Waitrose appoints former Sainsbury’s executive as new food boss

The retailer confirmed former Sainsbury’s grocery buying director James Bailey as the new executive director of Waitrose this morning, following a story that broke yesterday from Sky News.

Bailey’s replaces former Waitrose managing director Rob Collins who stood down from the role as part of the John Lewis Partnership’s restructuring last year.

The new Waitrose boss worked for Sainsbury’s for 18 years, most recently as its grocery buying director. Bailey left the business last year and has worked since as an adviser and non-executive director for several companies.

Chair of the partnership Dame Sharon White said of Bailey’s appointment: ”I am thrilled that James is joining us. He has had an exceptional 18 years at Sainsbury’s, across finance, strategy, convenience and commercial and then latterly as buying director for grocery with accountability for more than half the company’s turnover and three times the size of Waitrose. His varied background outside of retail also makes him a great cultural fit for the partnership and I am looking forward to working with him.

“These new executive director roles at Waitrose and John Lewis will allow us to get the best of both worlds out of our new management structure. We’ll have all the benefits of bringing together activities that are best organised pan-partnership and reducing duplication while still recognising that there are important differences in the way you run a department store and a supermarket.”

John Lewis said that the search for a new executive director to replace former boss Paula Nickolds was also underway.

Last week, Waitrose recorded an 8% rise in sales since the end of January. However, it has needed to take steps to shore up its balance sheet.

JLP said it would need to slash its marketing budget by £100m and is negotiating with landlords about its rent payments and discussing new banking arrangements with lenders.

White is also reportedly looking to bring in outside investment to accelerate a move into non-retail services.