Hot on the heels of Asda takeover, Issa brothers lead grocery pack in Birthday Honours List

Mohsin and Zuber Issa, the brothers who recently acquired supermarket chain Asda, have been awarded with CBE in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Richard Pennycook, former chief executive of the Co-operative Group, has also been awarded with a CBE.

The Indian-origin Issa brothers, working with private equity firm TDR Capital, have brought back Asda to UK ownership earlier this month, agreeing to buy the No.3 supermarket from Walmart for an enterprise value of £6.8 billion.

Commenting on the recognition they said: “We are truly honoured to have received a CBE and would like to thank the many people that have helped us along the way, including colleagues, partners, the people of Lancashire and our family.

“When we bought our first petrol forecourt in Bury almost 20 years ago, we could never have dreamed that we would be collecting such a prestigious award today.”

The brothers are known for the fast-expanding forecourt operator EG Group, which now runs almost 6,000 sites across 10 countries.

Initially called Euro Garages, the Issa brothers founded the Blackburn-based group in 2001, acquiring a single petrol filling station in Bury, Greater Manchester.

The recent acquisitions of the group include forecourt groups in the US and Australia, Little Chef roadside cafes and a major Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in the UK.

The group has expanded to the US in April 2018 acquiring the convenience store business of Kroger and branched out to Australia in November that year with the purchase of petrol business of Woolworths Group.

The brothers each own a quarter of £10 billion EG Group. TDR Capital now owns half of the group.

Their parents came to the UK from Gujarat, India, in the 1960s. They attended their local comprehensive school in Blackburn and began their careers working in their father’s local petrol station.

“We plan to step up our contribution to good causes through our charitable foundations and this award will inspire us to do even more to support people in the communities that we operate, particularly the North of England,” they added.

In 2019, EG Group reported revenues of more than €20bn (£17.9bn). The Issa brothers were placed in the ninth position in the Eastern Eye Asian Rich List 2019 with an estimated worth of £1.5 billion.

Richard Pennycook, who currently serves as the chairman of Boparan Holdings, the holding company of 2 Sisters Food Group, is credited for saving the Co-op from collapse after the financial problems of the Co-operative Bank. He joined the consumer co-operative in 2013 as chief financial officer and served as the chief executive from March 2014 and February 2017.

He later served British Retail Consortium as chair till May 2020. His previous executive roles include Board positions at Morrisons, the RAC, Bulmers and J D Wetherspoon.

The Honours List has several names from the grocery industry, recognising the frontline role of shop workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asda has won big in the list with eight colleagues receiving recognition. Imran Rashid Dawji, human resource administrator at Asda head office, received an MBE in recognition of his work in creating a recruitment process that allowed the retailer to bring on board an extra 25,000 temporary colleagues.

“It was a pivotal time to ensure everything was close to perfect as we had a duty to ensure support was provided to everyone around the country,” Davji said.

“Myself and the team bought into the idea that this work would be accomplished by knowing conscientiousness would be imperative whilst working outside of process. Hard work and tenacity were the key ingredients of this success and gave impetus to this journey over the past few months.

“I would like to thank my manager and all my colleagues. Our success would not have been possible without your unwavering support and encouragement. Thank you.”

Seven other Asda colleagues received a British Empire Medal (BEM) for going above and beyond for their local communities. They include: Geoff Norris, home shopping driver at Asda Wisbech; Julie Cook, community champion at Asda Aberdare; Karen Clark, e-commerce customer trading manager at Asda Ellesmere Port; Lucy Mansell-Render, nights department manager at Asda North East Clothing Depot, Washington; Samantha D’Souza, community champion at Asda Hayes; Simon Lea, general store manager at Asda Altrincham (previously Marple); and Faisal Tuddy, Asda house superintendent pharmacist.

Two colleagues from Tesco, Jayne Griffiths, community champion in Llandrindod Wells, Powys and Philip Richards, lead people partner are bestowed with an MBE and another, Theresa Fisher, community champion in Gloucester is awarded a BEM.

