About Karen Graham

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So far Karen Graham has created 112 blog entries.

We’re a Living Wage Employer

By |2022-05-11T14:14:03+01:00May 11th, 2022|Categories: Latest News|

We’re committed to paying a fair wage for a day’s work

We are proud to announce that we have gained accreditation as a Living Wage Employer. Our commitment to paying a fair wage for a day’s work sees our minimum hourly rate stand at £10. This is above the National Minimum Wage and Real Living Wage rate and significantly higher than the government minimum for over 23s which currently stands at £9.50 per hour.

We are based in the north west, a region with nearly a fifth of all jobs (18.4%) paying less than the Real Living Wage – equating to around 534,000 jobs. Despite this, […]

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Norman Hunter – Operations Manager

By |2022-05-11T13:34:53+01:00March 15th, 2022|Categories: Staff Case Studies|

Norman Hunter
Operations Manager

Norman joined us just over ten years ago and has seen great changes at our Gateshead depot during those years.

Norman’s time before joining our team …

Norman brings a wealth of experience and skills to his current role, obtained by working in a diverse number of roles.

For many years, he worked as a banksman for a local brewery delivering across the north east.

For a number of years, Norman enjoyed working in social care with under-privileged children on a part-time basis. This involved sleeping over and ensuring the safety of the children in his care.

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Purchasing team promotions

By |2022-02-15T08:53:00+00:00February 15th, 2022|Categories: Latest News|


Purchasing team promotions

We’re excited to announce two of our colleagues based within our Purchasing Team have been recently promoted.

Amy Brown was previously a Buying Assistant is now our new Replenishment Planner and Charlotte Walker, formerly Senior Buyer, is now our new Buying Manager. We wish them both a huge congratulations in their new roles, and we’re sure everyone wishes them all the best for the future.

Amy Brown

Amy started work with us at the tender age of 15. She worked in our warehouse for many years as a part-time weekend member of staff, before joining us full-time at the age of 17. Due […]

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Lakes College visit

By |2022-01-26T15:39:25+00:00January 26th, 2022|Categories: Latest News|


Lakes College visit

On Wednesday 19th January, our butchery sales manager, John Cowen was warmly welcomed to Lakes College, Lillyhall, Workington.

He met with both Level 1 and Level 2 catering students and their tutors to give a brief overview of Pioneer Foods; our history, philosophy and service. Also, he talked about the cuts of meat we produce in our butchery by hand using highly skilled staff.

John then set the students a hands-on challenge – he asked them to produce their own recipe chicken stir fry and burgers. They needed to have the wow factor as he then judged the best recipe!

Hospitality and Catering Lecturer at the college, […]

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Save time and money – order online!

By |2021-10-27T11:23:50+01:00October 27th, 2021|Categories: Latest News|

Last year we were excited to launch our online ordering system and we’re pleased to say more and more customers are using it every day. If you haven’t taken a look yet, we’ve produced a short video showing how easy it is to use.

Here are just a few reasons to go online …

1. You can order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

2. It’s so easy, quick and simple to use – it saves you time

3. You can keep up-to-date with new product launches

4. You can browse our product categories for inspiration and ideas

5. Your personal prices are shown

6. […]

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Tracey Woollerton – Sales Support Team Leader

By |2022-10-05T10:53:10+01:00May 24th, 2021|Categories: Staff Case Studies|

Tracey Woollerton
Sales Support Team Leader

Before joining us, Tracey worked in childcare and early years settings for many years. She was looking for a change in career direction and decided to put her organisational skills to the test.

Tracey’s career …

Tracey joined Pioneer in 2018 to work in our sales support team. Our sales support team is not just an integral part to our sales team, the team is quite often regarded the voice of Pioneer! Many of our customers know the team by name and voice only as the team is responsible for taking phone calls and handling customer […]

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Amy Brown – Replenishment Planner

By |2023-04-18T10:19:16+01:00May 17th, 2021|Categories: Staff Case Studies|

Amy Brown
Replenishment Planner

Amy joined us when she was 15 and still at school, working Saturdays in our warehouse.

The start of Amy’s career …

As soon as she left school at 18, she joined us full-time as an order picker, ensuring that customers’ orders were filled correctly ready to be delivered. She was also responsible for stocking our warehouse shelves neatly and tidily after supplier deliveries were made.

At the age of 20, Amy was promoted to a supervisor role. Now Amy was still responsible for picking customer orders however she supervised other staff to ensure that they were carrying […]

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Christian Nugent – Meat Purchasing Manager

By |2021-03-30T14:42:18+01:00March 30th, 2021|Categories: Staff Case Studies|

Christian Nugent
Meat Buying Manager

For many years, Christian worked in the retail sector until he decided to take a change in direction. He joined our butchery team in 2011 and became a trained butcher. With his skills and knowledge he was soon promoted to Meat Buyer.

Christian’s promotion

His eye for quality, understanding seasonal availability, customer demands and ensuring value for money, soon seen Christian promoted to Meat Purchasing Manager.

“Pioneer likes to promote within and this creates opportunity for everyone! From day one, Graham and David have been supportive and I’m allowed to work autonomously as I’ve been encouraged to be responsible for my […]

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Supporting chefs of the future

By |2019-10-02T10:59:05+01:00October 2nd, 2019|Categories: Community, Latest News|

Supporting chefs of the future

Pictured above: Dani Hope and Kit Graves, Lake District Hotels with Simon Jackson, headteacher, Keswick School.

Kit Graves, director of Lake District Hotels Ltd, came up with a masterplan to update Keswick School’s food technology facilities. They were so out of touch with today’s professional teaching kitchens, that it required a complete refit. Kit’s idea to turn the room into a TV style Bake-off kitchen was agreed, which then followed with 18 months of fundraising activities from Lake District Hotels Ltd, to raise the required amount of £30,000.

The official opening …

On 20th September, an official opening for […]

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Congratulations to Carlisle Living Award winners!

By |2019-09-09T14:14:02+01:00September 9th, 2019|Categories: Community, Latest News|

Congratulations to Carlisle Living Award winners!

On Friday 6th September, Carlisle Living held their annual awards event. The evening took place at The Halston in Carlisle and was attended by the hard-working people of Carlisle who have helped to shape the city over the past 12 months.

Once again, we were proud sponsors of the Food & Drink category. This category sees those whose dedication, innovation and hard work throughout the year has contributed to Carlisle becoming the destination of choice for fine food and drink.

We attended the event as many of our customers were present and shortlisted for prizes. Our sales director, David Jenkins, was on stage to […]

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