Fabio Finocchiaroput down sturdy ‘Rootes’ when he arrived in the UK from Italy last century to work in grocery, and now he is the twice-winning Asian Trader Baker supreme
From a holiday visitor to a celebrated retail manager, Fabio Finocchiaro has carved a niche for himself and the store he manages, Rootes Grocery Store at the University of Warwick, twice winning the prestigious Bakery Retailer of the Year at the Asian Trader Awards.
“The entire operation in the bakery has been growing and growing. And we won twice with Asian Trader. We won in 2017, and again, we won it last year. Really proud of that. It was a great honor to receive the award,” he says.
Fabio’s journey at Warwick began in 1998 when he and his wife Georgia visited the UK to see Georgia’s mother. They were living in Italy at the time, but circumstances led them to extend their stay. “We came here on holiday in 1998 to see Georgia’s mom. Georgia was pregnant, and her mom wasn’t having a great time, so we decided to stay a bit longer,” Fabio recalls.
During this period, Fabio, who was already working in retail in Italy, explored job opportunities here. He stumbled upon a position at the University of Warwick and, after a lengthy interview process, was offered the job. “We sold our house, left our jobs in Italy, and moved over here,” he explains.
Starting as a shop floor manager, Fabio’s hard work and dedication quickly saw him rise to the position of assistant manager, and eventually, the manager of Rootes Grocery Store. Over his 26-year tenure, Fabio has witnessed and driven significant changes and improvements in the store. He speaks with pride about his team, many of whom have been with him all these years. “Adam started here at 16 and is now 31 and the assistant manager. It’s a great story, and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved over the years,” says Fabio.
A multicultural store
With over 29,000 students and thousands of staff members, Warwick University is essentially a “town within a town”. As well as a diverse mix of national and international students, the store’s customer base includes university staff and visitors, and the 7,000 sq ft store, located at the heart of the campus, is known for its diverse range of products, including Oriental and world foods. “Our strength is the international food and the food to go,” Fabio highlights.
Despite strong competition from nearby Tesco and Aldi stores and the rise of online shopping, Rootes Grocery Store has carved out a unique position. The store’s ability to quickly adapt and introduce new products, especially ethnic foods, has been a key differentiator. “The foods from Asia, from India or China or Taiwan, students can recognise their labels, which gives us strength against Tesco because they cannot move as fast as we do,” he notes.
One of the cornerstones of Rootes Grocery Store’s success is its bakery, comprising over 100 bakery lines – with 12 different varieties of bread, 30 varieties of pastries and a full range croissants and breakfast foods.
The freshly-baked range is enticingly displayed across 1500 square feet of space in the store to maximise sales and there is an intoxicating, aromatic “bakery go to” feel when you walk in the store. Their wide bread selection is arrayed on a huge five-shelf display stand on the wall, starting at the bottom with freshly-baked baguettes, pasties, sausage rolls and savouries, more than 12 flavours and types of doughnuts and over 30 different breakfast foods including croissants, almond croissants, pains au chocolat and cinnamon swirls.
Popular items include sausage-rolls and burgers, which sell in the thousands daily. “The more you cook, the more you sell,” Fabio explains, noting that the bakery alone generates a weekly turnover of around £40,000 during term time, when the store sees a weekly footfall of around 37,000 customers!
They offer a full range of authentic Indian curries from a local supplier, Trishaz Treat, selling it hot through the bakery and cold in store as ready meal to take home. The partnership with Country Choice has also been instrumental in adapting to changing market conditions.
“Country Choice allows us a little bit of leverage to introduce different lines, and every now and then we try different things in the bakery. But the vast majority of the food that goes out from the bakery is through Country Choice, which is really vital and extremely important for us,” he explains.
Bread is in high demand and quite successful, “despite all the war against carbs,” he adds, though the preferences have changed.
“It will be baguettes, ciabatta bread, because they don't really go for sliced bread anymore, unfortunately. We used to sell a lot of sliced bread with Hovis, Warburtons. But nowadays we sell just very little compared to what we used to be as generations have moved on,” he notes.
A (hard) day’s night
The bakery operation is a well-oiled machine, starting early in the morning and running until late at night. “We start cooking at six o’clock [with] three members of staff, and we add as the hour goes along. By lunch, we have seven, and that will be the maximum. And then goes down again and we close with two. We cook all day,” Fabio describes.
They prepare a variety of meals for different evenings, mix and match with the chicken pieces and chicken nuggets on a Monday, pizza next day, lasagna for Wednesday and so on and so forth.
