Freshbites april may 2014 webv1 by Michael Michaels

April - May 2014

in this issue...

Graduates can have a career right here! We’re excited to announce the launch of HomeGrown, a two year graduate programme for Countdown team members starting next year, but we are recruiting now! “This means if you are studying in your final year or if you have recently completed an undergraduate degree you are eligible to apply right now,” says Deborah Beegling, General Manager for HR. “The two year programme starts in February next year, and applications are open now until Friday 18 April. If this is you or someone you know, we want to hear from you now!” says Deborah. “Countdown has a great range of

career opportunities in logistics, merchandise, marketing, finance, HR, property, IT, and more. We know we have excellent people already working in our wider team, and the HomeGrown programme will give graduates the opportunity to rotate through different roles so they can learn about the various parts of our business. “We’re looking for graduates with a passion for retail who are prepared to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in,” says Deborah. “Our business is on the move and we need our best people to drive us forward.” Find out how to apply and see what two past graduates have been up to on page 4.

Page 2 & 3 Whats next with the Commerce Commission Page 4 & 5 Operations Excellence Roadshow Page 6 & 7 Hot, cross and single

Page 8 & 9 Milestones Safety Heroes Page 10 & 11 Food aid for Tonga Giving customers a new way to buy Employee of the month

From me… to you Dear Team, No doubt you will be aware of the allegations made against Countdown by Labour MP Shane Jones. I’ve said this a lot over the past month and I’ll keep saying it – these allegations are untrue and we will fully co-operate with the Commerce Commission investigation. I’m proud of the way we do business and particularly of the hard work put in every day by all of you, our 18,000 team, to deliver groceries to Kiwis at the best possible prices. We’re in the business of selling food, and just as we depend on our 1200 suppliers to provide us these items, so too do they rely on us to provide income. We have a great deal of respect for these relationships and believe we are fair and professional in our negotiations to deliver on our price promise to customers. There has also been some confusion in the media over the past few weeks about our parent company, Woolworths, so I’ve taken an opportunity to highlight the facts inside, as well as the process from here with the Commerce Commission, on page 3. I started on the shop floor here more than 25 years ago, and it has never been more evident to me how resilient we are as a team in tough times. I am immensely proud of the business we run, of creating competition, investing in the economy, and most of all, for all your support. To that end, I’m personally very excited to announce the launch of HomeGrown, our 2015 graduate programme. We have a lot of talented team members and this programme is aimed at making the most of all the great skills we have, and helping to grow and develop all career types at Countdown. Thanks again for your continued support.

University students such as Natasha Collins, Dylan Larsen and Alex Wiggin from Countdown Browns Bay are all eligible to apply for our new graduate programme!

Dave Chambers Managing Director

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A winning recipe! Our Hot Cross Bun Bakery of the Year Competition was held in March, and helped Bakery teams to refine their skills ahead of the busy Easter season, as well as pinpoint the team with the perfect bun! “We’ve had a good lift in sales of hot cross buns in the lead up to Easter, due to the great quality

Compliments for our team Bridge Street: We were visiting New Zealand for our

of our hot cross buns, and execution from our stores being so good,” says Megan Area 1 – Helensville (2nd overall) Fraser, Category Manager Area 2 – Lincoln Road (3rd overall) for Bakery. Area 3 – Meadowbank Every store entered, with Area 4 – Aviemore Drive (1st overall) each Area Manager judging Area 5 – Cambridge their area with the help from Area 6 – Bethlehem Bakery Group Managers and Area 7 – Taupo Goodman Fielder reps. Area 8 – Rangitikei Street The twelve finalists were Area 9 – Petone judged on overall taste, Area 10 – Springlands volume and visual appeal of Area 11 – The Palms the buns, the crossing and Area 12 – Dunedin Central internal appearance, crumb texture, and fruit quantity. Congratulations to the winning store, Countdown Aviemore Drive, for taking out the top award across all of our stores for this year!

Winning bun bakers

Our best hot cross bun bakers, the team from Aviemore Drive. From left are Lucia Poentarko, Thomas Sherin, Aaron Marston, Rohan Singh and Cicillia Luxford.

son’s wedding and popped into your store, and were very impressed with the customer service from two young people, so we took a photo to send to them! We’re back in Australia now, but will return next time as the staff were so genuine and friendly.

