'Meat Guru'-Category Manager Bill Arnold Out at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Bill Arnold, Fresh & Easy's "Meat Guru" is out.

Arnold, who Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market made the face of its in-store fresh meat offering in a marketing and public relations campaign over the last couple years, was, in addition to its meat category face and spokesman, the 184-store grocery chain's meat and seafood category manager, who was responsible on a day-to-day basis for procurement and merchandising.

Arnold left El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy last week to pursue another job opportunity in the food and grocery industry.

He joined Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market before the first stores were opened in November 2007.

Fresh & Easy has not publicly announced Arnold's departure, nor has it been reported in the grocery industry trade press or elsewhere, based on an extensive online search we did prior to publishing this story.

Arnold's leaving Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market wasn't directly related to the series of events that led to chief marketing officer Simon Uwings' departure last week, the news of which we broke on Thursday, November 10, in this story: Chief Marketing Officer Uwins Out in Top-Level Reshuffling at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

In the days following our detailed November 10 story, numerous mainstream business and grocery industry trade publications have published stories based on the information we first reported in Fresh & Easy Buzz, seeking and obtaining confirmation of our report from Fresh & Easy's corporate spokesperson.

Arnold's decision to resign his position however was influenced by and related to the changes happening at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which are detailed in our November 10 story, according to our sources. (We learned of and verified Arnold's departure last week. It was on Wednesday, November 9 that Fresh & Easy's CEO, Tim Mason, announced Uwins' departure during the grocery chain's weekly Town Hall meeting at the El Segundo office.)

Chief among those changes is the reality that since buying-out former in-house meat purveyor 2 Sisters Food Group last year (see our story here), and terminating its business relationship with seafood supplier Pacific Pride Seafood Inc. in June of this year, which we reported exclusively here, Fresh & Easy has shifted most of its meat and fish/seafood buying to its facility at the Riverside County, California campus/distribution center. That operation was formerly 2 Sisters Food Group and is now owned and operated by the grocery chain.

It's not clear at present if Fresh & Easy will replace Arnold and keep the meat and seafood category position, according to our sources, particularly because much of the procurement is now handled by the meat facility at the Riverside campus.

One option that's being consider, according to our sources, is to hire a buyer-merchandiser who would focus primarily on fish and seafood, which is a category Fresh & Easy wants to improve considerably and do more sales volume in.

Bill Arnold was a bit more than a category manager at Tesco's Fresh & Easy, however, at least in the eyes of its marketing department.

The grocer's marketing department, with CEO Tim Mason's blessing, made the meat man the face of the category to consumers in a series of marketing-oriented press releases, videos, posts in the corporate marketing blog and other venues.

For example, a July 1, 2010 post  in Fresh & Easy's "talking fresh" blog touts Arnold as "Fresh & Easy's Meat Guru." The post, authored by the meat man, talks about grilling meats, and is a promotional piece designed to stimulate sales of the grocers grill pack items for the July 4th holiday. [See the post: Thursday, July 1, 2010 GUEST BLOG: Fresh & Easy’s Meat Guru Bill Arnold.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market also produced the three minute video (at the top of this story) of "Meat Guru" Bill Arnold that's included in the July 1 blog post and was posted on its YouTube channel, which features the meat man in front of the meat case in a Fresh & Easy store, where he's touting the grocers own-brand meat and poultry grill packs for theJuly 4th holiday and summer grilling season.

Other marketing programs featuring the now departed Bill Arnold as "Fresh & Easy's "Meat Guru" included a public relations and event-oriented program just this summer as a way to encourage shoppers to buy the grocer's existing and new varieties of meat and poultry grill packs.

For example, as part of that campaign, this May 12, 2011 press release featured Arnold as "Fresh & Easy's Meat Expert."

In the release, which was distributed to media outlets in California, Nevada and Arizona and posted on the web, Arnold offers this advice in a quote: "As we move into summer, more people are coming together for barbecues, graduations, and picnics and everyone wants to find great deals on quality meats and veggies they can easily throw on the grill. We're expanding our grilling range to offer our customers even more choice meat options marinated with new and unique flavors, along with some great vegetarian options and sides."

