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$850 million
Retail, Food & Agribusiness
Enterprise Performance Improvement
Canada-based private equity firm acquired the grocery chain and installed a new interim CEO and chairman following the retirement of the founder. The stores had been operating independently and lacked standard practices across the chain. Profitability of overall operations deteriorated shortly after acquisition of store operations, as selected key employees were either terminated or left.
Returned store operations to profitability within three months, and back to historical profitability levels within 12 months.
Conducted detailed operational assessment over store controls, procurement, staffing levels, inventory, warehousing, and transportation costs. Completed four-wall profit and product line analysis to prioritize actions needed to drive profitability.
Implemented controls across entire store network for store opening and closing, product buyers, store and headquarter product ordering, receiving, and inventory management. Implemented new product ordering and receiving practices to reduce excess and obsolete inventory, reduced vendor discrepancies causing charge-back and excessive adjustments, and significantly reduced cost of goods.
Worked with procurement department to implement controls and monitoring and reporting over buyer practices and gross margin management. Terminated employees who had taken advantage of weak control environment. Worked closely with core group of store managers to implement across-the-board standard practices.