Crofton Downs: I am writing to say how impressed I was

with the customer service. The guy who brought out my groceries (who I think is called Kyle) was so friendly and greeted me by name. He was apologetic that what I had ordered was not available and found a solution for me. He had even written a nice personalised note on my order. – Linda

(Letters slightly shortened – Ed.)

Petone: I’m writing to say thank you, the staff I have encountered have been super. On one occasion, my baby had a meltdown at the checkout. Before I even had a chance to get stressed, a checkout was opened for me and a second staff member assisted me to load my shopping onto the conveyor belt – leaving me free to comfort my wee boy. Thank you so much. – Amy

Our customers say Huntly: I pulled into the Huntly

Countdown for something to eat. I got a good deal and even got to try any salad I wanted from the deli before buying. Man, they were nice! – Drum

Lincoln Road: Tonight I went

through the self-serve checkout and punched in $20 cash out, took my groceries and left. 15 minutes later, I realised I had not taken my cash from the machine. I went back to the store and a staff member told me they had discovered my $20 in the slot. Thank you for your honesty and friendly service. – Laura

Waikanae: I just wanted to pass on

my biggest thanks to your delivery driver in Waikanae who pulled over and came to hand in my husband’s keys that he left

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hanging in the door outside our house. Top guy, thanks! – Rachel

Takanini: Had a wonderful experience at Countdown this week. The staff I dealt with were all fantastic and professional and I could not be happier with the response and resolution. Thank you so much, Rob, Jo and the team at Takanini. You’re all doing a fabulous job! – Ros

Online: Awesome service from your

online shopping. A phone call to sort out a replacement which we really weren’t worried about, but Michaela the shopper wanted to get it right for us. And then delivery early! I love my shopping being delivered. Thank you so much for making my life easier. – Jenny

Online: Love shopping online. You

make it so easy to find everything I need and you remember what my shopping list usually looks like. Your customer service is friendly and so helpful if I ever get stuck. – Ishtar

Community: A huge thank you for the $50 gift card I got in the mail today to auction off for my Shave for a Cure

fundraiser. Awesome support! – Angela

Promotion: Thank you, Countdown, with your great half price on muesli bars and Edmonds cake mix. I stocked up and used my Onecard voucher.

– Sharon

What’s next with the Commerce Commission Dave Chambers, Managing Director, shares an update about next steps. In February it was announced the Commerce Commission will investigate allegations made by Labour MP Shane Jones about our business. As we’ve mentioned in our team updates and also in the media, we completely reject these allegations. We will fully cooperate with the Commerce Commission investigation. However, we anticipate this process will take many months and we may not have a final outcome for some time. We’ll aim to keep you updated through this process. While we’re yet to receive any specific information from the Commerce Commission, I wanted to let you know that we have received a lot of offers of support to Countdown from our suppliers, many of whom we share a

long history with. There’s no doubt that this attention on our business is unprecedented. I know many of you have received feedback over the last few weeks, so I want to take the opportunity to thank you again for your support.

Woolworths supermarkets Despite what has been written in the media, there has been no change in Woolworths supermarkets’ policy in Australia towards sourcing goods from New Zealand. In fact, in the last 12 months Woolworths spent $300m on grocery products and fruit and veges from New Zealand suppliers, which is an increase of 18% on the previous year.

$300 MILLION

AND GROWING Last year, Woolworths Australia put $300 million worth of New Zealand products onto its supermarket shelves across Australia. That’s an increase of 18% over the previous year. And with Australia’s growing taste for everything from Hass Avocados to Fruit Mince Pies, it’s a relationship that’s growing stronger every day.

Woolworths Supermarkets Australia

New

Zealand fruit and vegeta coffee, vitamin bles, s an d m bake ore r

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Press FP.indd 1

Our focus from here Our job is to stay focused on what we know we do well – looking after our customers, and showing them they’ve made the right choice to shop with us. As a team, we need to focus on running efficient, great stores in a friendly manner, and continuing to execute lower prices of everyday household items.

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We’ve got an exciting promotional programme ahead of us and recently locked down a further eight products as part of Price Lockdown (see page 6 for more on the latest launch).

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Our store operations team have just completed an Excellence Roadshow over the last few weeks (see page 5 for more info).

