Port Chalmers Four Square employee Jess Hudson has been working in the store’s butchery department for six years, after starting off as a meat packer. Now, she runs the entire in-store butchery department.
When Ms Hudson heard that the new owner-operator of Port Chalmers Four Square, Aaron Challis, was a butcher by trade, she knew they would be kindred spirits.
She was delighted when he offered her the butchery apprenticeship.
"I left school with no qualifications and now have three young children. I didn’t think I would ever get the opportunity to end up with a trade behind me, but Aaron has been a great trainer and mentor over the last three years," Ms Hudson said.
"I’m extremely grateful and proud."
Ms Hudson represented exactly what the co-operative hoped to achieve by supporting her apprenticeship, Foodstuffs South Island’s Four Square group manager Eugene Ruane said.
"We want to reward and upskill valued employees like Jess, with extraordinary drive and enthusiasm, and we couldn’t be prouder of the results," Mr Ruane said.
Mr Challis said Ms Hudson now ran pretty much everything in her department, including stock ordering, cutting and gross profit margin percentages, which most trainees would not start doing for some years.
"There’s not many team members who can effortlessly switch between managing employee timesheets to making sausages," he said.
"I would always tell Jess she is better than she gives herself credit for, and I look forward to seeing Jess go from strength to strength in the co-op," Mr Challis said.
