Fresh News October 2016

october2016

We make The magazine for Morrisons colleagues

Check out our 8-page special p9

Introducing The Best, just in time for Christmas

p18

Career Conversations • Your Say • New-look cafés and much more…

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New-look cafés There are lots of great things to know about our cafés, like we always use free-range eggs.

We’re also introducing new products and services like Italian-style ice-cream carts and Barista Coffee Bars. Read more on p6

2 Making it at Morrisons We’ve introduced My Career Plan Conversations – a meeting with your Line Manager that’s all about your career with Morrisons.

Hannah Boyes explains how she went from being a summer temp to Store Manager.

Read more on p7 2

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You’ve been having Your Say From stocking local ice cream to adding barcodes on salad bowls, you’ve been listening hard and making great ideas happen since the Your Say forums kicked off at the start of July. Read more on p17

Thank You for a job well done!

Thank You for doing an

Our new Thank You cards make it easier for all of us to thank each other for doing a great job. Managers also have a Thank You cheque book so they can recognise colleagues with something more personal, like a bouquet of flowers.

Read more on p8

5

...cellent job

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The Best We’ve introduced and improved hundreds of premium products in our new The Best range, which is a notch up on quality, and a notch down on price.

Read more on p18 & 19

Our cover star this month is The Best Beef Brisket With Beef Dripping Potatoes.

Fresh News is produced by Morrisons Company Communications and designed by scarlettabbott – 01904 633399 | scarlettabbott.co.uk

7/28/2016 10:04:18 AM

countdown is on

countdown is The

p21

In the mag...

4 News 6 New-look Cafés 7 Career Conversations 8 Thank You for a job well done!

9 Teamwork Christmas Meetings – 8-page special 17 Your Say 18 The Best 20 Giving something back 22 The social

Get in touch Here’s how you can contact us:

Save a stamp and post internally to Company Communications.

Email your stories and pictures to company.communications @morrisonsplc.co.uk To sign up to Colleague Facebook email facebook@ morrisonsplc.co.uk

FSC logo here

on

Autumn has arrived, the days are shorter and we’re preparing for some of the biggest trading events of the year. t the end of the A month it’s Halloween and you can read about how we’re serving customers better by stocking more of the things they want to buy, like adult fancy dress costumes (p4).

And, of course, Christmas is on the way. Last month, leaders from all over the business attended the Teamwork Christmas Meetings to see and hear about the ranges we’ll be stocking, the new processes we’ve got in place and about how we can all do our bit to make Christmas for our customers.

Over the coming weeks your managers will share our Christmas plans with you, but first, have a look at our eight-page special (p9-16) for a glimpse of what they saw and heard on the day.

We’re confident that we’re going to have a great Christmas.

We’ve been listening hard to you and our customers to find out what worked well and what could have been better last year and this has resulted in some exciting changes. We’ve improved our food to order process, simplified our merchandising and we’re bringing back some of last year’s best sellers, as well as introducing many more.

Having an inspiring premium range is part of what makes Christmas special, and on 10th October we re-launched ours (p18-19). We know that customers are looking to treat their families at Christmas so having a strong range is really important.

We’ve improved the quality of our products and introduced hundreds of new lines – we’re so proud to have our name on it that we’re calling it The Best. You’ll be receiving a coupon for 50p off any The Best product soon, so give them a try and tell our customers about the range.

Celebrating Success As well as some exciting events, we’re celebrating successes across the business. Our impressive award tally continues to increase with a win at the Bakery Industry Awards (p5).

Making a Difference Many of you have improved the way we run our business through the ideas you’ve shared in the Your Say forums (p17).

Taking great ideas and having the freedom to make them work in your area is how we make Morrisons a great place to work and shop. Thanks to colleagues at King’s Lynn, our salad bowls now have a barcode to help them scan quicker.

Our Café Teams are working hard to make sure we’re giving customers exactly what they want (p6), whether that’s free meals for kids or the assurance that all our recipes use free-range eggs.

On your marks, get set…

We’ve got loads to get after and the next couple of months are going to be busy. Halloween and Christmas are some of the biggest opportunities of the year for us and we’ve all got a part to play in making Christmas special for our customers. Let’s do it.

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The latest news from right around our business.

Our spooky seasonal aisle is stocked with our biggest Halloween range ever, so everyone can join in the freaky fun.

adults’ fancy dress

#ThankYou If you’ve thanked someone, let us know at yoursay@ morrisonsplc.co.uk Thanks!

