Sir Ken Morrison - a giant of retail

Everyone has their favourite Sir Ken Morrison story, but one of the best tells how he was spotted rooting inside the bins behind a Morrisons’ store to establish whether fresh food was being wasted.

Sir Ken, ​who died on Wednesday after a short illness at the age of 85​, d​id​n’t care what anyone else th​ought​ of him. He​ was known to open packs of sandwiches at random to check for freshness​.​

H​e​ d​id​n’t believe in statistics and IT projections​ - his​ philosophy ​wa​s based on common sense.

When asked the secret of running a good supermarket, he once replied: “It’s just taking money off people. And giving them something in return.”

In the words of ex-Asda boss Allan Leighton, Sir Ken ​wa​s one of the canniest retailers in the business.

​But h​is star fell dramatically following the ill-fated 3.35bn takeover of Safeway ​in 2004, but he recovered​ and left the business on a high in 2008.

Over the past nine years, he has taken a more backseat role, but that didn’t stop him from stepping in when he felt that former CEO Dalton Phillips was taking the business in the wrong direction.

Three years ago, ​he made ​the ​headlines when he told the group’s AGM in Bradford: “The results were described by the chairman and chief executive as ‘disappointing’. I personally thought they were disastrous.

“When I left work and started working as a hobby, I chose to raise cattle. I have something like 1,000 bullocks and, having listened to your presentation, Dalton, you’ve got a lot more bulls​**​t than me.”

Sir Ken ​said he ​had previously warned that changes being implemented by ​the new management would damage the business​​ and that the latest results ​had ​proved him right.

However he was very happy about the appointment of Tesco veteran David Potts, who took over the reins in 2015.

​​A few weeks ago Morrisons reported its best​ Christmas performance for seven years and raised its profit guidance as custo​me​rs flock back to its stores.

The Bradford-based chain report a better than expected 2.9 per cent ​rise in like-for-like sales​ over the nine weeks to January 1​.​

​The company his father William established in 1899 is once again putting its rivals in the shade.

​Sir Ken perfected the art of deflecting questions about his business methods with a quick one-liner, designed to stop you in your tracks.

When asked by analysts how Morrisons’ goes about its store-siting policy he grumpily replied: “Well, we get on a bus and we look for chimney pots.”

​​One retail analyst​ said: ​​“You d​id​ wonder sometimes whether he ​wa​s playing with you​.

“When you ask​ed​ him about the numbers, he ​used to say he didn’t know about that side of things and ​then ​pass you on to the finance director.”

When asked whether Morrisons would consider taking on management consultants to help with the integration of Safeway he gruffly replied: “If you don’t know how to run your own business, it’s time to give up isn’t it?”

In 1967, Sir Ken led Morrisons on to the stock market in London in a share offer which was 174 times oversubscribed as more than 80,000 investors tried to buy a stake.

Expansion across the North of England continued and in 1998 Morrisons opened its first store in the South - in Kent - before opening its 100th store in its centenary year in 1999.

Analyst Clive Black, of Shore Capital, paid a glowing tribute to Sir Ken.

“Without Sir Ken many hundreds of thousands of British families and businesses would not have had their working and commercial livelihoods; many folks will be thankful to him this day.

“Sir Ken had a great empathy with shoppers, unwavering high standards, a huge retailing imagination, a naughty sense of humour and just a proper way of doing things that many will say is sadly too lacking these days.”