Four colleagues from Sainsbury's received BEM, and they are: Andrew Dunsmore, food services assistant in Bromley, Kent; Margaret Gurney, services assistant in Amersham, Buckinghamshire; Rani Kaur, food services assisant in Bedford and Eugenia Lyle, customer experience colleague at Derry.

Jean Hughes, who works as a trade Improvement and response manager at the Co-op, has won an MBE and Liz McClean, a store manager at the Co-op’s Brodick store on the Isle of Arran, has been awarded a BEM.

McClean has made her store the centre of the Isle of Arran’s community response to the coronavirus crisis, including working round the clock to ensure deliveries were made to hundreds of elderly and vulnerable members.

“It was a feeling of disbelief when I received the letter, I thought it was a joke at first! I love our customers to bits, they are brilliant. And, the way the community has responded has been incredible,” she commented.

“Local businesses, volunteers, community groups, the local authorities and especially the Port Manager of Calmac, all helping the community to get through this together. In addition, the whole Co-op team has been fantastic - so it feels like this is as much in recognition of all their hard work too. I really am delighted.”

Hughes was recognised for working closely with frontline retail workers and the Co-op’s central support centre. Her work ensured feedback and insight from Co-op’s 2,600 food stores was gathered, prioritised and acted upon – initiating and implementing a range of key measures in communities to ensure colleagues, customers and the most vulnerable in society were supported throughout.

Hughes commented: “I never expected anything like this. It really hasn’t sunk in as yet – it is an incredible feeling to be recognised and honoured in this way.”

Adam Smith, food delivery driver at Iceland store in Rustington, West Sussex won a BEM.

He worked more than 220 additional hours to visit customers, collect their shopping lists, do their shopping for them in store, and then drop off their supplies later on. Identifying that some customers had nowhere else to turn, he would leave his personal mobile and home phone numbers alongside the delivery of shopping.

Smith, whose father is a recipient of the medal, said he was “absolutely amazed” to receive the award.

“My family are very proud with what I have achieved, and when I told my father he was beaming with pride, even more so because he received a similar award over 25 years ago which I had the pleasure of attending with him at the Palace. I am so pleased that I was able to serve my community and give help to people when they had no one else to turn to for help,” he said.

Sharon McKendrick, store manager at Morrisons in Coldstream, Berwickshire has also received a BEM.

From Waitrose, Alex Bonsu has been named for BEM. Started working at John Lewis in High Wycombe, he began at Waitrose Beaconsfield as a delivery driver five years ago.

Commenting on the medal, he said: "It's really amazing and something that I never thought would happen. Through being a delivery driver during the pandemic I feel that I have been able to support my local community more than ever before.

“Both myself and my family are so happy that I have been awarded a place on the List and I can't wait to share the news with the other Partners in the shop."

Pontrilas postmistress Sonya Cary received a BEM for services to rural communities in Herefordshire, recognising her work to help combat loneliness and malnutrition in the elderly.

Cary, who has not taken a day off in two years, runs the Post Office, shop, café, gym and weekly lunch club for the local community and those who don’t have family or other pastoral support. She runs her branch with a team of volunteers alongside a social enterprise as part of the national charity ‘C.A.R.E. CIC’.

“It feels surreal to receive this honour. The community will be bowled over by the news,” she said.

“The lockdown was stressful. We had to adapt what we could offer as the need was even greater to stop isolation and malnutrition. Many elderly men are not good at looking after themselves. We serve 23 villages in Herefordshire and during the pandemic we were also getting requests from over the border in Wales for lunch and prescription deliveries.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic Pontrilas Post Office has operated services seven days a week, and provided a wide variety of services to community residents including arranging deliveries of groceries to the vulnerable and Sunday lunches to isolated people

“The Post Office is at the centre of what we do. Without the Post Office we couldn’t have been able to provide the lunch club and gym. People don’t think of what we offer as care, they think about it as a Post Office with social centre and gym attached,” she added.