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A number of new stores are in the pipeline. This includes our much anticipated reopening of Countdown Ferrymead in Christchurch, which was closed, demolished and rebuilt following the 2011 earthquakes. The reopening will be a very special milestone for us and many of the original team who are returning from other stores. We’ll also be opening new stores in the communities of Amberley (north of Christchurch) and Whitianga in the Coromandel.

3/03/14 11:34 AM

Spontaneous support from our customers Countdown: Just wanted to say that you guys are doing a great job and are standing tall and proud through all of this. I am a dedicated and proud Countdown shopper. The shops are awesome, the staff are friendly and there is so much variety for everything and all at affordable prices. Keep up the good work, guys, and know there are heaps of us out here that support you. – Kim

Countdown I know you guys

have had a hard time lately, so I just wanted to say thanks for being the only

supermarket to help me and others in need. Your continued support is very much appreciated. – Flat Man (who receives support from Countdown to help provide food to people in need in Canterbury)

Countdown: I love Countdown. I

shop online, I get everything I want and the girls are so friendly. I will continue to shop there. – Ann

Browns Bay: I had a customer come in who bought a few boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates to give to the team. She said that she really enjoys shopping at Countdown and at Browns Bay in particular and wanted to thank the team. – sent in by Ahmed Khayyat, Assistant Store Manager

Countdown: I love Countdown and

no one will stop me shopping there. You get your bags packed by friendly staff and they have better selections. Love you, Countdown, and always will. – Anne

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How to apply for the HomeGrown graduate programme Apply now to fast track your career and be one of our next generation leaders!

in your final year of study or have recently completed an undergraduate degree in any field.

You must be a New Zealand resident who has been in the business for at least six months. You must also be

Send your CV, cover letter and latest academic transcript to homegrown@countdown.co.nz,

telling us why you’d be a great choice. Applications are open until Friday 18 April (please note, this is an extended date due to Fresh Bites’ publication dates). We’d love to hear from you!

Graduates excel at Countdown As you will have seen on our front page, we’re excited to officially launch HomeGrown, our new graduate programme for 2015. The launch of HomeGrown follows a number of graduates who have already come on board on a similar basis in different parts of the business, and has helped form the framework of what will be offered next year. We spoke with two recent graduates to tell us about their experiences.

Andrew Ison – Logistics

had no idea of all the work that went on behind the scenes to get product into stores. During the programme, I was rotated around all of the areas within Logistics to get a good overview. The support I received was excellent, not only did I upskill myself in many areas, I also grew as a person. Now I’m employed as a Team Leader at the Auckland Regional DC. My passion is working with people and helping them to develop both professionally and personally. I’m very fortunate that my job leading a team of 25 people in Receiving allows me to do this every day. I aspire to one day be working in a senior management role that would give me responsibility for both operations and leadership of people. Working at Countdown is great, as there’s always so much variety in your work and great people to learn from.

Stefanie Phillips – Marketing

I completed a Bachelor of Business degree double majoring in Human Resource Management and Marketing in 2012. In the same year, I was fortunate enough to be given a job as one of the first graduate trainees in Logistics. I had worked in stores previously, but

Fresh Bites

I completed a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing and Advertising at AUT University. In my third year, we had to complete a paper that required three months work experience. As I had worked at my local Countdown since I was 15, I contacted HR and found out they had a graduate opportunity which would suit what I needed. During my placement at the Marketing department, I learned a lot about working in the real world. My in-store experience really helped me to understand a lot of the processes at Support Office. One

of my projects last year was to help organise Onecard’s tenth birthday, which I really enjoyed. After graduating, I went back to Countdown Glenfield. A short while later, a job opened up as Marketing Assistant - I jumped at the chance and haven’t looked back! Currently my role includes dealing with our advertising agency to produce TV & radio advertising, and arrange in-store point of sale. I also look after the late week specials and stunts we run such as fuel offers and one-day sales. I really enjoy my job! Every week is different, depending what our competitors come out with and what’s happening in the media.

