“The till rings 45 million times a week in Tesco and I don’t service a single one of those transactions. You can’t say that and then, when it’s inconvenient, prioritise something else” “When we came up with that purpose of ‘serving Britain’s shoppers a little better every day’, we meant it. There are 320,000 colleagues in the UK and while you may lead a turnaround of a business, the execution of that turnaround is all about those 320,000 people. You’ve always got to remember, in a business like this, how important colleagues are. “I’m happy to accept it, but only on behalf of Tesco colleagues. “People have offered these sorts of awards at various times and I’ve always said no,” admits Lewis. The turnaround he has led since arriving at Tesco in September 2014 makes Lewis a worthy, albeit hesitant, recipient of the prize – and he is at pains to point out exactly why the latter is the case. The mere mention of this Retail Week honour – coupled with the suggestion that he is ‘the man who saved Tesco’ – has prompted him to hide away momentarily and gather his thoughts.Īs he sits back upright in his chair, cheeks containing slightly more colour than they did a few moments earlier, Lewis looks genuinely uncomfortable, almost embarrassed, at being named the winner of this year’s AlixPartners Outstanding Contribution to Retail Award.
Dave Lewis smiles wryly and buries his head in his right hand.
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