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alloween is the third biggest H shopping event of the year with people in the UK expected to spend more than £400 million on Halloween in 2016.

“Our customers tell us that Halloween is important for adults too. After listening to what they’ve said, we’ve upped our choice of ST EP H A NI E spooky decorations, with black roses, full-size skeletons and hands that move; and we’ve got even more adult-sized costumes and accessories, plus Nutmeg Halloween baby-grows too,” says Nutmeg Halloween Stephanie Bateson, baby-grow Marketing Manager – Events.

Sara ?

Teagles, Dordon While out delivering, Sara from the Online Team went to the aid of a 96-year old man, who’d fallen in his garden.

She helped him inside and got help. The man’s family was incredibly grateful for Sara’s quick actions.

Making a difference

“Stocking different things, like different types of squash, some of which can be carved, our Hotter Than Hell Pizza and Decorate Your Own Ghost Train bakery kits, give shoppers a reason to shop with us,” says Emma Alam, Marketing Manager – Events.

EMMA As well as a wider choice, our Halloween products are also great value. We’ve simplified our promotions, with 3 for £2 on lots of trick or treat accessories, which our customers tell us makes it easier for them to shop, and there are great deals in beers, wines and spirits for adults.

Kerry McGrath, Skegness Kerry saw a regular customer struggling with his shopping and took charge. She sat him down while she scanned and packed his shopping. He wrote in saying he’d been about to collapse and ‘couldn’t thank Kerry enough’.

*Unfortunately due to hygiene and health and safety restrictions, some colleagues must wear their regular uniform – but you could wear scary socks!

Ghost train bakery kit

business NEWS

Richard Hazeldine, Sales Manager for Zeelandia, Andy Clegg, Manager of Bakery, and former rugby player Matt Dawson

Success is sweet

…to tell our customers about our fantastic Halloween and Bonfire Night offers and wear your scariest outfit to work on 31st October*

iving customers what they want, including jammier doughnuts, helped us win In-store Bakery Retailer of the Year, at the Baking Industry Awards last month.

“This year, we’ve created 40 new Bakery and Cake Shop Products, including passion fruit and summer fruit cakes, or added a twist to existing lines, like twice as much jam in our store-baked cream sponges, after listening hard and responding quickly to what our customers and colleagues told us they wanted from our bakery offer,” said Andy Clegg, Bakery Category Manager. As part of the award process, judges visited Scarborough, Warrington and Binley stores.

Congratulations to our skilled bakery colleagues.

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Make your party go with a As Bonfire Night falls on a Saturday this year, it’s a great excuse for a party.

To help, we’re cutting the price on Bonfire Night favourites like hotdogs, chilli and ketchup.

We’ve also got a better firework offer, including the 30-piece Cruiser Display for just £20.

“This year we’re giving customers a bigger choice of fireworks than ever before to help their bonfire parties go with a bang,” says Stephanie Haworth, Marketing Manager - Events.

Fireworks will be available to buy in stores from 15th October.

Simpler cleaning

micK JEROME, SOUTHPORT A customer wanted 800 tubes of toothpaste for charity shoeboxes. Mick ordered and delivered them himself. The delighted customer then bought £200-worth of sweets for the shoeboxes.

t’s important to our customers that our stores I are clean and well kept. To help raise our standards to a new level of excellence, and simplify our colleagues’ roles, we’re making some changes. From next month, most stores will partner with specialist cleaning companies who’ll provide many of the everyday deep-cleaning services.

We’ve trialled this in 80 stores already and it’s working really well.

“Our colleagues just clean as they go now, rather than having to do everything. It means they’ve more time to focus on serving our customers, and the store still looks great,” says Ben White, Store Manager, Kettering.

Thank you to all our colleagues who are moving across to the new provider, for the great job they do, day in, day out.

is there for you f course, everyone wants to be happy and healthy at work, but we can all face problems that affect us personally from time to time. That’s when the Retail Trust can help you.

This free, confidential help and advice service can help with:

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• Emotional wellbeing – help coping with bereavement, depression and stress • Financial wellbeing – advice on savings, help with debt problems or applying for hardship grants • Family issues – practical and emotional support with divorce, relationship breakdown or abuse You can contact the Retail Trust 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:

retailtrust.org.uk/ hub

helpline@ retailtrust.org.uk

Call free on 0808 801 0808

Text 88010

twitter.com/ retailtrust

facebook.com/ retailtrust

Dave Critchley, Stockton RDC There was a problem taking in stock from another company, which pays for us to store and send out their goods.