Arnold, who's now gone, was also featured in a number of other promotions as "Fresh & Easy's "Meat Expert" or "Meat Guru."

In September of this year Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market paid a former meat category buyer named Kyle Weathersby $489,747,73 in a legal judgement, which was the result of a wrongful termination-employment discrimination lawsuit he filed and won against the grocery chain after being fired in 2008, as we reported here - October 27, 2011: Former Meat Buyer Wins $400,000-Plus Legal Judgment From Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Prior to his dismissal from Tesco's Fresh & Easy, Weathersby reported to Bill Arnold, who as the meat and seafood category manager was responsible for the day-to-day procurement and merchandising of the products that comprise the respective product categories.

Key Personnel Breaking News: Co-Vice President of Retail Operations Brian Pugh No Longer Employed At Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Brian Pugh, Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's co-vice president of retail operations has left the company, according to information obtained by Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Additionally, we've independently and directly verified Mr. Pugh no longer works for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market at its corporate headquarters in El Segundo or elsewhere for the grocery chain.

Brian Pugh left Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market around the first week of this month, close to the the Labor Day holiday.

In addition, Brian Pugh's wife, who worked for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and whom he met while both worked at the corporate headquarters office in El Segundo, also is no longer with the company, leaving at about the same time he Pugh did.

Mr. Pugh was one of the original Tesco Plc. executives who came to the U.S. to start up the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market small-format, convenience-oriented, combination basic grocery and fresh foods chain.

Others key senior corporate executives who in addition to Brian Pugh came from Tesco's United Kingdom or other international divisions to Southern California to start-up Fresh & Easy, and who remain in positions with the company, include CEO Tim Mason, director of marketing Simon Uwins, Tony Eggs, who's head of the retailer's store development program, and others.

As we reported in August, Charlotte Maxwell, who came from Tesco's UK operations to head Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's grocery merchandising department, recently returned to Tesco-UK to accept a director-level position there. Her title at Fresh & Easy corporate was director of grocery merchandising.

On March 12, 2008, we reported in this piece, "Breaking News: Tesco plc. Makes Major Personnel Change to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA Senior Management Team ," that Tesco was reassigning Jeff Adams, the then CEO of Tesco-Lotus in Thailand, to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to share the vice president of retail operations position and duties with Brian Pugh.

Nearly three months later, as we reported in this May 29, 2008 story, Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market confirmed in a press release our March 12 report that Jeff Adams had joined Fresh & Easy at the El Segundo corporate office and that he would be sharing duties with Brian Pugh; both men holding the title of co-vice president of retail operations.

In the May 29 piece we discussed how unusual of an arrangement having co-vice presidents of retail operations is for a grocery chain, commenting in the story that time will tell how such an arrangement works out.

Less than four months later, Mr. Pugh has left Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. Jeff Adams now is the vice president of retail operations for the chain, holding that title alone.

We haven't learned the specific reason Brian Pugh left Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, at least not to the verification standards we employ in reporting on Fresh & Easy Buzz. Further, we aren't suggesting Mr. Pugh's departure had anything to do with the relationship between him and Jeff Adams or the fact they shared the position.

However, we have learned two things. First, according to sources in the UK in a position to know, it appears Mr. Pugh no longer works for Tesco Plc. Additionally, we've learned Brian Pugh's departure from Fresh & Easy corporate was rather abrupt -- that he hadn't discussed with any co-workers having any plans to leave the company, nor that he was leaving to accept another job opportunity in the industry or elsewhere.

Mr. Pugh's voice mail at Fresh & Easy's El Segundo office still works. However, it doesn't have his recorded voice on the system. Additionally, his company mobile phone no longer works. An employee verified he no longer works for the company.

Brian Pugh is the latest in a long line of Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market headquarter employees to leave the grocery chain this year.

As we reported in this August 17, 2008 story, "Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Experiencing A Category Manager and Buyer 'Brain Drain'," five category managers and buyers have left the company in just a four -to- five month period -- from February -to- June, 2008 -- this year.

Additionally, about 11 category managers and buyers overall have left Fresh & Easy since it set up shop at the corporate office in El Segundo, California about two year's ago.

