Booths, the privately-owned upmarket grocer, has initiated a business overhaul - Project Refresh - to improve its range, customer service and to differentiate itself more powerfully.
According to Booths chairman Edwin Booth, as part of the initiative, staff will receive training with the aim of making them 'more salesmen than shelf stackers'.
The retailer is switching to a sales-based ordering system, enabling it to become 'more of a retailer and less of a stockholder'. Buying, marketing, store operations, finance, human resources and IT are all under review.
Booth said: 'We want to move our staff towards product knowledge, knowledge of the customer and an awareness of service issues, rather than just being people who move tins and boxes.'
Project Refresh is due for completion in October, but software to support the new ordering system is now being fitted across Booths' 27 stores.
Highly regarded, Booths generated sales of£167 million last year. Like-for-like sales were up 10.1 per cent over Christmas.
Booth denied that Project Refresh was designed to fatten the business up for sale. He envisaged continued steady expansion. 'I don't believe it is possible to sustain a high-quality service to the customer alongside grand expansion plans,' Booth said.
Store refurbishments may be in the pipeline, and a revamp is already under way at its Windermere shop.
The retailer will open a relocated store at Kendal in November, incorporating a tea shop for the first time.
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