Roadshow of Excellence Our operations team have just completed a three week 'Excellence Roadshow' across the country, looking at great retail execution and how we can ensure consistency across all stores. The operations team stopped in all of our Areas to talk through great examples of display standards, how to launch new lines and upcoming, new-season selling opportunities. National Trading Manager, Gordon Adams, says the end outcome is to raise the bar on what we are already doing very well. "We want all of our Area groups to be as efficient as we can with our resource and time to put our stores on display. We're about to move into the Winter selling season, and it's a great opportunity to build on our standards and make some great sales gains!"

Want your fish filleted fast?

Athlete Sarah Walker with Nathan Lewis.

Glammie! Glammie! Glammie!

Countdown took out the retail section of the Beef and Lamb NZ Golden Lamb awards (known as The Glammies) for the third year in a row! Not only that, we also took out the second and third prize. “Winning three years in a row shows the consistency of the livestock buying team in delivering good quality lamb for our customers,” says Nathan Lewis, Merchandise Manager Meat & Livestock. Entries are first scientifically tested to narrow down the top four in each category, and these are then tasted by a panel of expert judges. Both first and second place were taken by Romdale Lambs from Te Koraha Farm at Oparau near Kawhia, owned and run by John, Matt and Nigel Scott and drafted by our livestock buyer Bruce Gibson. They supply Countdown with around 5000 lambs per year and a large number of cattle.

Photo: C.J. Healey.

You could say Jimmy Falepuvave is handy in the kitchen. Jimmy, shown here on the left, usually practices his skill at our Seafood Division in Penrose, but recently showed the public just how good he is with a knife. Each contestant at the Golden Knife filleting competition held at the Auckland Seafood Festival had to skin and bone 10kg of whole tarakihi. Jimmy got the second best recovery at almost 40%, winning fourth place overall. Sharp skills, well done Jimmy!

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Our team take on the Breakers!

The Breakers got to see some real winners in action when 14 of our team joined in on a training session last month. Going to the Breakers training was a reward for stores and team members who had gone the extra mile with their Price Lockdown displays and point of sale.

“We’ve had fantastic support from our stores for this campaign,” says Gordon Adams, National Trading Manager. “The launch was on a public holiday, so store teams started after closing on the Sunday night and worked through the night to have their stores presented by opening on the Monday morning.” On the day of launch, each Area Our top team who went to the Manager selected their store that Breakers training were: had the best Lockdown execution, and one person from each store was Johnathon Fraser (Whangaparaoa) rewarded with a training session Sarah Dawson (Petone) with the Breakers. Martin Gatens (Rotorua) The team travelled from across Simon Gradon (Tauranga) the country to attend the training Rick Matara (Te Rapa) session on the North Shore, Auckland. They watched the Andrew Morrison (Church Corner) Breakers run through their plays, David Nelson (Redwoodtown) followed by a meet and greet with Shaine Clare Mechen (Tawa) the players. Then former Breaker Bhuvan Sapra (Manukau Mall) Dillon Boucher put our team through their paces with some skills training Santosh Sequeria (Milford) and games. Pranesh Shandi (Botany) Special mention to Simon Gradon Shaun Thomason (The Valley) who was so committed to the final Heather Grinter (support office) drill he burst straight through the Gordon Adams (support office) fire exit door!

Our top team

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Price Drop gets crazy for Cadbury! Sales of Cadbury novelty bars rose by an incredible 2000% in the first two weeks after we dropped the price to just $1 as part of our Price Drop campaign, launched in February. “This is just one of the great examples of how our customers have responded to our low price offers through Price Drop and our Price Lockdown as well,” says Bridget Lamont, General Manager Marketing. Bridget says we are continuing to work hard to deliver lower prices for longer to our customers, and thanks to great execution from our store teams, we’re really seeing results. “Our customers are telling us in a world where the cost of living is going up, it’s great to see Countdown’s prices not only going down, but being locked down for a long time,” says Bridget.

Hot, cross and single... ...Does that sound like your spinster aunt? No, it’s our latest Big Idea! “This Big Idea is a great example of a simple, clever idea that leaves us all wondering why we didn’t think of it before,” says Alice Lamb, National Retail Support Specialist. The Big Idea came from Rachel Fenton, then ASM at Glenfield and now at Sunnynook. She asked why we couldn’t sell loose hot cross buns from the bakery cabinet. No reason at all, it turns out, once they’re set up with their own product code. “This will be a great addition to our singleserve range in bakery for our customers looking for morning tea or a quick bite to eat. With our extended range, we can also give customers a chance to try the new flavours,” says Alice. We’re looking forward to seeing customer response in the lead up to Easter, and being able to give our customers another reason to stop by our in-store bakeries.

