Foodstuffs North Island celebrated the outstanding achievements across the co-operative’s PAK’nSAVE, New World, Four Square and Gilmours supermarkets at its annual Co-op Awards, held last week at Auckland’s Viaduct Event Centre. Now in its 8th year, the Foodstuffs North Island Co-op Awards recognise the organisation’s highest performing people and stores, with 22 awards across six categories, including Store of the Year, Customer Promises, Partner of the Year, New in Brand, Here for NZ and the Co-operative Spirit award. This year the awards have been refreshed with pinnacle customer focused awards like Store of the Year and the Co-op Spirit Award retained, and new ones introduced including Customer Promises and Here for NZ, which Foodstuffs North Island CE Chris Quin says more closely aligns to the co-operative’s customer and community driven focus. “Our aspiration is to become one of the most customer driven retailers in the world, so we wanted to make sure our Co-op Awards reflect and celebrate this. Building our customer promises into our awards means we can recognise our stores who go over and above to give their customers great value, experiences, and awesome solutions every time they shop with us,” he says.

Foodstuffs North Island is pleased to announce the opening of the brand-new Four-Square Te Kowhai, in rural Waikato. Featuring the latest designs and innovations, the store is operated by first time owners, Satnam and Randeep Kang. Designed to meet the needs of the Te Kowhai community, there’s a focus on convenience and ease with the new store offering a wide range of essentials, fresh foods, self-checkouts, along with a great range of convenient meal solutions including barista-made Flight coffee and food-to-go options including fresh sandwiches, Goodtime Pies, chicken and chips and hot cooked chicken. First time owner operator Satnam Kang started his journey with Foodstuffs North Island, the co-op behind the PAK’nSAVE, New World and Four Square brands in 2009, joining the produce department of New World Botany where he spent seven years in a range of roles, before moving on to New World Whangaparaoa and later, PAK’nSAVE Papakura. Satnam says: “I’m really excited to be serving the Te Kowhai community. It’s a great town that’s seeing a lot of growth, and this next generation Four Square is going to bring a new level of convenience to town – life’s about to get a lot easier for locals! We’ve got a great range of products and a strong café offering which means people won’t have to drive out of town anymore to stock up on the essentials. Having been around the local kindergarten, school, and retirement home, I know everyone is very excited.”

Tokomaru Bay has just welcomed Mike Turney, who, after almost 20 years of working in supermarkets, took the reins as the new Owner Operator of Four Square Tokomaru Bay last week. Mike began his journey with Foodstuffs as a New World Grocery Assistant at just 13 years old and says becoming a first-time Owner Operator is a dream come true. “I began my career working part-time at New World Matamata under Ewan Atherton. When I left to pursue University study in Auckland and later Hamilton, I still found myself back working in supermarkets, PAK’nSAVE Sylvia Park and New World Heaphy Terrace. During this time, the idea of store ownership caught my interest. “I reached out to Ewan and he really sold me on the ownership journey, so I headed back to New World Matamata to get stuck into learning the ropes and completing my studies extramurally.” Mike says what attracted him to Four Square is the integral role a store plays in their local community and how each one is as unique as the area and people it serves. “There’s no cookie cutter approach here! Four Square Tokomaru Bay is a full-service supermarket that offers a bit of everything done well, including a Butchery, Pharmacy distribution, Postal Services, an ATM and even a gas station. “We provide so many different types of services to so many different kinds of people, and now - particularly in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, these services are more vital than ever,” he says