“When we stop cooking for the evening, which is by six, there's not really much needed and what was left, we keep it until about eight, and then it gets disposed. Most of the times we don't have much over,” he goes on. “Then we start cooking again. We start cooking for the next day, for example, the donuts, the cookies. We finish by 11 at night with the team.”
Training is rigorous, with strict induction processes and ongoing checks. “We have about 50 modules to go through, starting with food safety and hygiene,” Fabio explains. Permanent staff attain a level three in food hygiene, and even casual student staff undergo comprehensive training.
“We have team leader, Mariana, in charge of the bakery. She will take care of the training and make sure everything is up to scratch, especially with due diligence checks. We're quite strict with that,” he adds.
Feedback and adaptation
For Fabio, customer feedback is the lifeblood of the store. It has driven many of the store’s innovations and adaptations over the years, particularly in the bakery section.
“Feedback in general is vital to us,” Fabio emphasises, “because that's how we started realising that the only way to beat Tesco, Aldi or whatever is just to get unusual products, or what the customer actually cannot find elsewhere.”
Listening to student feedback has been particularly instrumental. Fabio recalls how a student recommendation led to a successful collaboration with Trishaz. “Students were buying on Facebook from his company, and then I got hold of him. We met, had a conversation and we started working together. It works much better for us,” he says.
The store also runs polls through the university to gauge student preferences. “The bakery came out on top with the range and everything we do,” Fabio notes proudly.
Students working in the store have been a vital link in this continuous loop of feedback and adaptation.
“We listen a lot to what students say. It is true, though, that they say one thing one day, probably the opposite the next day, but you have to sift through what they really need. Most of this comes from the students that we employ, from our colleagues. They would tell us what we miss. We also work with the various university societies, the Caribbean society, the Chinese society, and that also gives us an edge and firsthand advice,” he explains.
In the face of rising living costs, the store has positioned itself as a reliable and affordable option for both students and staff. Despite the presence of 19 restaurants and bars on campus, including big names like Starbucks and Pret a Manger, the store’s hot food offerings have remained popular due to their authenticity, affordability, and availability.
“Our sales have gone up. We haven’t felt the cost-of-living crisis,” Fabio reveals. In fact, the economic challenges have somewhat benefitted the store, as more people turn to it for quality meals at reasonable prices.
Fabio attributes this success to a combination of factors: quality, price, availability, and authenticity. “Beluga, Starbucks, and other big names have big prices and not always the best quality,” he explains. “We managed to be more competitive. And we are winning that battle because of quality, price, availability, and, believe it or not, it is as simple as authenticity, which is vital for students that come from abroad.”
Future sustainable
Looking ahead, Fabio is keen on expanding and diversifying the bakery’s offerings, particularly with an eye toward plant-based options. “Society is moving that way,” he notes, acknowledging the growing demand for plant-based foods.
“If you look at the data itself, the amount of plant-based food we sell, which we do have, is really tiny in comparison to the classic sausage rolls or burgers,” he notes. “But that's where we go into, where society is going.”
However, he also recognises the challenges in this area, such as taste and availability. “The main complaint we get is that plant-based foods are just tasteless,” he admits. “And the more we move towards that, I guess, the tastier the lines will be.”
The store is also working closely with Country Choice and Trishaz to develop new lines.
Fabio is exploring ways to extend the bakery’s operating hours and enhance its efficiency. “We need to extend further into the evening while limiting costs,” he says. Despite the logistical challenges, he remains committed to pushing the bakery forward. “It is a jewel. It’s important for us.”
Fabio believes that the bakery will be playing a crucial role in the convenience channel, particularly in offering authentic and diverse products. He sees this trend toward authenticity and diversity as the future of the sector.
“Nowadays, people that move around the world, they want real taste. And I strongly believe that we need to open up to different products, to what is important to people,” he asserts. “Especially nowadays, the stuff that comes from India or China, beautiful food, we need to take advantage of that and offer a better quality range, better quality products in a wider range or specialise.”
Fabio’s success has been built on a deep understanding of his customer base and a willingness to adapt and innovate. He encourages other retailers to do the same, stressing the importance of quality and authenticity in building a loyal customer base.
“Understand your customer and be brave,” he says. “Your customers, if the quality is good, are very open to external influences, especially when it comes to food.”
Leading buying group Confex has added three new members, further strengthening its buying power and geographical reach.
As reported today (8), Ahmed Foods, A C Georgiades and Regency Service and Solutions have joined Confex. Their combined turnover adds an impressive £56.2 million to Confex's turnover, which further bolsters its strength and buying power as a group.