Waihi makes it seven perfect scores Countdown Waihi has clocked up seven months in a row of getting 100% scores from mystery shoppers. Store Manager Johan Ter Beek says the store is aiming to be the best in the Bay, and had team incentives in place to achieve this, including a store newsletter to let everyone know who had achieved 100% in their department. A morning tea shout is on the way to the team at Waihi to say thank you for their efforts! A number of our other stores have also achieved consistently outstanding results, including Helensville, Takapuna, Marton, Dunedin South and Upper Hutt. A further 13 stores are maintaining an average of over 95% which is fantastic.

In a store of winners, Jessica Rhind of Countdown Waihi has taken out top marks when mystery shopped m ore than anyone else.

Rachel Fenton from Countdown Sunnynook had the Big Idea to sell loose hot cross buns from the bakery cabinet. Simple and brilliant.

All Ears in June This year’s All Ears team survey is coming up in June, and we’re looking forward to hearing from you all again this year to tell us what you think. Teams around the country have been making positive changes and putting new ideas into practice as a result of feedback received through last year’s All Ears survey. Following last year’s survey, the team at our Christchurch DC used the feedback to improve their monthly newsletter by adding insights from different parts of the team. “The newsletter certainly helps to put in place some of the feedback our team raised in All Ears. It helps us communicate more effectively and improves engagement with our objectives as a team,” says CRDC Manager Denva Wren. Keep an eye out for information on this year’s survey coming out in June.

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Milestones Fay Dickinson from the reception team at support office celebrated 40 years with the business with a surprise morning tea. Managing Director Dave Chambers was there to congratulate her.

Marlene Anyan (centre) celebrated 20 years service at Levin. Between her and her colleagues pictured here, they have racked up over 130 years combined service!

Getting to know you . . .

Damian Johanson has become a real feature at Countdown Porirua. His friendliness and singing while he collects trolleys even got him into the local paper, twice! A story about him got the most likes on the KapiMana News Facebook page (pictured right.) When he’s on holiday, customers keep asking about him, says Store Manager Sally Cvitanovich. We asked Damian about his work at Countdown.

When did you start working at Countdown Porirua?

I’ve been working here for seven years and this is the only job I’ve ever had.

Dargaville recently held a luncheon to congratulate Angela Jeffery on her 25 years with the business. Here she is with Leah Tumu (10 years, left) and Pat Whitey (5 years, right).

Also at Paeroa, Ben McLeod and Kelly Rua both celebrated 20 years service. Like Kelvin Peacock, they’ve both been at the same store all this time. They must be doing something special there to keep people so long! PMCA licensed copy. You may not further copy, reproduce, record, retransmit, sell, publish, distribute, share or store this information without the prior written consent of the Print Media Copyright Agency. Phone +64-4-4984487 or email info@pmca.co.nz for further information.

PMCA licensed copy. You may not further copy, reproduce, record, retransmit, sell, publish, distribute, share or store this information without the prior written consent of the Print Media Copyright Agency. Phone +64-4-4984487 or email info@pmca.co.nz for further information.

What do you like most about your job?

I like working here, because the customers and the rest of the people at the store like me. I like pushing the trolleys especially when the sun is shining, because I am outside and that makes me want to sing. Work is easier and more fun when I sing and our customers like to hear me sing.

My favourite music is rock and roll, and I love any song by Queen!

Do customers ever thank you specially? Lots of my customers know my name is Damian and sometimes they even give me little presents. But I always check if I’m allowed to have the presents first!

You seem to be so happy at work. Do you have any advice for other people about how they could be happier at work?

Anna Lavea from Payroll in Kapi Mana News, Porirua Support Office 14 Jan 2014, by Rhiannon Mcconnell celebrated 20 General News, page 16 - 297.77 cm² years of service. NZ Suburban Wellington - circulation 25,300 (-T-----) Congratulations, ID 231967289 Anna!