David worked hard to solve the issue and make sure that it worked well for the site. october2016

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New-Look Cafés

New-look

Cafés

Did you know we have 400 cafés, serving more than 30 million customers every year, making us one of the UK’s biggest café outlets? ur cafés make us different, and we’re making things even better for our customers,” says Sam Wells, Head of Trading – Cafés.

We’re opening new cafés in Goole and Loughborough stores and refreshing the seating areas of 200 existing cafés, after listening and responding to our customers and colleagues.

We’re aiming to complete the remaining cafés in 2017.

“O

Great value, great taste You can get 10% off in our café with your colleague discount card, so treat yourself and your family.

And let our customers know about our great-tasting Good things to café food

“One of our six priorities is developing popular and useful services. That’s what we’re doing with our cafés to attract more customers into stores and increase sales,” says Sam. This includes trialling ice-cream ‘gelato carts’ and coffee-shop-style cafés.

And in smaller stores we’re already introducing Barista Coffee Bars so our customers can enjoy our professionally-prepared coffee.

know about our cafés

Kids eat free when an adult spends £4.50 or more on a main meal after 3pm

Our cafés serve more fish and chips every week than any other business in the UK Our café food is free from hydrogenated fat

#ThankYou If you’ve thanked someone, let us know at yoursay@ morrisonsplc.co.uk Thanks!

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Hitesh Pawar, Ferry Road, Edinburgh When a customer locked her keys in her car, Hitesh paid for a taxi so she could collect her spare set, and kept her shopping safe until she returned.

The lady said he’d won ‘a customer for life!’

That means a family of four can eat for just £9 including drinks!

Each kid’s meal has at least two of their 5-a-day, so it’s healthy too We always use free-range eggs

Where we can, we use our own produce from our Manufacturing sites, including, among others, bread, fish, sausages, potatoes and fruit

Erin Rowan, Bishopbriggs Erin was on checkouts when a customer had an asthma attack. She looked after him until it passed. The next day he came into store to thank Erin for going ‘above and beyond’ to help him.

Career Conversations

Making it at In our September issue we explained why we’re introducing My Career Plan Conversations – a meeting with your Line Manager that’s all about your career at Morrisons. annah Boyes originally joined us as a summer temp, working on the H checkouts and in the café at Skegness.

Now she’s the Store Manager at Louth.

Here, Hannah shares her thoughts on how she’s developed and progressed her career with us.

I’m always striving to improve the store with my team. No two days are the same. My job is diverse, and that’s what I love.”

Be a leader, not a boss. If you work hard, and you’re dedicated and passionate, then all the benefits for your team and store will follow.”

Listening and responding to your customers and colleagues makes your store better for everyone – and it’s helped move my career forward.”

After temping, I secured a permanent position when I finished school. I was an Admin Supervisor, then an Admin Manager, which is when I passed my Assistant Deputy Management assessment. I also attended the Accelerated Learning Programme for Store Managers.”

I wanted to progress my career, but it meant moving stores – and moving from Lincolnshire to Norfolk.

I didn’t know if I could survive in the big wide world by myself, but I’ve never looked back.”

Tom Mills, Thrapston Tom worked on a new staffing and cost saving plan.

His work has helped the night shift work smarter, save money and improve their overall performance.

If you’ve been inspired by Hannah’s story, or you have a career goal you want to achieve at Morrisons, it’s never too early to start thinking about the Career Conversation you’d like to have!

Your Career Conversation is separate to your annual My Performance Plan meeting and will happen at least once a year. Speak to your Line Manager to find out when you’ll have yours

Anita Odzimkowska, Flaxby Anita volunteered to run the produce grading training sessions, so that she could deliver the lesson in English and her native Polish.

Anita wanted to give everyone an equal chance of passing the training.

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Thank you

It’s good to be recognised for doing a great job.

A simple ‘Thank You’ goes a long way, but sometimes taking the time to personally recognise a colleague for their efforts can be more appropriate.

Thank You for a job well done!

Cream of the crop

Thank You for a

performance

At Pontefract store, Becky Kelly’s colleagues on the Deli counter wanted to recognise her exceptional remember to tag your performance, so Andrew Bannon, Store Manager, presented her with stories on Colleague a special ‘Thank You’. Becky said: Facebook “The Thank You card was a lovely surprise. I’m just doing my job, but it gave me a real boost to know that my colleagues appreciate the effort I put in.”

