New Morrisons boss emulating Sir Ken with hands-on approach to revive supermarket's fortunes: Chris Burn

Morrisons, which was bought for £7 billion by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in 2021, reported a near £1 billion loss last year, driven in large part by soaring debt financing costs. The company also reduced its staffing levels by almost 9,000 workers to just shy of 105,000 employees.

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A post on The Yorkshire Post Facebook page reporting the figures attracted more than 500 comments in response – most of them largely negative opinions about the condition of stores, the cost of food and the business’s general direction of travel.

Of course, responses to a newspaper’s social media page are hardly scientific research but the anecdotes on there combined with recent trading results do tell an illuminating story.

People remain very passionate about the business and feel they have a personal connection with it but are undoubtedly keen to see improvements and a return to some of its original selling points.

Famously started as an egg and butter market stall in Bradford by William Morrison in 1899, his son Ken took over the running of the grocery store business in the 1950s and turned it into one of the nation’s most successful supermarket chains.

Sir Ken left the business in 2008 following in the wake of Morrisons takeover of Safeway earlier that decade which had been beset by challenges.

As The Times obituary of Sir Ken pointed out in 2017, he had a simple business philosophy based on “outstanding value for money, unbeatable customer service and a pleasant shopping experience”. It took inspiration from the market stall format where the business originated, with servers on different specialist counters offering fresh meat, fish and bread, etc. This was combined with extraordinary personal attention to detail involving unannounced visits to stores and checking skips to see what was being thrown away.

Interestingly, a recent Sunday Times profile of new CEO Baitiéh suggests he is taking a similarly hands-on approach to trying to restore the supermarket’s fortunes after joining in November.

The former colonel in the French Air Force and Carrefour executive is reported to have sent directors pictures of empty shelves and shabby displays in stores in a slideshow sardonically soundtracked with the firm’s Christmas advertising campaign music, Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.

He has added his own email address to the complaints section of the Morrisons website and shares the feedback on daily calls with senior managers combined with his own views. It appears to be having an effect with weekly customer complaints dropping from 22,500 when he arrived to around 9,000 now. It is only a starting point, but one Sir Ken would surely have approved of.

Chris Burn is Yorkshire Post business and features editor