Waitrose food & drink

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kev1974

kev1974

They desperately need new/better buyers on their staff. Every time I go in to Waitrose, there is rarely anything new or interesting. Go in M&S and it is a constant source of new ranges being tried or updated.

My Mum has never forgiven then for ripping out the fresh meat and fish counters in her local "town sized" Waitrose, or for closing the Newcastle city centre Waitrose altogether. How could they not be making money hand over fist where that store was, right in the most central shopping centre directly under the car park that everybody uses.

I always laugh at their sponsorship of the Graham Norton programme on Virgin Radio, they make a big deal of giving something away each weekend to *one* lucky winner, and almost always it's just a pie or something, if you're lucky a bottle of wine, total value of the prize is rarely over £10, WTF.
 
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I

IngressUK

kev1974 said:
They desperately need new/better buyers on their staff. Every time I go in to Waitrose, there is rarely anything new or interesting. Go in M&S and it is a constant source of new ranges being tried or updated.

My Mum has never forgiven then for ripping out the fresh meat and fish counters in her local "town sized" Waitrose, or for closing the Newcastle city centre Waitrose altogether. How could they not be making money hand over fist where that store was, right in the most central shopping centre directly under the car park that everybody uses.

I always laugh at their sponsorship of the Graham Norton programme on Virgin Radio, they make a big deal of giving something away each weekend to *one* lucky winner, and almost always it's just a pie or something, if you're lucky a bottle of wine, total value of the prize is rarely over £10, WTF.
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Again, slightly off topic (I apologise!).

What the bosses of JL and Waitrose seem to forget is that they manage the business of behalf of the partners (staff).

JL do not have shares on the stock market, nor do they have Shareholders to answer to. The people who own the business, are supposed to be those who work for it, via a Trust setup.

If JL and Waitrose have any future, the 'Partners' need to be more vocal to Senior Management.
 
Notworthy

Notworthy

IngressUK said:
Again, slightly off topic (I apologise!).

What the bosses of JL and Waitrose seem to forget is that they manage the business of behalf of the partners (staff).

JL do not have shares on the stock market, nor do they have Shareholders to answer to. The people who own the business, are supposed to be those who work for it, via a Trust setup.

If JL and Waitrose have any future, the 'Partners' need to be more vocal to Senior Management.
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There was a vote a few months ago and the Partners gave the current team their backing.
John Lewis staff back Sharon White to take retailer forward, but revolt on past year | Evening Standard

ETA The Partners Council. I thought it was a vote across all employees.
 
M

mamalasagneagain

kev1974 said:
They desperately need new/better buyers on their staff. Every time I go in to Waitrose, there is rarely anything new or interesting. Go in M&S and it is a constant source of new ranges being tried or updated.

My Mum has never forgiven then for ripping out the fresh meat and fish counters in her local "town sized" Waitrose, or for closing the Newcastle city centre Waitrose altogether. How could they not be making money hand over fist where that store was, right in the most central shopping centre directly under the car park that everybody uses.

I always laugh at their sponsorship of the Graham Norton programme on Virgin Radio, they make a big deal of giving something away each weekend to *one* lucky winner, and almost always it's just a pie or something, if you're lucky a bottle of wine, total value of the prize is rarely over £10, WTF.
Click to expand...
I was having a chat with one of the delivery drivers who had been moved from Eldon Square over to the Ponteland branch. He said it was because they’d done a review of the equipment in that branch and it would have cost millions to upgrade (fridges/freezers/store room stuff). This coincided with Intu going bust and apparently it became almost impossible to renegotiate the lease which had come up for renewal at the same time. Cost analysis meant it wasn’t worth the upgrade and so it had to be shut. It was a massive shame but I don’t think Waitrose/JL can be blamed completely for it.
 