PMCA licensed copy. You may not further copy, reproduce, record, retransmit, sell, publish, distribute, share or store this information Kapi Mana News, Porirua without the prior written consent of the 14 Jan 2014, by Rhiannon Mcconnell Print Media Copyright Agency. Phone +64-4-4984487 or email info@pmca.co.nz for further General News, page information. 16 - 297.77 cm²

NZ Suburban Wellington - circulation 25,300 (-T-----)

ID 231967289

What music do you like most?

The advice I have is be happy, smile, say hello to everyone... and sing lots!

Kelvin Peacock has been working in the same store – Paeroa – for three whole decades. Talk about being loyal!

The team at Takapuna celebrated a whole swag of milestones recently. From left is Paul Yeung (10 years), Michelle McAllen-Taylor (5), Stephanie Penn (5), Mele Mills (15), Anihesh Raj (5) and the longest serving of them all, Rob McCartain, with 25 years service.

Sharlene Halligan (left) and Ann Allen (right) of Northwood celebrated 25 years in the business. The two of them started on very the same day in 1989! With them is Store Manager Murray Keates.

Fresh Bites

Don Ross from the Operations team at Support Office gave the business 37 fantastic years before his recent retirement. Thank you for your efforts over the years, Don!

Kapi Mana News, Porirua 14 Jan 2014, by Rhiannon Mcconnell General News, page 16 - 297.77 cm² NZ Suburban Wellington - circulation 25,300 (-T-----)

ID 231967289

Kapi Mana News, Porirua PAGE 14 Jan 2014, by Rhiannon Mcconnell

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General News, page 16 - 297.77 cm² NZ Suburban Wellington - circulation 25,300 (-T-----)

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Never slip up when it comes to slippery floors

Artist: Jared Adams, Countdown Timaru

Slippery surfaces are great for Olympic skaters, but not for shoppers. Wet entrances, liquid spills and fresh produce on the floor can cause our customers and colleagues to slip and fall. Let’s be careful to never walk past a slip hazard without cleaning it up.

Own Brand – What’s New?

Safety Heroes looking out for all of us

Macro Organic Coffee

It’s great to know we have people around us who are so watchful when it comes to safety issues, people like our latest support office Safety Heroes: Rob Jones and Shrishti Sharma. Rob is the safety champion from our Property team and ensures that every new store as well as support office adheres to Health & Safety standards. Shrishti received her award specifically for noticing potentially hazardous spills on the cafeteria floor. It’s the kind of thing many people will just walk past and leave to others to fix, but Shrishti set a great example by taking action.

Macro Organic Coffee is an award-winning coffee blend made with 100% Arabica beans. It’s Fair Trade certified, so customers can have peace of mind that they’re directly supporting our coffee growers and suppliers.

Select Extreme Dishwasher Tablets These dishwasher tablets offer high performance without the high price tag. They cut through grease, target stubborn stains and give dishes a streak-free sparkle. Plus they have dissolvable wrappers!

Support office Safety Hero Shrishti Sharma.

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Food aid rushed over to Tonga After Cyclone Ian hit Tonga, the team at our Auckland Regional DC donated seven pallets of water and rice to the Tongan Methodist Church in Mangere. That’s 2100kg rice and 864 litres of water! Local MP Carol Beaumont (left) and relief organiser Jenny Salesa (right) dropped by to offer their personal thanks. With them is Micah Fala and Graeme Doull from the DC who organised the donation with just a few hours notice, together with Jared Day from support office. Great work, guys!

Vinegar Lane spiced up with art

This striking design is one of many that graces the walls at our new Vinegar Lane development. As work started at the project in Ponsonby, Auckland, our team organised for local artist group Cut Collective to liven up the walls around the site. Among the 20 artists who took part were Paul Walsh and Jonny 4Higher.

Beans CAN help! Cans of Select Baked Beans donated by Countdown were arranged into this impressive structure at the Ellerslie International Flower Show. The Canstruction competition challenged the eleven teams that took part to make structures using food cans to help the Christchurch City Mission. Our cans were used to make the City Mission’s logo. A total of 30,000 cans of food were used for the structures, all of which have been donated to families in need in Canterbury.

Fresh Bites

Golfers club together for Alzheimer’s The latest Countdown supplier golf tournament has pushed our total donation to Alzheimer’s Auckland to $1.2 million over the past 11 years. Held annually, this year’s event at Titirangi Golf Course near Auckland was a complete sell out once again, with 340 people attending, raising more than $153,000. People are already keen to sign up for next year’s event!