Further, as we mentioned above, and reported in this piece on August 17, 2008, " Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department," Charlotte Maxwell, who was the director of grocery merchandising since Fresh & Easy launched in the U.S., recently left, returning to the UK to accept a director level position with Tesco there. Ms. Maxwell is a British citizen. [Click here for an addition story on Charlotte Maxwell's departure from Fresh & Easy.

Brian Pugh has a prior working history with both Jeff Adams, who up until this month he shared the vice president of retail operations title and position with, as well as with Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason.

Those who know both Mr. Pugh and Mr. Mason describe them as friends. Jeff Adams and Brian Pugh worked closely together in the past at Tesco-Lotus in Thailand. Both men also are former employees of Wal-Mart, Inc.

Since Brain Pugh and Mr. Adams shared the vice president of retail operations position, we don't expect there to be a major problem in terms of Jeff Adams' getting up to speed on the portion of the shared duties that belonged to Mr. Pugh.

However, Brian Pugh did have an institutional memory of the chain since he was part of Fresh & Easy's start up. That knowledge could be a loss to the grocery chain, along with other aspects of his knowledge and experience.

Special Report: Today Last Day For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Director of Grocery Charlotte Maxwell; Moving Back to Tesco in the UK

On August 17 we reported in this piece: "Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department," that Charlotte Maxwell, director of grocery at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA, is leaving Tesco's U.S. food and grocery retailing venture to return to Tesco's corporate offices in the United Kingdom to accept a grocery director's position which she interviewed internally for and was recently offered. It was an offer she accepted.

In the August 17 story we reported she would be leaving Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and its headquarters in El Segundo, (Southern) California for her new position at Tesco in the UK before the end of this month.

We've now learned that today, August 22, is Ms. Maxwell's last day with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA and at its Southern California headquarters.

After today, Ms. Maxwell, who's home is Britain, will be returning home to live and take up her position as a grocery director level four at Tesco's offices in the UK.

Like many of the Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market senior executives, including CEO Tim Mason, marketing director Simon Uwins and others, Ms. Maxwell came from the UK to Southern California to start up the Fresh & Easy chain. And like Mr. Mason, Mr. Uwins and most of the food retailer's other senior executives, Fresh & Easy has been Ms. Maxwell's first experience with food and grocery retailing American style.

As we reported in our August 17 piece, Sean McCurley, also a British native, will be replacing Charlotte Maxwell as corporate director of grocery at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. Mr. McCurley is currently the director of fresh, which has been an equal position to Ms. Maxwell's in Fresh & Easy's corporate structure. Essentially he is making a lateral move within the company. He begins his new position with Charlotte Maxwell's departure today.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market splits its category management/merchandising and buying department into two functional areas: grocery and fresh, as we detailed in our August 17 piece.

As part of Ms. Maxwell's departure, Tesco's Fresh & Easy is reorganizing its corporate buying department, replacing her with Mr. McCurley, along with making other adjustments and changes in the department.

That reorganization also comes on the heels of five category managers and buyers having left Fresh & Easy in the last 4 -to- 5 months. For more information on this category manager and buyer brain drain at Fresh & Easy's corporate offices read our other August 17 piece: "Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Experiencing A Category Manager and Buyer 'Brain Drain.'"

Tesco opened its 73rd Fresh & Easy small-format (average 10,000 -to- 13,000 square feet) combination basic grocery and fresh foods store on Wedneday, August 20 at Tustin and Chapman streets in the Southern California city of Orange. It's the grocery chain's second store in the city, and its eighth unit in Orange County, which the city of Orange is located in.

Related stories from Fresh & Easy Buzz:

August 17, 2008: Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department

August 17, 2008: Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Experiencing A Category Manager and Buyer 'Brain Drain'

Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is in the process of reorganizing its corporate category management and buying department at its El Segundo, California corporate headquarters, Fresh & Easy buzz has learned. (Fresh & Easy calls its buying department "Commercial," in following the British usage, even though its a U.S-based division.)

As we reported earlier, five category managers and buyers have left the company over the last four -to- five months, from February -to- June, 2008.