#ThankYou

Thank You, you’re the

Sparkling Performance

Jim Lloyd, Meat & Fish Manager, Downham Market, provided great service for a customer who placed a large order for barbecue skewers, and the customer returned and placed an even bigger order.

Store Manager Robert Jarrald thanked Jim for his great work that helped to grow sales, by treating him to breakfast in the staff room.

of the crop

Recognising great work Whether it’s an individual or a team that’s gone the extra mile, thanking someone for a job well done can make their day.

“We want to be able to recognise each other for the work we do.

To make this easier, there’s now a new set of tools with Thank You cards that we can hand to one another,” says Chris Walker, People Manager – Engagement.

Managers also have a Thank You cheque book that gives them more freedom to say Thank You in a way that’s personal to that colleague. It might be a bouquet of flowers, reserved parking, or breakfast in the staff canteen.

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Share your stories

Sharing great stories is another way to recognise our fantastic colleagues. Send them to YourSay@morrisonsplc.co.uk and we’ll feature as many as we can in Fresh News each month.

Or post your success stories on Colleague Facebook, see p22

Christmas Special

I N S I D E : O U R N E W A D VE RT • C H R I S T M A S I N S T O R E • F O O D T O O R D E R • A N D M O R E …

w e l com e

We’ve had a great start to the year thanks to an amazing effort by everyone, across the business.

Sales are up, profits are up and our customers are coming back to us.

But we know there’s more to do. And now’s the time to do it.

Christmas is our busiest trading period of the year and we all need to make the most of every opportunity to get things right for our customers. We need the right products, in the right place, at the right time, with friendly colleagues giving great customer service. We know that if we put it all together, we’ll make Christmas a success for our customers, our colleagues and our business.

To make it happen, we’ve created an exciting plan that takes us to Christmas and beyond.

And we’re confident it’ll work because we listened to what our customers and you thought last year about what went well and what we could do to improve.

We’ve made it easier for customers to pre-order their Christmas food.

For the first time they can order online and collect in store. Simpler layouts will make our stores easier to shop and stock, and our store colleagues will look smarter in their new uniforms, which arrive next month.

Having a great value premium offer is really important for our customers who want to treat their families at Christmas. There’s a full seasonal offer in our newly-launched The Best range, with food that looks and tastes perfect, so there’s no need for our customers to shop anywhere else this year. And it’s all wrapped up in a package of festive fun.

There’s a lot to look forward to and a lot to be confident about this Christmas at Morrisons. Read about our plans and see how, as food makers and shopkeepers, we can all play a part in making the moments our customers love at Christmas.

SALTED CARAMEL PROFITEROLE GATEaU

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

f a m i l y . food . tr a d i t i on .

We know what’s important to our customers at Christmas, because we listened to them. They told us that Family, Tradition and great fresh food make Christmas.

Family. Food. Tradition.

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n our Christmas adverts, which you can see on TV from 7th November, we focus on Family, Food and Tradition, to show how Morrisons Makes Christmas. Our Market Street experts have a starring role as they show how we make our products, deliver great service, share a smile, offer helpful advice, and that we’re there when our customers need us.

After all, it’s what we do in all our stores every day.

Family.

Food.

Tradition.

With everything our customers need to make Christmas, we’re helping them to create those unforgettable family moments that make Christmas special.

Show-stopping desserts, delicious fresh food, produce with a twist; Christmas is a time for treats and we’ve got The Best.

Every family has its own traditions, whether it’s Yorkshires with turkey or crumpets for breakfast.

We know it’s the little things that make a big difference.

A little luxury In November there’ll also be a series of adverts telling our customers about our award-winning wines and The Best range.

It’s to let customers know that, at Christmas, we’ve everything they need and more.

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

Christmas. in store

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

It’s an exciting time in store this Christmas as we launch a seasonal offer we can all be proud of. It’s one that we know our customers will love, because we listened and responded to what they told us they wanted.

chr i stm a s i n stor e

Gifting opportunities

Our Bakers told us that, sometimes less is more, Food is at the heart of what we do. We make it, so we’ve reduced the number of products made pack it and deliver it, and we know that it’s in store, giving our counter colleagues more time to especially important to our customers at Christmas. serve our customers better. This year, we’ll concentrate On Market Street we’re providing good on baking only the classics we know quality fresh food at great value. our customers like, such as Stollen, Throughout the year we’ve worked panettone and our new chocolate chip hard to cut down our prices through There’s a great look tear-and-share Christmas tree bread.

