Colin Austin Buckinghamshire. SL3 6RF | 07450219292 | colinj_austin@hotmail.com | http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/colin-austin/2a/847/a41/

PROFILE

Experienced proven retail operations manager with multi-site and large single site experience who has worked within a head office and store environment. Highly motivated to progress within a new organisation using his energetic, inspiring and courageous leadership approach.

KEY SKILLS

• Leadership sites and teams of varying sizes from 30 to 120. Including multi sites up to 550 stores nationwide

• Customer focus and customer centric approach to all levels of decision making. The end user has to be at the heart of every decision made. Every team managed has delivered customer scoring metrics and achieved their bonus payment for their end of year pay cheque.

• Exceptional coach developing and growing 22 store managers in time as a store manager. In the field I have grown and developed a field team head count that moved from 6 to 12 RBSMs.

• Inspiring communicator on both a personal level and to larger groups. Having presented at numerous road shows to over 1000 store managers and at board level presentations I have engaged at all levels throughout an organisation.

• Networking and team working with cross functional teams to deliver an end result. This was achieved over many projects but most notably in the Bakery Hub Project where many different areas of the business were drawn into the project all with different interests.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Drove operational excellence in Bakery operations through exceptional store openings and daily routines in 550 stores to grow the convenience Bakery business by +20% YOY.

• Delivered Scorecard (KPI) improvement in Warren Street store from 1 green KPI to 10 greens for year end. This includes +10% Sales growth LFL, +£120k stock result improvement and delivered customer measures.

• Store manager of the Year 2012 for exceptional store results in Warren Street and support to wider area delivering shrinkage improvements across London of +£200k YOY.

• Project managed Bakery Hubs into 60 stores across the business. This delivered an annual incremental sales increase of £1m p/a and delivered a wider brand message of ‘fresh bread daily in all stores’.

• Developed and project managed a new production planning tool to be used in all convenience stores. This new tool supported growth of +20% YOY and saved £200k labour across the business.

• Project managed an improved MAC (Making Availability Count) project for Convenience Bakeries increasing the line count that can be checked. MAC performance post change increased by +0.1% to 96.5%.

• Project managed an improved ordering process to reduce stock holding and maintaining availability. Stock counting frequency was reduced by 75%. £300k of stock was released back into supply chain. Stock (shrink) result improved by £1m YOY. A store labour saving of £20k has been made since the roll out through improved efficiency.

• Delivered inspired presentations at 3 Convenience Road Shows and supplier events inspiring over 1000 managers and supplier at each to think differently about our products and enthuse them to Try Something Different when they went back to stores. As a result product complaints on ISB Croissants reduced by +20% per CPMU and sales increased by +14%. (this was a feature product in one Roadshow)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Business Development Manager (Various location)- Bakery & Food Services | J Sainsburys Plc

Jun 2012 to Oct 2014

Sainsbury´s is a well established retailer with over 145 year’s history. With over 1350 sites in the UK and holding 17% of the grocery market they employ over 160,000 colleagues across the country.

• Responsible for Bakery operations in 550 Convenience stores and 131 Counter (meat, fish, delicatessen, takeaway food, pizza, curry, cheese, salad bar, olive bar) operations in Supermarkets.

• In each of these roles the delivered a sales contribution to the business of over £100m per year and contributed significantly to the corporate P&L line (margin and rate increased by +0.3% during time in role)

• Managed a field team of 12 Regional Business Support Managers to strategically support and deliver the category visions and operational excellence. This was achieved by working with all levels from Director level,

Colin Austin

Regional Manager level to shop floor teams. This was in the format of working groups, training sessions, board meetings, 121 sessions and store visits.

• Worked cross functionally with the Divisional Directors and Regional Manager to implement category vision. This included agenda time in meetings to bring to life the vision. Hosting regional upskill days with store teams and delivering improved visit structure with the RBSM for the region. In 18 months the team had developed and up skilled every store manager and over 1000 colleagues in bakery operations.

• Accountable for Sales, Waste, Shrinkage, Operational Excellence in Existing Stores and New Store Openings.

• Subject Matter Expert to support designing store plans and working with the category team and store design team to improve the category foot print.

• Delivered LFL sales of +20% in Bakery during time in role by improving category awareness and profile with the store and leadership teams as well as landing projects to drive additional basket spend without cannibalisation to the rest of the store.

• Improved Bakery stock loss by £1m YOY in 2013/14 by delivering a string of initiatives to raise awareness and profile. One was improving the stock count and ordering system to stream line warehouse operations.

• Opened over 200 new Convenience Bakery Operations (including investments). Involved in creating store plans and improving the pre and post support for the store. Participation in new stores was 7% on average compared to the rest of the estate at 5.5%.

• Opened first convenience Scratch Bakery operation in Canada Water, London which delivered participation of 11% of total store sales.

