'Some mums are not eating just to be able to feed their kids'

Wersquove had the biggest drop in incomes in a generation Some mums are not eating just so they can feed their kidsrsquo The recession is biting and shockingly leaving some families without the money for foodu00a0Thatrsquos according to the boss of one of Britainrsquos biggest supermarkets mdash and he should know His business gauges the state of ordinary familiesrsquo finances on a almost daily basisu00a0And in an exclusive interview with the Mirror Dalton Philips chief executive of Morrisons warns ldquoSome mums are going without food so they can feed their childrenu00a0ldquoOthers will go for pasta with just butter on because they canrsquot afford the sauce The statistic is that one in five mothers on challenged budgets are skipping mealsrdquo Bradfordbased Morrisons has grown to become Britainrsquos fourth biggest supermarket chain employing 132000 people Morrisons CEO Dalton Philips pictured at their store in Thornby Pic courtesy Camera PressEDCVA Newscast But after a long period of growth including record profits last year last month it saw its first quarterly drop in sales for seven years mdash although it claimed this was compared with an ldquoexceptionalrdquo period last yearu00a0Against this depressing economic outlook the chain is fighting back with measures including a TV advertising campaign starring Freddie Flintoff which hit screens last night In it the former England cricketer lays tables for a Jubilee street party which turns out to be in the storersquos aislesu00a0Perhaps it will raise a smile for customers suffering the effects of a fiveyear recession which Philips says has ldquobeen long enough to scar us and itrsquos deep enough to hurt usrdquo The chief executive who took over in March 2010 says that 43 of customers now are dipping into their savings accounts which is a huge proportion ldquoA third of our customers get to the end of the month and they have nothing left over mdash nothingrdquo he adds ldquoAnd half our customers are picking up every single item that they put in their basket and checking the pricerdquou00a0He believes that the squeeze on household budgets will change peoplersquos spending habits for years to come ldquoToday yoursquove had the biggest drop in household incomes in a generation You have to go back to the 1970s to have a real appreciation of thisu00a0ldquoFor certain people it is extremely difficult There has been a paradigm shift in behaviour regardless of what happens when the economy recovers ldquoNow yoursquove got a consumer who is having to work really hard to make their household budget stretch through the monthrdquo He says that when it comes to food ldquopeople are looking for value wastage is massively down and people are storing a lot more I think all those skills that people are relearning will stayrdquo u00a0And those skills will be needed if as he believes the latest recession mdash which the country entered in the first quarter of this year mdash proves harder on families than that of 2008u00a0ldquoIf you think of 2008 it is like there wasnrsquot a recession relatively speakingrdquo he says ldquoThe country was technically in recession but peoplersquos household incomes were still going uprdquou00a0Now Morrisons is using its customersrsquo real need to constantly watch the pennies to guide its business The supermarket has launched a value range of food mdash M Savers mdash which has proved a big hit with sales up by 47u00a0And on fuel prices mdash the biggest issue facing families Philips believes mdash they are offering 12p off a litre if you spend pound 60 in store until Sundayu00a0Itrsquos just one of the battlegrounds on which Morrisons is fighting an unprecedented war against competition from other supermarkets ldquoI am new to the UK mdash Irsquove only been here twoandahalf yearsrdquo says Philips who was born in Ireland and started his career as a store manager in New Zealand ldquobut folk who I work with whorsquove been here a long time say theyrsquove never seen anything like itrdquo However he clearly does not feel too threatened by the competition He has branded his rivalsrsquo stores ldquosoulless shedsrdquo in the past and claimed that big stores selling groceries along with nonfood were a ldquoblip in the history of retailrdquo Too many supermarkets also look the same he says ldquoIf you landed from Mars and went round the UK you might find apart from the colours they are all quite similar And what we are trying to do with our craft skills is to be differentrdquo Morrisons may have been criticised for not having launched online shopping yet and for being slow to open convenience stores But the company claims that by waiting it can learn from othersrsquo mistakes The firm has bought a stake in a New Yorkbased delivery business called Fresh Direct which will be used as a template for the UK and snapped up popular baby and toddler website Kiddicare Philips believes UK retailing faces a ldquoseismicrdquo shift ldquoWhat will remain on the high street is retailers who have got a real point of differencerdquo he believes He agrees with those who predict a massive move to online shopping but denies the charge that supermarkets are killing off small shops on the high street In fact he says the reverse is true ldquoThere is a fishmonger right opposite our store in Tunbridge Wells whose sales have gone up 20rdquo he says ldquoThere is a florist and her sales have gone up Wersquore actually bringing people inrdquou00a0Morrisons is also hiring 7000 new workers this year ldquoIt is a really hard time to be leaving school or universityrdquo Philips says ldquoFor us it has never been easier to recruit But in certain areas wersquove had stores where we have had to help people with their basic numeracy and literacyrdquo He advises those struggling to get work to retrain or even up sticks ldquoThere are jobs out thererdquo he insists ldquoYou have to hunt them down You may have to move cities You may have to get up and go You may have to start right at the bottomrdquou00a0As for the outlook the dad of three who joined Morrisons from Canadian retailer Loblaw is realistic ldquoWe think 2012 will be very difficult for customers We donrsquot see any respite in the next two years I think we are at the bottom of the cycle and will bump along like this u00a0ldquoTherefore as a big retailer our job is to make sure we do our bit to ensure that budgets stretch further which we are well set up to dordquou00a0