Price Crunch so that we’re saving and feel to the range On Deli we’ve introduced our customers every penny possible this Christmas and larger 300g packs of flavoured because we know how important The Best looks amazing. Deli cheese, and our pre-packed this is at Christmas.

We’ve also got new festive products, I know our customers cheese boards come with tasting will love it. notes that show off our expertise. like Christmas tree-shaped crumpets Make sure you tell our customers and Santa-shaped butter blocks. about these little touches that will Roary the chocolate dinosaur, help to make their Christmas who flew off our shelves at Easter, Amanda Kirk, Store Manager, Scarborough extra-special. returns dressed for winter.

This year, we’ve really improved our gifting range with more lines and exclusive products.

And there’s something for everyone with more price points covered, including big-ticket toys and Beers, Wines & Spirits gift sets. Our customers can shop with confidence as we’re keeping prices consistently low, with clear promotions.

for our custom ers We know Christmas is the time of year when some of our customers want to spend a little bit more to make those moments magical for their family.

Our new premium range, The Best, which launches this month (p18), has hundreds of seasonal products to enjoy this Christmas.

In fact, our products are some of the best in the industry: and it’s not just our opinion. We’re Supermeat Meat and Fish Retailer of the Year, we were

named International Wine Challenge Supermarket of the Year for the second year running, and we’ve won awards for our cheese, bakery and more.

We’re also helping customers to easily search for and compare products by putting similar lines in the same place. Every store is different, so each store will have a unique planogram with a tailored layout to make sure we’re really making the most of the shelf space we’ve got.

the best canadiaN lobster & Cromer crab macaroni cheese

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

food to ord e r

Food to Order An easy-to-use online system, real-time availability checks and manageable collection slots – it’s our updated Food to Order system. stuffed turkey crown

the best lightly super trimmed rib of beef

Chocolate panettone

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e listened to everything our customers and you told us could have been better last year, and we’ve made some big changes. The old triplicate paper system has gone. In its place is a new online system that’s really easy to use.

Order in store or at home

Smarter and simpler

Orders are placed on the system in real time.

So if a product runs out, the system won’t accept the order.

This means our customers The best mini beef burger know straight away if a sliders product is out of stock, and can choose an alternative.

To help keep things simple, customers placing their Food to Order online can only choose products that are stocked or made at their local store.

All stores will have a tablet or small laptop and mobile devices to use for customer orders and taking payments. And we’ll train all colleagues working on Food to Order, so they’re confident about taking and placing orders.

Dedicated desk Each store will have a mobile desk for Food to Go orders to reduce queues at customer services and the checkouts.

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

Our customers can also order food, book a collection slot and pay online at their convenience. It means there’ll be fewer people ordering their food in store.

Better availability

Convenient collection

Collection slots are available from 7am to 10pm on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This year we’re having no more than 20 collection slots each hour to help reduce queuing in store.

decorate your own gingerbread christmas house

Food to order dates 17th October Food to Order catalogue arrive in stores 2nd December Food to Order opens 14th December Deadline for ordering food for Christmas Eve collection 21st December Deadline for ordering food for New Year’s Eve collection 24th December Christmas Food to Order collection date 31st December New Year’s Food to Order collection date

chr i stm a s st a rts h e r e

Boxing clever We’ve learned a lot from last year.

This year we’re changing our deliveries to make sure that our stores are stocked and ready for customers when we re-open on Boxing Day. Look out for more information in the coming weeks

Black Friday Christmas really kicks off from Black Friday, in November.

Keep an eye out in store for some amazing deals – watch this space

More than The best vegetable tempura nests with sweet chilli dip

Celebrate in style New Year is a time for parties.

We’ll have more about our post-Christmas plans for ringing in 2017, in December’s Fresh News

Celebrating the Scottish way Hogmanay is a huge opportunity to get behind our Scottish stores. This year, we’re going all out to help our customers celebrate Hogmanay in style.

We’re planning special deals on local products as well as leading offers on beers, wines and spirits. Read more about Hogmanay in December’s Fresh News

The best gin and tonic and raspberry and prosecco jelly shots

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

our customers

We make it for

customers When our customers visit our stores this Christmas things will be different.

