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Retailing rewards

The South Australian food industry’s newest Hall of Fame inductee is on track to achieving his vision of becoming the leading independent retailer in the world.

Roger DrakeRoger Drake’s entry into the world of supermarket retailing was anything but encouraging.

“I applied for a job at Woolworths and the manager bluntly told me that I wasn’t suited to retail,” he recalls with a laugh.

“So I went down the road to Coles and ended up spending eight years with them.”

Roger says he originally wanted to be a doctor, but his family couldn’t afford to send him to university. However once he got a taste of supermarket retailing he was hooked.

His star was on the up at Coles, but management opportunities meant he would have to move interstate and away from his beloved South Australia. Besides, he was keen to be his own boss.

“I eventually joined a grocer’s co-operative in Adelaide because [the understanding was that] if you gave them three or four years’ service they’d help fund you into your own store.”

Roger was appointed an ailing supermarket in Mitcham. By the time he’d finished his ‘service’ the store was doing so well he had enough put away to buy the store himself.

Thus the Drake grocery empire was born in 1974.

Today, Drake has 35 supermarkets in Adelaide and 10 in Queensland (trading under the Foodland, Drake Supermarkets and IGA banners); two licensed post offices and four stand alone newsagents.

Roger is very supportive of the Australian food industry – particularly the South Australian industry; something that was noted by the Hall of Fame judges.

Roger said the award was a great honour.

“It was an incredible shock. I’m sure there’s lots of other people more worthy of the title than I am!” However, the pride in his voice is unmistakeable.

Supermarkets under the Drake banner walk the talk when it comes to supporting local produce. For example, Foodland and Drake Supermarkets ‘house brands’ are made or manufactured in Australia.

“In my opinion, there’s no point in having the cheapest groceries or the cheapest produce anywhere in the world if we don’t have jobs for the people living in this country. What about our children and our grandchildren if we keep outsourcing all of our jobs?”

Roger said it was easy to promote local when you looked at Australia’s uncompromising health and hygiene standards and the quality of products produced in South Australia.

“They’re second to none.”

“You only have to look at the melamine [tainted milk scandal] in China. That should never have happened. It really is a concern that some supermarkets continue to source so many products from overseas.

“If we stop the local industry from producing and keep bringing in from overseas, we’re not efficient anymore and can’t export overseas and all of a sudden our [local food industry] dries up.

Having said that, Roger said a key challenge for the South Australian food industry in the future was sourcing key people.

“We find it extremely difficult to attract butchers, produce managers and delicatessen managers. [Supermarkets and retail] hasn’t got the prestige. What we have to try and do is lift that image.”

One suggestion Roger has is to partner supermarkets with celebrity chefs to encourage more eating at home, using quality South Australian produce.

“I think we as an industry have an obligation to lift the profile of the food industry. We also have to make sure that we are not just going for price, and driving everything down, and that we continue to boost employment in Australia.”

Roger’s vision of Drake’s being the leading independent retailer in the world is well
on track.

“We call ‘leading’ by a whole range of things, not necessarily by volume; it could be value, it could be quality, it could be staff.”

“I don’t want growth for the sake of growth, I want good growth.”

Roger’s enthusiasm for life, his grocery empire and for the broader South Australian food industry is infectious: “I’m living the dream. Every day I pinch myself, knowing how lucky I was just to be born in Australia.

“I say to my son John-Paul at the end of the day we’re grocers, let’s not kid each other. But let’s be the best grocers in the world.”

For more infomation

Contact
Roger Drake (above)
Drake Supermarkets
p +61 8 8152 6100
w www.drakes.com.au