Onerahi New World wins again
Onerahi New World has repeated last year’s success, when it won the Foodstuffs Northland regional Checker of the year competition, as well as providing the runnerup.
Last week it did it again, Stephanie Turner winning in Whanga¯rei against strong opposition from 40 other contenders from New World, Pak‘nSave and Four Square stores across the region.
Stephanie won the title from Anahshea Harpur (New World Kerikeri) and third-placed Kaiya Turvey (Pak‘nSave Whanga¯rei).
The checkers went till-to-till on-stage while being judged by a team of six senior Foodstuffs staff on their speed, presentation, customer service and accuracy as they scanned 30 items as quickly as possible, while remaining friendly and composed.
Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin said the competition celebrated the skills of those who were at the front line of the public’s supermarkets experience.
“Our checkout operators are the face of our business, and this event is an opportunity to shine the spotlight on them and show our sincere appreciation for the contribution they make every day to our success in meeting customer expectations,” he said.
“The fact that this is the 70th anniversary of the competition, and that it is bigger than ever before with more than 120 stores participating, reflects the value that our staff see in it. It gets quite competitive, but is also a chance to have fun and build relationships.”
When it began in 1948 it was known as the ‘Listing and Adding’ competition, a maths-based challenge requiring checkers to add the prices of items manually. It has now evolved to test a broader range of skills.
Meanwhile, with a ‘blast from the past’ theme, competitors’ colleagues, families and friends dressed up last week to reflect a decade of their choice from the past 70 years, cheering the competitors on with banners, chants and store mascots. New World Onerahi was also judged the night’s best supporting store, with New World Kaikohe the topscoring store and the best-dressed title going to Pak‘nSave Kaitaia.
Stephanie Turner will go on to compete against nine other regional winners, each of which will be mystery shopped during August and November to determine the overall North Island Checker of the Year and two runners-up.