The improvements to things like Food to Order and availability will make a big difference to our customers and colleagues.

Shaun Schofield, Store Manager, Bognor Regis

Having seasonal products all in one place will make it much easier for our customers to shop and our colleagues to replenish stock.

Alison Cave, Store Manager, Darlington

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ur store colleagues will already be wearing their new uniforms.

And, we’re using dedicated cleaning companies to keep our stores looking good, which will give our store colleagues more time to serve our customers. We’ve made improvements to our deliveries, ordering and stock management too.

It’ll be easier for our customers to shop, as all our seasonal products will be in one place. Because this makes it easier for our colleagues to keep shelves stocked, there’ll be better availability. We know it’s something that’s important to our customers, especially at Christmas, so we’ll be making more deliveries to stores every day and starting those deliveries earlier in December.

Working together There are a few things that we all need to think about to make sure Christmas is a success for everyone:

1

2

3

4

Stick to the store plan for stocking products and scan gaps carefully and accurately. That way we’ll have the right amount of stock to sell in stores.

Take pride in our stores, and display the right products in the right place at the right time.

Join in the fun.

There’ll be lots going on for colleagues, including Christmas jumper days for Sue Ryder and more.

Talk to our customers about what’s new and let them know how great our range is.

Christmas. Morrisons Makes it.

Your Say Forum

Share your ideas and

have

Since the Your Say forums launched at the start of July, we’ve all been listening hard and making great ideas happen.

rom organising Fresh Look re-launch parties to F stocking local ice cream, you’re helping to make Morrisons a great place to work and shop. Here are just a few examples of the things you’ve been doing: The team at Bishop Auckland felt that adding Report Manager to the People Manager screen would help them work more efficiently. And they were delighted when teams across Retail and Finance worked together to make it happen!

Colleagues at York said that students in the city would be more likely to shop with us all year round if we encouraged them to come to us during Freshers’ Week.

We put flyers and coupons in their welcome packs, and colleagues attended the Freshers’ Fair to promote the store.

Following a suggestion by the team at King’s Lynn, our salad bowls now have a bar code on them to help customers self-scan quicker. It’s more secure too, as customers always scan the correct bowl size.

We’re seeing great ideas all the time, so we’d like to thank everyone who’s helping to make the forums a success.”

Paige Cahill, People Specialist – Engagement

At Wakefield Logistics, the Fresh team have begun using a different bag to recycle waste. These blue plastic bags can carry three times more material, which saves lots more time.

The team at Giffnock created signs at service hotspots, like the café and deli counter, to encourage more customers to complete the Satisfaction Survey (rather than just at the checkout). They went from getting just 30 responses to 115 in just over a week!

Colleagues at Stranraer wanted tills to generate a small receipt so more customers could give online feedback. The Marketing team introduced Catalina coupons at the checkouts, which invite customers to take part in the survey.

The Your Say team at Stockton Distribution Centre are displaying holiday availability so colleagues can see what days are free to take.

If you’d like to introduce these ideas in your store, site or team, email yoursay@morrisonsplc.co.uk.

“Your Say forums are about having the freedom to make changes that matter to your team, department or store,” says Paige Cahill, from the Engagement team.

“You’re free to run them, lead them, and decide what to focus on. Look out for the first quarterly forums, happening towards the end of October.”

got an

idea?

Don’t hold back!

Tell a member of the Your Say forum. october2016 17

The best

We’ve improved quality and expanded our premium range as we move to The Best.

Launched 10th October tell your customers!

rom our award-winning The Best Old Fashioned Cure Back Bacon, to The Best Shimmering Macarons, we’ve taken hundreds of our products up a notch in quality, and added hundreds more to the range – just in time for Christmas.

“We listened to our customers, and the message was clear: The Best reflects the excellence and value of our premium range,” says Guy Willows, Head of Brand and Design.

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“We’ve taken the opportunity to improve our recipes, and add more products to the range to make it more appealing in the run up to Christmas.

“The result is a bigger and better range across our stores.

Leading up to Christmas, many of our customers are looking to splash out on some premium products, so this will put us in a great position in the marketplace at a key trading time.”

The best

Being the best

Larisa Barker, Marketing Manager – Events, adds: “We’re so proud of this new range, we want to tell our customers all about it.