Key to the corporate category management and buying department organizational changes is the departure of Charlotte Maxwell, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's director of grocery. Ms. Maxwell, who is a British native, plans to return to Tesco PLC in the United Kingdom to assume a director position at corporate headquarters there, sources tell Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Replacing Ms. Maxwell as director of grocery will be Sean McCurely, who currently is director of the Fresh Department. Mr. McCurely is equal to Ms. Maxwell in the corporate organizational chart. Therefore his will essentially be a lateral move within the company.

Grocery and Fresh are the two departments within Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's merchandising and buying organization.

Additional changes and new category management and buying assignments include:

>The promotion of existing Bakery category manager Jim Jensen to the director of fresh, replacing Sean McCurley who is assuming Ms. Maxwell's director of grocery position.

>The existing category manager for dairy/deli (which is in the Fresh division) is moving over to the Grocery Department to be the category manager of specialty, baking and canned goods, reporting to Sean McCurley, who he currenly reports to in the Fresh Department.

>A new person has been hired to be the category manager for dairy/deli, replacing the existing category manager, who is moving over to the grocery division. Our sources say his first name is Dan. However they don't have a last name for the new dairy/deli category buyer. He will report to Jim Jenson, who will be the new Fresh Department director, as detailed above.

>The current beverages category manager is getting the confections category added to his portfolio. Previously he was in charge of canned goods along with beverages but no longer will be because that segment is now going to the new specialty, baked goods and canned foods category manager as we detailed above. Beverages is under the Grocery Department.

Additionally, we've learned the wine and beer category, which originally was part of the Grocery Department but was moved some time ago to the Fresh Department for internal reasons, is going to be switched back to its original location in grocery, under the supervision of Sean McCurley, who as we said above is switching from director of fresh foods to grocery director, replaces Charlotte Maxwell who is returning to Tesco in the UK.

Further, our sources tell us the frozen foods category, which currently is in the Fresh Department, likely also will be moved to the Grocery department under Mr. McCurely's supervision.

After the organizational changes are completed, the Fresh Department will consist of the following: fresh meat, fresh produce, bakery and dairy/deli. All other categories will be under the Grocery Department.

According to sources, Fresh & Easy has filled some of the five category manager and buyer positions we reported on here. However, based on the math, it appears there remain openings to fill for bakery goods in the Fresh Department and snacks and breakfast in the Grocery Department. Of course, depending on how the new Grocery and Fresh department directors organize their respective departments, these two category manager positions could be merged, changed or otherwise adjusted.

Fresh & Easy has filled the vacant non-foods category manager position internally, moving former frozen foods category manager Michelle Bonilla into that position. Her non-foods duties include health and beauty care items. At press time we're told the buyer position under her has yet to be filled.

We weren't able to determine as of yet if Ms. Bonilla's frozen foods category manager position has been filled. Sources say there's been talk about trying to fill it internally.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market category managers have started to informally tell their supplier sales representatives about the reorganization and changes. Sources tell us the company has no plans to make a formal, written announcement to the supplier community or the press about the changes however.

In addition to these major organizational changes in the category mangement-buying department, particularly the departure of Ms. Maxwell, there will be some additional minor changes and tweaks, particularly when the department is able to hire the remaining category managers and buyers.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market currently has 71 of its small-format (10,000 -to- 13,000 square foot), convenience-oriented combination basic grocery, fresh foods and specialty grocery markets open in Southern California, Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada, and in the Phoenix, Arizona Metro region. Numerous additional stores are scheduled to be open the rest of this year and next year, including moving into the new markets of Central and Northern California beginning in early 2009, as we've reported on extensively.

Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Experiencing A Category Manager and Buyer 'Brain Drain'

Five category managers and buyers have left their jobs at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market corporate headquarters in just a four -to- five month period, from February -to- June of this year, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

These five category managers and buyers were responsible for headquarters product category merchandising and buying for the majority of the grocery chain's key grocery department categories. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's merchandising and buying function is organized into various departmental segments such as grocery, fresh foods and the like.

The following are the titles and categories the departed Fresh & Easy category managers and buyers were responsible for:

Title: Category Manager/Specialty Foods. Responsible for merchandising and buying of all Specialty Foods, which includes: spices, baking products, oils and numerous other categories Tesco's Fresh & Easy categorizes under the broad specialty foods title.

