Isaac Alexander

5:20 AM

I'm up nice and early to kickstart the day, jumping straight in a hot shower and coffee to wake me up. I’ll then squeeze a couple bits of toast in whilst checking in on the stock markets. 

6:20 AM

I'm out the door and on the road attempting to beat the classic Auckland traffic. 

7:00 AM

I arrive at our amazing Foodstuffs Landing Drive office, greeting the compass cafe staff on my way in. First task on the list is to open the Foodie mart, allowing all our staff to grab their brekkie before work. I then check all our fresh products in store to ensure consistent high-quality standards. Lastly, I will check the previous days store sales to see how we went in comparison to the week before.

7:30 AM

It's now admin time, checking emails and responding to all those waiting to hear back from me. I like to clear my emails nice and early to keep on top of them. I also help test out the new compass food & beverage click and collect app which is being piloted today.

8:00 AM

My manager arrives at work, after a brief casual conversation we get into our morning catch up, discussing all that is on the agenda for the day. “Any events on?” We check the demonstration kitchen calendar to see if any suppliers have booked out a slot. Turns out Unilever is coming in promote and giveaway their new products. Focusing then on the foodie mart, we review the calendar and our plan, discussing the day's priorities. After setting task time frames, we get stuck into our actions.

8:15 AM

Post meeting, I jump into store cycle counting, which is a monthly practice. Cycle counting is a very important as it allows us to keep accurate stock counts in store. Also allowing the team to assess any shrinkage.

9:30 AM

Papatoetoe New World arrives with our store delivery which was placed a few days earlier. We quickly fill the products in store, and I jump onto receipting the delivery through SAP. I’m checking that both the products and pricing matches what we ordered to ensure accounts stay balanced.

11:00 AM 

Using Yammer, which is our communication platform here at Foodies, I jump onto comms to let our staff know what’s going on regarding all things hospitality at the office. Informing staff of the cafés lunch offering and specials, new product ranges in the foodie mart, and most importantly highlighting the exciting supplier sampling going down in the demonstration kitchen.

11:30 AM

Unilever sampling kicks off which means our hospitality area floods with staff coming to taste the new ice cream and cereal. We make sure the whole office and distribution centre gets amongst the new products and join in on the excitement. We engage with all the staff to hear their feedback on the products and the event, as this allows us to give quality feedback to the supplier. The feedback also gives us a chance to improve on future supplier demonstration events. As our goal is to create a vibrant and exciting hospitality area at the new Foodstuffs office.

12:00 PM

Lunch time I catch up with my colleague Darcey from the Merch team, who funnily enough was a good friend of mine at Massey University. We normally eat at our staff café run by Compass, as they have tasty food options for good prices. This is a good chance to have a social break in between work and catch up on everything that is going on. Ranging from concerts which we’ve recently attended, to recent sports matches and events that are going on at Foodies.

1:00 PM

Just after lunch we have a supplier meeting booked in. They’ve come to pitch their product range in the hopes of getting shelf space in the Foodie Mart. My manager Charlie and I assess their sales data and discuss the various charging processes, pushing a “Pay by Scan” option. They leave us with a box of samples to taste, helping us with our decision, one of the many benefits of the job!

1:20 PM

After the meeting I shoot upstairs to place our order for the following week through ISHOP and SAP. We like to apply a “just-in-time” method as our inventory strategy. Therefor I’m using SAP to review our store stock counts, then ordering only just what I need to fill the store and nothing extra.

2:00 PM

As a result of our engagement with customers, we have put together a plan focusing on key areas of the store in which we wish to improve on. Once the core daily tasks are complete, I use the time to review supplier ranges, looking at potential opportunities. Today I’m focusing on our protein range. We are working with a supplier on getting their protein bars in our store. As their products have proven to be in high demand from our customers. My job being to review their sales data and narrow down the top 10 selling products across their various protein bar categories in which would move in our store.

3:30 PM

As the afternoon is coming to an end, we as a team partake in our weekly meeting which is based around reviewing store sales. We then form a list of actions going forward as to how we can improve the sales within specific timeframes.

4:15 PM

To conclude the afternoon, I briefly work with my co-worker in engaging with the staff through Yammer once again. We create polls in hoping to gain valuable feedback, asking the staff questions such as “For Mother’s Day what products would you like us to range, flower, chocolates, gift baskets? Let us know!”

4:30 PM

Heading off for the day I jump in my car, putting on a Joe Rogan podcast or some George FM to get me through the drive.

5:30 PM

It’s now time for me to get into the daily exercise, today this comes in the form of heading out mountain biking with a couple of my mates. After a good day at work, it’s always a treat getting outside, working out and getting the adrenaline pumping.

7:00 PM

After the mountain bike my friends and I head up the road for Mexican night which we regularly attend. Always good to squeeze in those social catch ups during the week and what better way to do it than over Mexican.

10:00 PM

After a big day at work and catching up with mates I’m ready to nestle in for the night and prepare for the day ahead.