So we’ve launched The Best event, which went live in store on 10th October. We’ve got some great mouthwatering products, such as the Apple Frangipane Tart and Slow Cooked British Beef Brisket.

Look out for them on TV! “There’ll be large displays across our stores and 200 more points with every The Best purchase.

We really want everyone to try the products so every colleague will be given money off coupons for any The Best product – don’t forget to use them!”

“We’ll be installing displays across our stores, and organising tasting sessions for colleagues and customers in store.”

The taste of quality

To improve quality, our premium range products were put through blind taste tests that first asked: ‘would I buy this again?’ and then ‘how does it compare against similar products offered by other supermarkets?’.

“From listening to customers in focus groups we found that, though they liked our lasagne, they thought it was a little dry. That led us to look again at our lasagne recipe and make small changes to make it The Best Lasagne al Forno,” says Buyer Simon Whittle.

“We use slowcooked British beef as well as British beef mince cooked in Burgundy red wine with tomatoes, onions, garlic and a pinch of fennel. The cheese sauce is made with mascarpone and topped with Grana Padano cheese before it’s oven-baked for an Italian restaurant-style finish.

“The Best Beef Bourgignon has also been redeveloped with Featherblade steak for a melt in the mouth texture with a rich, meaty sauce made with red wine, diced pancetta, roasted shallots, chunky carrots and roasted mushroom, giving the dish an attractive finish.”

october2016 19

t i h e v ’ we the Your fantastic fundraising has helped us to the £6 million mark, and there’s more to come.

! m £6

hether you work in store or at W one of our sites, you all put a huge amount of time and effort into fundraising for Sue Ryder, and you really are making a difference.

The £6 million we’ve already raised is helping Sue Ryder provide incredible hospice care for people in the community and their own homes. With our support, Sue Ryder has added more than 100 new healthcare professionals to its team, and introduced the Morrisons-funded Online Community and Support, which has supported over 50,000 people since it launched in June 2015.

Making a difference In June’s Fresh News, we told you about our colleague, Sarah Marston, whose mother-inlaw was looked after by Sue Ryder. She says: “Thanks to Sue Ryder, we had 11 more months of joy with my mother-in-law. She passed away peacefully at home with family and friends around her. Thank you to every Morrisons colleague for raising money for this wonderful charity, Sue Ryder really made a difference to our family.”

And, with our customers’ help, we want to raise even more.

–5,500,000 –

– 5,000,000 – – 4,500,000 –

Erskine’s James Barber raised £200 at a local gala day.

warrington

Your fundraising stories *RAISING MONEY FOR*

– 4,000,000 –

Huddersfield A Fruit v Veg football match at Gadbrook Manufacturing raised a tasty £534.

– 3,500,000 – – 3,000,000 –

Dereham, Fakenham, Catton and Norwich stores raised more than £170 with a torch cycle relay.

– 2,500,000 – – 2,000,000 – – 1,500,000 – – 1,000,000 –

CONTACT US:

Scafell Pike

at Sunrise Raise a Smile Congratulations to everyone who conquered Scafell Pike at Sunrise last month, raising over £4,000.

Cup Returns Sign up for the Raise a Smile Cup that takes place on 27th November.

Register your team today sueryder.org/raiseasmile

Sue Ryder’s ‘Raise a Smile’ team will support your fundraising every step of the way and they would love to hear from you.

morrisons@sueryder.org

Sorry if we didn’t mention you. We do read everything that you send to Fresh News, but space is limited. Thanks for all your emails, letters and photos – please keep them coming!

20

october2016

giving something back

hospice care week As Fresh News went to print, you were busy at stores and sites throughout the UK raising money for Hospice Care Week. Look out for products in stores, like Warburtons Crumpets and a selection of health and beauty products, which include a charity donation for every pack sold.

Our summer challenges brought out the best in you. Thanks to everyone who helped us raise an incredible £277,289 (including Morrisons Foundation match funding).

Here are some of your photos.

Beccles carnival day raised more than £1,000.

Thornton Cleveleys newquay

Colleagues got active at Stockton, with a charity walk that raised £150.

Giving grants to charities and making your fundraising go further with match funding MATCH funding We double the amount you raise, up to £1,000.

Bristol’s Susan Saunders ran the 2016 Bristol 10K raising £1,277* for Prospect Hospice, which cares for terminally ill patients.

The Race for Life saw Emma McQueen, Poynton (above), raise £460* and Elland’s Rosanna Fitzpatrick (right) raise £420* for Cancer Research UK.

