JLife’s Kirsty Plowman chats to David Gaffin, Sainsbury’s Heaton Park’s first Jewish manager, about his commitment to supplying kosher products and giving back to the local community.
David Gaffin is the new general manager at the Sainsbury’s Heaton Park store. Hegrew up in Prestwich and always lived there or in the Whitefield area. He attended King David High School and then went onto Manchester Metropolitan University to study for a degree in Business Studies. He has been married to Leanne for 19 years and they have three children – Alexa, Saskia and Lyla – who attend both King David High School and King David Junior School.
How is your new role at the Heaton Park store going?
The first couple of months have been great. It’s an amazing store – it’s one of the biggest in the North West with 100,000 sq ft of selling space plus amazing ranges of clothing and non-food products.
How did you get into the industry and what’s your professional background?
My first job was at Barratts when I was 13 – I enjoyed the retail environment and I guess caught the bug. At 16 I went to work at Marks and Spencer while I was studying. I enrolled on the Marks and Spencer graduate scheme and soon realised that a degree in Business Studies would be valuable. I gained my BA Hons degree from Manchester Metropolitan University.
I fell into food retail previously working for Asda. I’ve been with Sainsbury’s for six years, moving from Sainsbury’s Cheadle to this role, and now have around 25 years of retail experience.
What work does your store do for its local community?
At Heaton Park we work with a lot of charities. Last year we raised £12,000 for our charity of the year. This year, the Heaton Park store’s charity is Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust. Other charities that we are heavily involved with include the Seashell Trust and St Ann’s Hospice. We’re currently in the process of choosing our new charity of the year which so far sees Brookvale and The FED on the shortlist.
Being such a big store – we have 420+ staff – we are a big part of the community. It’s important for us to give something back and work with the community we are serving.
How does Sainsbury’s as a whole and the store at Heaton Park meet the needs of its Jewish customers?
Our store is the biggest kosher product supplier with Sainsbury’s UK – we stock a variety of kosher items from soup and chocolates to tomato sauce. We have an extensive range of fresh kosher products too – we’ve introduced a selection of fresh meats by Frohwein which is doing very well.
Alongside the Sainsbury’s stores in Altrincham and Cheadle in Manchester and the Moortown branch in Leeds, the Heaton Park store is now stocking bakery products including bread and kichels from kosher deli State Fayre as a trial, which we hope will help to increase sales and support a great local business. I think these products will be a success with our non-Jewish customers too – they will be intrigued by the products they may have never tried before.
It’s important to accommodate our Jewish customers and make the store a one-stop shop for them.
What personal objectives have you set for the store’s future?
I will ensure the store continues to be an integral part of the community that supports the local area and the Jewish people and organisations. We’re working with King David High School to offer work experience opportunities to students. I went to the school and so did my wife and my children are currently there, so I want to give something back.
I worked closely with Chabad at Cheadle to mark Jewish festivals and I hope to do the same here.
The supermarket industry is very competitive so it is important to be successful. I want every customer to find and buy the products they are looking for when they come in. It will be a shop with great customer service, great availability of products and a great shopping environment.
David is welcoming suggestions and feedback on the Heaton Park store. Please call him on 0161 251 8720 or in writing at Sainsbury’s, Heaton Park Road, Manchester, M9 0QS.
