Awards recognise grocery heroes

The ECR Heroes Awards recognised and celebrated those individuals and organisations in the Irish grocery sector who have stepped up to the plate during the difficult months of the Covid-19 pandemic

The ECR Heroes Awards recognised and celebrated those individuals and organisations in the Irish grocery sector who have stepped up to the plate and delivered above and beyond the call of duty during the difficult months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

THE ECR Heroes Awards 2021 celebrated people and organisations in the Irish grocery sector who have gone above and beyond during these most turbulent times. All the people and organisations nominated demonstrated tremendous commitment to their colleagues and community and helped us all get through these extremely difficult months.

“We are here to celebrate the amazing efforts undertaken by those in the grocery sector over the last 12 months,” explained Damien English TD, Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, in his keynote address. “It has been an extremely difficult 12 months, but the grocery sector has adapted and met many challenges.”

The Minister acknowledged that many grocery retailers have developed or greatly increased their delivery options, as well as expanding their online presence. “Although very challenging, the last 12 months has seen a massive acceleration of development of the digital economy in grocery retail and the Government will look to support that development further in the future,” Minister English insisted.

“The Government also very much wants to see a recovery in the bricks-and-mortar elements of the sector as well,” the Minister noted, highlighting how grocery retail is the largest private employer in the country and its success goes hand in hand with the success of the nation.

He stressed the Government’s plans for Ireland as a nation to be more resource efficient in how we develop as we transition to a low carbon economy. “We want to support the grocery sector to come back stronger and more efficient than you were before this pandemic and help you to build a better tomorrow,” the Minister said.

He concluded by thanking everyone working in the grocery sector for all their hard work over the past 12 months: “You have been a key partner for the Government in guiding our nation through this crisis, and you have provided your communities, especially the most vulnerable, with the support they have needed in these extremely challenging times. All the people and organisations nominated really are winners and we thank you all for your efforts.”

Heroes for Shoppers

Musgrave’s Human Resources department was nominated in the Heroes for Shoppers category for how it adapted to the urgent need for new personnel that the group experienced following the huge spike in demand at the start of the pandemic.

Also nominated in this category was the customer service team in Tesco’s head office for its work on dedicated shopping hours. The plan needed to be developed quickly, be easy to follow and practical to implement quickly across all Tesco stores in Ireland. Tesco’s supply chain team were also nominated for the way they adapted to massive changes over the course of the last 12 months, including panic buying spikes, as well as longer term impacts.

However, Kerry Foods’ field operations team were named as the winners of the Heroes for Shoppers Award. The Kerry Foods field operations team has worked tirelessly over the past 12 months with a variety of large and small retailers, supporting shops on the ground, making sure food and vital supplies were available around the country. This meant that the sales team worked long and hard to ensure shop-keepers nationwide could keep meeting the urgent needs of their customers.

Donnybrook Fair’s Naomi Turner and Signe Ryan, Overall Winners, are pictured with Declan Carolan, General Manager, ECR Ireland.

Kerry Foods’ field operations team were named as the winners of the Heroes for Shoppers Award.

Heroes in Your Workplace

Nominations in the Heroes in Your Workplace category included Robbie Kelly and the team at Tesco Liffey Valley, who were nominated for their hard work and ability to adapt to the huge changes in work practices experienced over the last 12 months. Their commitment to each other allowed them to help a huge number of customers looking to the Liffey Valley Store to fulfil their needs.

Diageo’s National Field Sales Manager Brian McKeever was also nominated for his sterling efforts in helping to redeploy over 100 staff members during the past year as the organisation moved to support extremely busy off-trade during a time when on-trade and tourism-related activities shrank to almost zero.

Sean Leahy and David Hoey of Hilton Foods were also singled out for their work in keeping colleagues safe and capable of executing their expanded activities, as well as fulfilling a vital role in the supply chain.

Naomi Ryan and Signe Turner from the HR department of Donnybrook Fair were worthy winners in the Heroes in Your Workplace category. The duo supported their colleagues in Morehampton Road and across the organisation’s outlets to work safely through an incredibly challenging 12 month period. Naomi and Signe were an ever present source of support and inspiration, working closely with all their colleagues and ensuring they were safe, secure and capable of working through this pandemic to ensure that Donnybrook Fair could continue to play its part in supporting its customers and community.

Heroes for the Community

The Heroes for the Community category saw Musgrave Retail Partners’ Ireland’s Gordon Adair and Liam McCabe nominated for the Christmas Toy Appeal, which saw families in need provided with surprises for their kids over the holiday period. Other nominations included Clare Riddle and Gary May from Tesco’s

supply chain team, whose hard work and commitment helped Tesco stores to support communities all around the island. The staff of Tesco Balbriggan also made the shortlist for all the work they have done supporting their local community with everything from supplying hundreds of cupcakes to thank frontline workers to thousands of children fed as a result of their food donation programme. The award went to Gary Costello and the team at Centra Kilmessan for the fun and fantasy that their drivethrough Hallowe’en event created for kids in the community in a year where normal trick or treating was not a possibility. The event created a wonderful community feeling in a year where moments of fun were few and far between.

Gary Costello from Centra Kilmessan: Gary and his team won the Heroes for the Community Award for the fun and fantasy that their drive-through Hallowe’en event created in a year where normal trick or treating was not a possibility.

Heroes for Trading Partners

The Heroes for Trading Partners Award was decided by the ECR Ireland Steering Group and it was presented to Oliver Carty Meats. The company has worked very hard under difficult circumstances over the past 12 months. Despite this, it managed to adapt and deliver a 99%-plus service level with its main trading partner. The organisation worked extremely hard to supply the needs of its customers and help feed the people of Ireland during this pandemic.

Overall Winner

The overall winners were announced as Naomi Turner and Signe Ryan from Donnybrook Fair, whose compassion and commitment to their colleagues is a touchstone for how we have managed to survive these difficult times.

A humbling experience

“Retailers, manufacturers, distributors and service providers in the Irish grocery sector have performed heroics during the pandemic,” summed up Declan Carolan, General Manager, ECR Ireland. “The grocery sector has provided a safe place to shop and work; product availability has been amazing and those who work on the front line in the sector have performed with distinction and kindness in challenging circumstances. Ireland is deeply appreciative and these awards are a recognition of the hard work and effort that has been expended by the sector during the pandemic.

“Watching all the videos throughout the ECR Heroes Awards was a humbling experience as it became apparent how personal the videos were, how selfless so many people have been, and how well the Irish grocery sector worked together to provide a shopping service for Irish shoppers.” Declan thanked the ECR Ireland Co-Chairs (Anne Scullion, Diageo, and John Brennan, Tesco), the ECR Steering Group and the ECR judging panel for proposing and supporting this initiative: “Ultimately, I would like to acknowledge the heroics from all retailers, manufacturers and service providers for getting us through the pandemic. As a participant in the Irish and international grocery sector, I was very proud.”