A 12-mile sponsored walk by Karen Howell, Devizes raised £1,388* for children’s hospice Naomi House & Jacksplace.

Nantwich’s Sarah Jones cycled 100 miles for Alzheimer’s Society raising £1,124*.

Retail Team colleagues from Hilmore took part in the Adrenaline Rush 10K Muddy Run raising £1,440* for Macmillan Cancer Support.

David Stewart, Livingston, ran the Edinburgh Half Marathon and raised £4,200* for the Brain Tumour Charity.

Catherine Bottom from Barnsley took part in a colour run for Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice raising £348*.

grant funding Saint Francis Hospice bought a special bed for patients with the £11,610 grant that Becontree Heath presented.

Life’s a beach at Tavistock, where colleagues raised £165 with their bank holiday beach day.

0800 949 6000

foundation

Well done to all our Great North Runners, including the Hilmore Harriers who raised over £1,720.

cromer

Maria Horsfield, Leighton Buzzard, raised more than £140 with her sky dive.

morrisons

Time to bloom Until 23rd October you can buy special Sue Ryder bouquets in our Flowershops. For every bouquet sold we’ll donate 25p to Sue Ryder.

SueRyderNational

@Sue_Ryder

Southport gave Queenscourt Hospice a cheque for £2,500 to help patients and their families.

Bideford gave North Devon Hospice a cheque for £37,345 to refurbish its bedded unit.

Crowborough presented the West Kent YMCA with a cheque for £12,252 to provide counselling services for young people.

Getting Better Together, a wellbeing charity, received a cheque for £46,000 from Wishaw to buy a new minibus with wheelchair access.

morrisonsfoundation.co.uk *Totals include match funding.

october2016 21

the social

We want your stories! Please send them through the internal post, or to Fresh News, using the address on p3.

Nicki Hyde from the café at Binley held a surprise 100th birthday party for one of their regular customers.

Rob Judge has been busy championing Blyth store. He talked to members of a local church about his community work and held a pirate-themed day to support the town’s Tall Ships Regatta.

Lake colleagues helped Checkout Operator Eileen Beale celebrate her 80th birthday in style, by decorating her till and presenting her with a cake and bottle of fizz.

Acrobatics at Abbeydale raised almost £600, which was split between the gym club and Sue Ryder.

Southport supported the local ‘Show What You Grow Day’ by providing fruit and veg for the event.

22

october2016

Congratulations to Bri Hanlon and Phil Lewis from Lincoln’s Bakery team on their recent wedding.

When a serious fire broke out near our Barnsley store, colleagues kept the emergency services going with drinks and snacks. Erith store also provided emergency food, drink and supplies to people who were evacuated from a nearby block of flats that caught fire.

Tom ‘The Albatross’ Stoltman from Alness put in a strong performance to come an impressive 4th at the Ultimate Strongman Junior World Championship 2016.

Above: Barnsley

Above: Erith

Crowborough held a birthday party for a 90-year-old customer, who shares her birthday with the Queen.

You can also email company.communications@morrisonsplc.co.uk or post on our Colleague Facebook page.

When Abbeydale store reopened after a refit, colleagues invited 91-year-old customer, Mr Nash, to cut the ribbon.

At Eastwood’s reopening, Cinderella and friends entertained customers.

the social

25 years’ service celebrated by:

Above: Sergio Pagliari, Ecclesfield

Best last days… were celebrated by: Below: Janice Taylor, York

Peterborough donated Savers items to help a local charity provide homeless people with food and essentials.

Above: Abbeydale

York colleagues put on their flat caps and decked the store in white roses to celebrate Yorkshire Day.

Above: Eastwood

Clifton donated a hamper to help the Camamile Trust, which is raising money for prosthetics for Mark Camamile, a customer who lost both legs and one arm due to meningitis.

Fakenham’s Simon Libovitz and Jens Room completed the 100-mile Tour de Broads. Simon also joined Johanna Hicks, Victoria Grammer and Sarah Boyce for a charity skydive. The two events raised £4,000 in total for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Want more?

For more of your pictures and stories, visit our Colleague Facebook page

Above: Jackie Mills, Carlisle Right: Peter Hill, Poynton

Below: Manjit Kaur, Binley

Above: Simon with Jens

Above: Simon, Johanna, Victoria and Sarah

october2016 23

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Available in majority of stores.

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