Drakes Supermarkets were started by Roger Drake in

1974. It was at first a three lane supermarket. It's grown in

South Australia to 35 stores now and in Queensland we have

21 stores. In 2003 we decided

to set up our own registered training organisation. We offer a number of

nationally recognised qualifications. It's very difficult for us

to compete with Coles and Woolworths. We feel that

good staff, or excellent staff can provide the best service we

have a chance to compete. These qualifications are really

vital in upskilling and ensuring that they

are able to provide the customer service that we require.

I think the best thing about working for Drakes Supermarkets is the one on one training that I get to do with my staff.

I've loved seeing over the years staff that I've had come and start

as casuals now running their own departments. We've got 21

apprentices that have moved on over the last couple of

years that we've been doing the apprenticeship program into management positions.

Drakes decided to use nationally recognised training

as a retention strategy. Every trainee or apprentice

has a mentor within the workplace so that the skills that they learn off the job

are then transferred to on the job. Applying for the South

Australian Large Employer of the Year and then going onto the Australian Training

Awards Employer of the Year was a really valuable thing for us to do.

I felt that the staff who'd done our traineeships

really needed the recognition that winning the Australian

Training Awards could give them. It's really nice to get that formal recognition

that we are doing things the way that we should. We know

that we are the best and to actually have it recognised nationally is something

fantastic for the company. In Drakes the staff are

our best asset, so it's really important for them that we've won.

I think it made the staff extremely proud to be involved in a company

that is nationally recognised in an area like this and it really has

raised the profile of retail as a career, as a really

viable and exciting and challenging career.