Title: Category Manager/Non Foods. Responsible for the merchandising and buying of the entire non-foods category, in addition to directly buying about 50% of the category's items on a day-to-day basis. A buyer who reported to this category manager bought the other 50% of the category items on a day-to-day basis.

Title: Buying Manager/Non-Foods. This buyer, who also left like the non-foods' category manager, bought the about 50% of the non-foods category items the category manager didn't buy, including baby food and baby supplies and pet foods.

Title: Category Manager/Breakfast, Snacks, Confection, Cookies and Crackers. In addition to having overall merchandising responsibility for these categories, the category manager also bought all the confection and snack lines on a day-to-day basis, while a direct-report buyer bought the other categories.

Title: Buying Manager. Bought the following non-foods category segments on a day-today basis: vitamins, energy bars, paper goods, detergent and a few others. Additionally, this buyer had previously bought coffee, canned goods, jams, preserves and a few other food segments. The non-foods category buying responsibilities came after the non-foods category manager left employment, which according to sources was about 3 months before this buying manager left.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has identified the names of each of these five category managers and buyers through our sources and through additional research. However, we aren't publishing the names since we don't think doing so in necessary, along with the fact one or more of them may currently be in the job market.

The first category manager/ buyer left Tesco's Fresh & Easy in late February, 2008, according to multiple sources. The last buyer to leave the company did so in late June, according to our sources.

As each of these category managers and buyers left Tesco's Fresh & Easy in the four -to- five month period from February -to- June of this year, their respective category management and buying responsibilities were divided among the remaining category managers and buyers, resulting in what sources have described as significant added workloads for the remaining headquarters buyers.

Suppliers also say there's been somewhat of a "who's on first" situation at Tesco's corporate buying headquarters in El Segundo, California in that with so many category managers and buyers leaving over such a short period of time, product lines are being handed off near weekly, resulting in having a different buyer every other week or so for a supplier's line.

These five aren't the only category managers or buyers who've left Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in its short tenure. A couple of the grocery chain's original buyers, hired in the pre-store opening phase, left the company before the first stores opened in late October-early November, 2007.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has been advertising for category managers and buyers and conducting interviews to replace each of the five headquarters merchandising and buying department employees who've left the company over the last 4 -to- 5 months.

We've learned that a couple of the positions have been filled but that at least two, both category manager positions, have yet to be filled.

A person who interviewed for one of the positions recently, but who notified the company shortly after his interview that he wasn't interested in the position because he decided to accept another opportunity offered him elsewhere, told Fresh & Easy Buzz he was told that if hired it was possible he might end up as a category manager in a category different than the one he was interviewed for initially because things were in a bit of a state of flux within the buying department.

The five buying department employees who've left Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in just the last four -to- five months have left a serious void, or brain drain, at corporate headquarters when it comes to merchandising and buying, according to multiple sources.

In many ways, most of the grocery chain's short institutional memory and history in the grocery category headquarters and buying area has been wiped away with such a significant number of key department employees exiting the company over such a short period of time.

Numerous suppliers, many of whom already have expressed frustration in doing business with Tesco's Fresh & Easy, say they are even more frustrated by what one described as the turnstile buying department at the company.

The buying department brain drain and void also is in part to blame for the higher than should be out-of-stocks in Fresh & Easy grocery stores, although the retailer's official position has been that there isn't a problem.

Additionally, with such a dynamic passing around of buying responsibilities, as anyone who's every been a category manager or buyer is well aware, it's near impossible to properly learn a category when its in your portfolio for such a short amount of time.

Further, as those who've been category managers and buyers, along with those who've called on them know, when buyers get loaded-down with too many additional lines, they tend to end up essentially doing nothing but cutting purchase orders, which means instead of managing a category for optimized sales and gross margins, they merely are forced to become purchasing agents.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy is attempting to replace all five category manager and buyers, and as we mentioned above has hired some replacements thus far. Other changes are coming to the department as well, which we will report on as we learn more.

It appears when it comes to category management and buying at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, things are certainly "fresh," as in lots of buyer turnover, but keeping the buyers around certainly doesn't seem to be "easy."