Tom Gittins, CEO, Confex said, “In addition, these three new members add yet more diversity to the group, which we all benefit from. By combining our insight, knowledge and expertise, it’s no wonder that Confex is outperforming other buying groups in the sector.”
A C Georgiades are a national soft drink wholesaler and distributor located in Morpeth, Northumberland and Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Selling to a wide range of wholesalers, cash and carries, groups and chains.
Chris Georgiades, managing director, “There are really exciting times ahead for us as Confex members. Our aim is to add more variety to our portfolio and to be able to communicate with the wider wholesale industry, so joining Confex was an incredibly easy decision.”
Regency Services and Solution managing director Jarrod Normie said: “As a business, we are really excited to join the Confex family. As we take the business to the next level, joining a buying group is a logical step forward and so far, Confex has delivered a stand-out service.”
Bradford-based Ahmed Foods is a leading supplier of vast range of chilled, frozen, ambient and fresh produce for the hospitality and restaurant trade in the north of England.
Tanweer Ahmed, director, said, “Ahmed Foods Bradford is proud to join the Confex buying group,” said . “We look forward to working closely with the central team who have been extremely attentive. We plan to both expand our current range and strengthen our supply partnerships with the support of the group.”
Eye watering increases to employer NI contributions in this year’s UK Budget, alongside a 77p increase to the National Living Wage (NLW), could add around £2,400 to the cost of employing a full-time member of staff, Scottish Grocers Federation stated today (8).
Convenience staff across Scotland worked almost 500 million hours last year. Over 55,000 people are employed across the Scottish convenience sector, many of whom fall within the scope of the increase to National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and the NLW rise, meaning that together the changes could cost retailers tens of millions in additional outgoings. Despite the planned uplift in Employment Allowance relief from £5,000 to £10,500.
With a nearly a third of staff working between 17-30hr/wk (18 per cent less than 17hrs/wk), and many on or near the NLW, thousands of additional employees will require employer NI contributions. Where they didn’t need to pay much, if any, before.
A recent survey conducted by SGF, for its annual True Cost of Employment Report, shows that 74 per cent of retailers are now working more than 65hrs/wk, just to keep staff costs down.
SGF Head of Policy & Public Affairs, Luke McGarty, said: “Despite many retailers working longer and longer hours to keep staff costs down and many stores struggling to keep the lights on. Together with a plethora of new regulation directed at small local businesses, higher employment costs could now result in the Scottish sector paying tens of millions in additional outgoings.
“There is no doubt that local stores employing local staff will have to think twice before taking on anyone new or increasing staff hours. In some cases, it could be the final straw pushing retailers to reduce staff or even close the doors for good.
“Most local retailers simply won’t be able to absorb the extra cost and will either have to pass them onto customers, or reduce annual pay rises for hard working and long serving staff.
“We welcome the recognition of the additional support through the uplift in Employment Allowance, but for many that will only mitigate the damage. Small businesses and local shops are the lifeblood of the UK and Scottish Economies, providing a critical economic multiplier to boost local growth. Now is not the time to be penalising them for creating much needed local jobs."
The Scottish Government will publish its budget on 4th December, and SGF is calling on ministers to act cautiously on any proposals that could put small businesses under additional pressure.
The Institute for Grocery Distribution (IGD) has released the report, "A Net Zero Transition Plan for the UK Food System", providing a framework for the food sector to achieve 70 per cent emissions reductions in agriculture and to fully decarbonize heat, electricity and transport.
Commissioned by IGD and developed by consultants EY and WRAP, the first of its kind report provides an independent, evidence-based view for how the UK food system in its entirety, can reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions in line with a 1.5degree SBTi outcome and to meet the UK’s legally binding national target.
Currently, food and drink is the UK’s largest manufacturing industry – it provides 4.4 million jobs, contributes over £100bn to GDP, and generates 30 per cent of all UK territorial emissions much of this relating to agriculture with significant contributions from energy and logistics. The report aims to inform and support further pre-competitive collaboration across the various sectors of the food industry, under the common goal of emissions reduction. It outlines 19 steps that the Government can take to enable this, with a particular focus on strengthening policy for agriculture and energy.
In the short term, the report proposes immediate action by industry and government to support the domestic farming transition and on a set of standards for food imports. Together with action on energy efficiency and low-carbon power generation and significant reductions in food waste, the report shows that 2030 emissions reductions targets are very challenging but achievable.