• Opened first pizza counter in convenience in Earlsfield South West London.

• Trialled and set up first hub bakery operation in Sainsbury’s that operationally worked and served 60 stores with freshly made scratch bread. My involvement was to project manage the retail operation, lead the execution and engagement with the retail teams and deliver post support after the launch to deliver sustained results which drove incremental sales into the store and delivered a unique ‘Scratch bread in every store’ message to the customers.

• Project managed an improved production planning system to 550 convenience stores to improve planning and operational efficiency. This included project planning the End to End process of the role out to stores, working in a training plan and leading the training plan from Boardroom to shop floor level.

• Successfully project managed an improved stock holding process saving £200k labour without impacting operation across 550 stores. This included project leading the retail engagement and board engagement of the plan, aligning both supply chain and retail operations to the trial and then for the roll out.

• Created an improved training program for colleagues which were simplified to the delegates needs moving the training program from 12 week to 4 weeks. This was completed in line with the Learning and Development team and used as a subject matter expert to rewrite the training and procedures.

• Launched a sampling program that was supplier funded to all Supermarkets that delivered uplifts of 717% on the selected lines. This was an initial trail which delivered uplifts on focus product of up to 717%. Key learning was shared with the category team and suppliers and a new sampling program was launched with all the key principles of the trail.

• Delivered a Brilliant Basic service into 131 counter operations this drove an participation improvement of +0.1% YOY and sales growth of +3.8% above food growth. This was significantly higher than any other zone in the business.

Project Manager-Secondment Central Operations | J Sainsburys plc Feb 2012 to Jun 2012

• Project managed the improvement of 7 Large Local convenience stores across the company to grow sales.

• Work cross functionally with FM, Finance, Retail and Convenience Leadership team to improve the sales LFL performance by scoping stores, engaging all levels and delivering operational excellence throughout the change.

• Managed a CAPEX budget of £150k to improve 7 stores using tenacity and cost cutting methods.

• Coordinate 7 refits over a period of 2 weeks using minimal resource.

• Delivered refits in all 7 Large Locals over a 2 week window.

• LFL improved in 6 stores up to +15% surpassing expectations. (one was in decline due to competitor impact)

• Created bespoke ranges to fit the customer profile in the 7 stores. This was gathered as part of customer listening groups and reworking of the customers makeup of each store.

• Improved levels of colleague engagement in the stores with Talkback improving YOY by 10%.

• Project rolled into Supermarket plan to support small supermarkets.

Colin Austin

Store Manager- Various Locations | J Sainsburys plc, London Mar 2003 to Feb 2012

• Accountable for all results in stores including sales, waste, shrink, profit, labour and customer measures.

• Last store was the largest store in Central London consisting of full customer offering including Produce, Hot Food, Bakery, Provisions, Grocery, Non Foods, Click and Collect, HR dept, Frozen. The store served 55000 customers per week and had a head count of 9 department managers and 120 colleagues.

• Accountable for recruiting, training and development of all colleagues. While working with the Area manager and Area HR manager to resource for an expansive opening plan of new stores in the area.

• Actively involved in the community to improve brand awareness. Supported local charities to add value back into the communities not just by donating but also volunteering, hosting work experience (New Horizon Youth)

• Awarded Convenience Store Manager of the Year 2012 for improved results and contribution to Region as Finance Lead.

• Opened 2 new stores and refitted 2 stores as store manager. 1 in the face of public discontent and Local MP Challenge this lead to a new improved approach to opening stores which is still in place to this day.

• Took sales growth in Warren Street to +10% LFL and achieved all other KPIs. Previously it was ranked worst store in London for results.

• Developed over 22 new store managers and countless more deputy managers and Team Leaders.

• Seconded onto Shell to lead the Beach site closures. (18 closures in total)

• Acted as Area Manager for 15 stores to cover sickness. Results in this time improved.

• Delivered colleague bonus criteria in every store managed each colleague received their full 3% bonus payment.

• Talkback scores of no less than 86% CEI in any store. This demonstrated an engaged and motivated team that were clear on the store and company goals and their part in delivering the goals.

Student to Store Manager | The Co-operative Group, Manchester Feb 1998 to Mar 2003

• Joined as a part time student.

• Became store manager at 18 years old (youngest in the company)

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS

Langley Grammar School – 1994-2000

A Level Physics

Business

Design Technology

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Other Skills: Butchery- City and Guilds, Fishmonger- City and Guilds, Scratch Bakery-City and Guilds, IOSH Risk management., BIIAB personal licence holder, First Aid Trained.

Languages: English, French (broken)

INTERESTS

Carp Fishing

Football both playing and watching my team and local non-league team.

Dog Walking my Boxer Cross.

DIY, building not decorating.

Golf (learning to play)

REFERENCES- Available upon request.

Colin Austin