Giving customers new ways to buy We’re always trying to make life easier for our customers. In the last month, we’ve launched three innovations to help do just that!

Lotto In-lane

TradeMe Store Countdown has teamed up with TradeMe and opened a store on the popular auction site. This lets us present our products to more than 720,000 people who visit TradeMe every day!

Books, music and movies Customers can now watch the latest blockbusters, update their music collection or add another book to their digital shelf with Countdown Digital (www.countdown.co.nz/itunes).

After a successful trial last year, all stores who have an existing Lotto kiosk will soon be able to sell a limited range of tickets at checkout. Feedback from the trial was very positive, with customers liking the convenience of not having to queue twice for simple ticket purchases, particularly at busy shopping times. This is good news for customers as we used to sell tickets inlane back in 1999 but the technology just wasn’t up to it at the time.

Talking to customers about what they love Our new myCountdown platform gives us an exciting new way to talk to our customers through email. “The content is tailored to each customer and their shopping habits. It uses information we have through Onecard to tell customers when their favourite products are on special. We also include news from their local store and recipes we’re sure they’ll love,” says Shelley Fuller, National Digital Marketing Manager. “For Countdown it means we can talk to customers at a store level, making it perfect for spreading the word about new products that may only be available in some stores.”

Liz and Kate top the bill Liz May of our Replenishment team and National Communications Manager Kate Porter are our recent winners of our support office Employee of the Month Award. Liz was nominated for going the extra mile in her own role, as well as covering for other colleagues when they’re away. Liz has been with the business for over 20 Kate Porter.

Liz May.

years and is a great example to everyone around her at support office. Kate earned her award during the demanding time following the allegations Labour MP Shane Jones made about Countdown in Parliament. She provided regular updates to the team and media, as well as facilitating many interviews and media requests to help set the record straight.

Our new Countdown email offer to customers

11 Fresh Bites 11

Five minutes with Zoe Marshall The exciting new cooking show The Great Food Race has hit New Zealand TV screens with help from Countdown. We’re a sponsor of the show that blends food, entertaining, racing and travel in a brand new competition. Fresh Bites asked host of the show, Zoe Marshall, what gets her stomach rumbling:

Where’s Daryll?!

What’s your favourite food and why?

I have to say I’m very partial to Japanese food – it’s clean and so tasty. If it’s home cooking, I’m all about a nice roast or schnitzel.

Zoe Marshall, host of The Great Food Race.

What’s your favourite go-to quick and easy meal? Grilled salmon and steamed greens, or tacos if I really don’t have time!

What’s your best food memory?

My favourite and fondest food memory is my mum’s Veal Italienne, similar to Veal Marsala. She’s passed away, so I can’t

recreate it, but I’ll always have that memory. She also used to make freshly squeezed orange juice and smoked salmon bagels with cream cheese, capers and Spanish onions. This has always been a favourite.

What is your favourite aisle in the supermarket and why?

I love making really healthy things at home, so I frequent the health food aisle all the time. I also love the dip and cheese aisle… the real way to my heart!

Thanks to everyone who told us where Daryll was hiding last time and answered the question. For those of you wondering, Daryll was hiding on the picture of the CRDC on page 7. Many of you also knew what our shrink reduction logo looks like (see right). Congratulations to Joan Hyland from operations who got both answers right. A $50 gift card is on its way to you. You’ll find Daryll hiding in this issue again. Let us know where and answer our question: What number do you call when you have a theft in store over $500? Remember, you must have both right for your chance to win. Email us at freshbites@countdown.co.nz

STOP aste

Lights, camera… caption!

Caption this

Fresh Bites

We received some really great captions for last issue’s photo of Loss Prevention doing Market Moves with Fastrack trainees. It was tough to choose, but in the end we went for this one sent in by Donna Johnston from Countdown Bayfair: “Now... you lot, for the last time. You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about!” This time, tell us what words you think should go with this photo of Katy Fonseca and Tiffany Heathfield from Finance before taking a tour of the Meat & Livestock plant (left). Email your caption to: freshbites@countdown.co.nz, to be in to win a $50 gift card! Plus, send us your caption contest photos. We know there are some really great photo ops out there!

“Now... you lot, for the last time. You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about!”