Kirsty Saddler, Director of Health & Sustainability Programmes, IGD, said: “This UK Food System Transition Plan is a first of its kind approach at unifying wide-ranging perspectives within the food industry around the aim of accelerating progress in emissions reduction. The UK food industry is deeply connected to the climate crisis both as a contributor of emissions but also as an industry that is dependent upon a stable and healthy ecosystem to grow and provide food for the country. All organisations across the system can make better progress, faster, if we work together and with government.”
The framework offered reviews pathways on both the supply side and the demand side, showing the contribution that can be made by the population through diet change, using the NHS Eatwell Guide as a basis. This report also notes the critical role reductions in food waste, particularly by households, can make. Halving food waste in the UK by 2030, in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 and the Courtauld Commitment 2030, is estimated to remove about 5 per cent of all food-related emissions.
Catherine David, Director of Behaviour Change and Business Programmes at WRAP, said:“I'm delighted that IGD, with WRAP's support, is launching this report today, which marks a significant step forward towards action on greenhouse gas emissions in the food and drink sector. At WRAP, we are passionate about evidence driven collaborative action which is brought together by our Courtauld Commitment 2030. We hope this report, uniting the whole of UK food and drink, will help catalyse a fresh and focused phase of collaborative action on the urgent issues that industry must tackle.”
Ministers are getting under pressure to impose taxes on packaged foods containing high content of salt and/or sugar.
In a plea addressed to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, representing 35 health groups, it is highlighted that taxing unhealthy foods such as cakes, sweets, biscuits, crisps and savoury snacks would generate billions of pounds for the Treasury and cut the number of people becoming ill as a result of a bad diet.
The signatories include groups representing the UK’s doctors, dentists and public health directors, health charities including Diabetes UK and the World Cancer Research Fund, and a senior figure in the chef Jamie Oliver’s organisation.
Anna Taylor, the executive of the Food Foundation, which also signed the letter, said, “The damage the food industry is doing to children’s health is the biggest threat to our nation’s wellbeing and future productivity and this needs to be reined in – urgently.
“The government must now get bolder, creating real incentives to force the industry to align with public health goals, further and faster.”
The health groups want ministers to start tightly regulating the food industry. They said relying on the industry to voluntarily clean up its act nutritionally, as the previous Conservative governments did during 2010-24, had not yielded meaningful change.
“Voluntary reformulation programmes for sugar, salt and calories are not proving effective enough, achieving only a 3.5 per cent reduction in sugar levels of key product categories, compared to the mandatory soft drinks industry levy (sugar tax), which has achieved a reduction in total sales of 34.4 per cent between 2015 and 2020,” the letter says.
Jamie O’Halloran, a senior research fellow at the IPPR, said: “Without bold regulatory changes, our food system will continue to fall short in promoting healthy lifestyles, particularly for those on the lowest incomes.
“Expanding levies to cover other high-sugar and ultra-processed products could be transformative, especially if the resulting revenue is used to support low-income households to make healthy food choices.”
A government spokesperson said: “Obesity is a significant health challenge, which affects 26 per cent of adults and costs the NHS £11.8bn per year.
“The budget took action to ensure the soft drinks industry levy maintains its incentive to encourage healthier soft drinks, and we will publish a 10-year health plan in spring 2025.”
This comes a week after Reeves announced in the budget that the Treasury was looking into whether the sugar tax, which came into effect in 2018, should be extended to other very sweet products, including milkshakes and highly sugared coffees as it is widely regarded as having been a success.
Earlier, a YouGov poll showed public support on such taxes as long as the revenue is ploughed into children’s health.
The representative survey of 4,943 British adults by YouGov, commissioned by food campaigners’ Recipe for Change initiative, also found that 74 per cent think food firms are not honest about the health impact of their products while 61 per cent worry about the amount of sugar and saturated fat in what they eat.
Only 13 per cent believe producers will make their food more nutritious without government intervention while 72 per cent worry about high levels of processing used in food production.
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The Fed mourns ex-President Margaret Adams, retail pioneer
The Fed mourns ex-President Margaret Adams, retail pioneer
Tireless work by the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) Contact Centre has seen almost a quarter of a million pounds recovered from news wholesalers in 2024.
The latest figures show that £187,130 has been recovered in missing credits, missing vouchers and recharges, as well as money saved through waived deposits for news wholesale accounts.
A further £40,338 was recovered in restitution for instances of late supply or missing supply having an impact on home news deliverers, taking the overall total paid back to members this year to date to £227,468.
“Once again our Contact Centre has delivered for members," said The Fed’s National President, Mo Razzaq. "This is testament to the tireless work of the team, ensuring Fed members are not left out of pocket when things go wrong.
“The amount of money the team has recovered in 2024 is further proof that, for independent retailers, it really does pay to be a member of the Federation.”