Food Recruitment News: December 2009 Archives

Despite not receiving full support from the Scottish Government in the past, the management of Sainsbury's supermarkets has been granted permission to build a flagship store in the Highlands.

The new store, which is expected to cost £20 million, will be the first Sainsbury's store in the North of Scotland and will have a number of beneficial consequences for the region:

• It will create over 300 new retail and food jobs
• The Co-op is currently the market leader in the Highlands region, but the new Sainsbury's store is expected to challenge their monopoly
• The 25,000-square-foot store will offer an extensive range of products and a petrol station, allowing residents to take advantage of 'supermarket' fuel prices
• It will attract visitors from throughout the entire region, moving them away from busy shops in Forres, Inverness and Elgin and providing them with one major store

Sainsbury's has however faced opposition when attempting to get government approval for the store, with some council members protesting that it will take business away from local stores. However, the overall opinion on the planning proposals is that the hundreds of food jobs it will create are vital for the region's employment figures.

The store will be located at Balmakeith in Nairn, and is expected to be open and trading by December 2010.

Nigel Dunnington, a McDonald's franchisee who started his career in Blackpool and has been with the company for 27 years, has now returned to the store he opened back in 1982. The Bank Hey Street McDonald's, along with Mr Dunnington's other stores in Blackpool, Preston and Leyland, has enjoyed a very successful year financially, despite the economic downturn.

Due to the excellent performance of Mr Dunnington's franchise stores, as well as the overall success of the McDonald's brand this year, the chain is planning to encourage more investment in franchises and open even more stores in the Fylde area in 2010. Mr Dunnington's Blackpool franchises already employ over 160 people during the high season in the summer, and it is expected that the new investment will create even more food jobs in the area.

Mr Dunnington has said that his franchise has had to quickly adapt to economic changes, but has always stayed ahead of the competition by focusing on delivering quality food and high standards of customer service. He went on to say that despite the credit crunch, an increasing number of people have been choosing to eat in McDonald's in the last 12 months.

McDonald's owns 1,200 restaurants throughout the UK and has always been a rapidly expanding business. The company runs a number of graduate schemes and has always been proud of the fact that they offer more food job opportunities than any other fast food chain.