Poultry Christine Mackenzie Category Manager E: christine.mackenzie@countdown.co.nz M: 022 049 1969 Scott Zhang Assistant Category Manager E: scott.zhang@countdown.co.nz Health Foods & Spreads Merilynne Ashe Category Manager E: merilynne.ashe@countdown.co.nz M: 027 266 5091

Merchandise Manager E: craig.douglas@countdown.co.nz M: 021 856 222 Cold Beverages Nogo Falanitule Category Manager E: nogotuki.falanitule@countdown.co.nz M: 027 531 9532 Yingwei Lee Assistant Category Manager E: yingwei.lee@countdown.co.nz Hot Beverages & Breakfast Sara Bernstone Category Manager E: sara.bernstone@countdown.co.nz M: 027 491 9776 Daniela Hernandez Assistant Category Manager E: daniela.avellanedahernandez@ countdown.co.nz

Jono Fisher

Wine Haydn Jones Category Manager E: haydn.jones@countdown.co.nz M: 021 429 365 Joshua Land-Lange Assistant Category Manager E: joshua.land-lange@countdown.co.nz Linda Sayasinh Assistant Category Manager E: linda.sayasinh1@countdown.co.nz Beer, Cider & Seltzers TBA Category Manager Deelan Patel Assistant Category Manager E: deelan.patel@countdown.co.nz

Snacking Minal Patel Category Manager E: minal.patel@countdown.co.nz M: 027 247 4915 Matilda Tiakia Assistant Category Manager E: matilda.tiakia@countdown.co.nz Confectionery & Biscuits Alan Kwok Category Manager E: alan.kwok@countdown.co.nz M: 027 243 6092 Matilda Tiakia Assistant Category Manager E: matilda.tiakia@countdown.co.nz Seasonal & Gifting Mandy Maclean Category Manager E: mandy.maclean@countdown.co.nz M: 027 209 2539

New additions to the Merchandise & Replenishment team: We’ve had quite a few people join us over the past couple of months - join us in welcoming them to the team!

Rohan Solanki Assistant Category Manager Rachel Heyes Category Development Analyst Rahul Prakash Micro Space Analyst Briar Waldin FMCG Intern Project James Lee Graduate

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– Supplier Newsletter July 2022