Aldi targets 35,000 new staff in ambitious £600m expansion plan

• Aldi aims to hire 35,000 new staff by 2022
• Plans to more than double its workforce and build new stores will cost £600m
• Bosses say they are “laying foundations” for future growth

The discounter wants to create 35,000 new jobs by 2022 as it “lays the foundations for another 25 years of growth.” Aldi currently employs 27,000 people in the UK.

The German grocer, which overtook Waitrose earlier this year to become Britain’s sixth largest supermarket, will expand its head office operations and open distribution centres across the country within the next seven years. It also wants to open 130 new stores within the next two years as it bids to almost double its 560-store portfolio to 1,000 shops by 2022.

It comes after Co-op Food boss Steve Murrells admitted to Retail Week that it was only a matter of time until Aldi leapfrogged the mutual to become the UK’s fifth largest grocer in terms of market share.

Team GB partnership

Aldi unveiled the expansion plans with one year to go until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, having become Team GB’s first ever official supermarket partner in March this year.

The discounter is supporting British athletes in the build-up to the games and will offer each Team GB member £25 of vouchers to spend at Aldi every month ahead of the showpiece event in Brazil.

Aldi is also supporting the British Olympic Association and its Get Set schools education programme by launching a new initiative, Get Set to Eat Fresh, which will champion healthy eating at 25,000 schools across the country.

To mark the partnership, six Team GB athletes, including the world’s first female boxing champion Nicola Adams, have signed up to become the faces of Aldi’s campaign.    

Aldi joint managing director of corporate buying Jonathan Neale said: “As one of the most dynamic and fast-growing retailers in the UK, this is a very exciting time as we announce our expansion plans and partnership with Team GB.”

Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, added: “As we reach one year to go until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the support of Aldi is vital in ensuring that our athletes heading to Rio are as best prepared for the Games as they can be and feel a great wave of support knowing that the nation is with them, inspiring them to achieve great performances at Rio 2016.”