This $3.5b company CEO says optimism is a requirement of the job

Metcash CEO Doug Jones is unfazed by current economic conditions: “To run a business where 96.5 per cent of your customers have jobs is a blessing.”

Sally PattenBOSS editor

Aug 18, 2023 – 5.00am

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

One of the downsides of working in retail is that everyone is an expert. Wherever you go.

“Everybody will go, ‘I’ve got some advice for you. When I was in my local IGA or Mitre10, this was my experience and I just thought you’d like to know,’” says Doug Jones, chief executive of Metcash – the wholesaler behind IGA and Foodworks food retailers, Mitre10 hardware stores and Cellarbrations liquor outlets.

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

License article

Introducing your Newsfeed

Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.

Find out more

Sally PattenBOSS editorSally Patten edits BOSS, and writes about workplace issues. She was the financial services editor and personal finance editor of the AFR, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. She edited business news for The Times of London.