At Tuesday's Best in Fresh awards in Dublin’s Four Seasons Hotel, sponsored by Ireland’s leading grocery trade magazine, Checkout, Senator Feargal Quinn was honoured with a lifetime achievement award.
Quinn’s eponymous supermarket group, Superquinn, was known in Ireland and around the world as one of the finest upmarket grocery chains, with a particular strength in the area of fresh produce. An innovative retailer, he was an early proponent of traceability, private label development, communication with the consumer and support for environmental issues. Quinn’s refreshing approach to business and indeed, politics has attracted many admirers from around the world. Quinn was an active member of the CIES, the precursor to the Consumer Goods Forum, and was a distinguished speaker at the organisation’s conferences as well as chairman of a number of committees. A keen golfer and horseman, he is also involved in politics and was elected to the Irish senate in 1993.
Quinn's book, Crowning the Customer, was an Irish bestseller. Quinn is also a TV personality, hosting the hugely-popular Irish television series, Retail Therapy. (24 Jul)
© 2012 ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
