D av i d We t z , M a n a g i n g D i r e c t o r o f Cooplands, has been working in Doncaster for the last 8months helping Angus Steel, the new o w n e r, g e t t h e b u s i n e ss b a c k on track.
So tell us a little bit about
w h a t yo u ’ ve b e e n u p t o s i n c e Cooplands came under new ow n e rs h i p i n J u n e? We l l , t h i n g s h a v e b e e n e x t r e m e l y b u s y s i n ce J u n e 2 0 1 5 . C o o p l a n d s is a household name in South Yo r k s h i r e a n d h a s a n i n c r e d i b l y strong emotive connection w i t h t h e p e o p l e h e r e . S a d l y, the business has been terribly n e g l e c t e d o v e r t h e y e a r s . We picked up the mantle in June and we rolled our sleeves up and got to work. It has been a difficult time for our staff who saw some redundancies earlier on in the y e a r. T h e p r o c e s s o f c h a n g e , which we began to put in place s t r a i g h t a wa y, h a s s o m e t i m e s been hard for us to communicate to them.
W h a t h a s b e e n yo u r m a i n fo c u s s i n c e J u n e? S t e a d y i n g t h e s h i p, k e e p i n g o u r l oy a l s t a f f o n b o a r d a n d w o r k i n g w i t h a v e r y s i m p l e n e w b u s i n e ss s t r a t e g y. We a r e w o r k i n g o n
Photography: Warren Draper ©2015
communicating better about how we are redeveloping the business, and what our shor t term and long-term goals i n v o l v e . I n a s t r u g g l i n g b u s i n e ss there is usually a mix of firefighting, interspersed with periods of calm. The latter allows us to focus on things that help re-energise and redirect the business to do the right things. S o w h a t i s yo u r n e w s t r a t e g y ? In simple terms - to work towards delivering exactly what Cooplands was once famous for: q u a l i t y a n d v a l u e . We b e l i e v e that the Cooplands brand b e l o n g s i n S o u t h Yo r k s h i r e a n d we want to nur ture those roots. I would love to speed up the process of re-building Cooplands but it has to be a ‘one step at a t i m e ’ a p p r o a c h . I w a s o n ce told that you can only eat an elephant one chunk at a time!
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