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kev1974

kev1974

mamalasagneagain said:
I was having a chat with one of the delivery drivers who had been moved from Eldon Square over to the Ponteland branch. He said it was because they’d done a review of the equipment in that branch and it would have cost millions to upgrade (fridges/freezers/store room stuff). This coincided with Intu going bust and apparently it became almost impossible to renegotiate the lease which had come up for renewal at the same time. Cost analysis meant it wasn’t worth the upgrade and so it had to be shut. It was a massive shame but I don’t think Waitrose/JL can be blamed completely for it.
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Yes that line about the cost of upgrades is what they fed all the staff at that store as a reason. I don't doubt that a refurb bill in the millions might have been coming up, but that sort of capital expense is extremely easy to plan well ahead and budget for. The store I used to work at, in another city, was supposed to get new shelving in store a few months ago that would allow them to do the "above the shelves" storage that Tesco and Asda etc do, it would mean they could do something else with the vast stockroom area "out back" and also the replenishment staff wouldn't spend time pushing cages to/from the stockroom, they can just work along the aisle all day. But they can't afford that new shelving either. That store still has exterior signage in the really old logo, I think even the "new" branding dates from 2018.

Whole chain is out of money unfortunately. So are Asda and Morrisons now but that's due to the incredible amounts of debt that's been piled on them in their recent changes of hands. M&S and Tesco seem to be the only ones spending on their stores at the moment.
 
Adelie penguin

Adelie penguin

JL has definitely gone downhill, particularly in terms of customer service which was what they were always meant to be good at. We were looking to buy some headphones for my daughter and they had a pair in a box that we wanted to try on her to check they weren't too big. The thing the box was on was locked so we had to ask for help (otherwise we would have just got on with it) and we were told we could only try on the display headphones they had - which did not include the pair we wanted. They said they absolutely couldn't take the pair out of the box so our only option would be to buy them, open the box there and then and then return them if they didn't fit - ridiculous. So frankly out of spite we bought them from Amazon instead. There was just no helpfulness at all and this was after waiting for at least five minutes for someone to even be available to help us.

Also agree with others re Waitrose food, nothing new and I think it's overpriced for what it is. The only time I go there now is if I need a slightly more specialised ingredient that I'm not my local Sainsbury's will have.
 
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Notworthy

Notworthy

My local Waitrose store is awash with yellow stickers currently (possibly due to roadworks putting people off visiting) I got some of the croissant cinnamon cups on a yellow and they were very nice.
 
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VeeJayBee

VeeJayBee

Glad to see today that vouchers are now automatically applied when using the Scan Pay Go app instore. It used to be so annoying remembering which item you bought had a voucher, then having to open and scan each one in the app when you got to the checkout.
 
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Notworthy

Notworthy

I'm bumping this thread because I've just been into Waitrose and I'm happy to say they are back in the game. Spoke to the Woman discounting the bakery items (which are back to being fab after the last 2 years of uninspiring rubbish) and she says the former Top man is back in charge. It's very obvious that something has changed in the last few months.
Anyway I have a pistachio danish to try, I'll report back.
 
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chickhicks86

chickhicks86

Hurray this is good to hear. I managed to book a Christmas delivery slot (ish) for the 21st so I can order some goodies. :D
 
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Notworthy

Notworthy

I didn't love the pistachio danish (it was reduced so not at it's best) but I'm still glad that they are back to innovating again.
IMO their competition is M&S not Sainsburys, Tesco, Aldi etc and that requires innovation and premium, own brand product lines, something that M&S do so well. M&S also do some fabulous own brand cheaper stuff, their Tomato soup, beans, Ketchup etc compete with the economy brands on price and exceed them in quality, this is where Waitrose should be positioning themselves and it appears as though the penny has dropped back in after a really poor 2-3 years.
 
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Tatooine_legend1

Tatooine_legend1

I really like these crisps. I can only ever find them in Waitrose. Not particulary cheap, but they use extra virgin olive oil so I guess it's expected. Also, they have only increased by 25p since I first tried them around covid period.

www.waitrose.com

Waitrose & Partners

Buy quality groceries and wine from Waitrose Partners
www.waitrose.com
 
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Notworthy

Notworthy

Just found out that the waitrose card gives you free treats when you spend £50, £100 and £150 each month. I'd stopped scanning mine for anything other than a free coffee but they've also made the vouchers easier to use so I'll probably scan more often now.
 
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Notworthy

Notworthy

Tried the mince pies with caramelised almonds, they were OK but lacking in mincemeat. If they were actual bakewell tarts with the frangipane they'd be epic
 
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