New Morrisons boss makes Sir Ken's legacy the inspiration for firm's future: Chris Burn

While Sir Ken would make unannounced visits to stores and check skips to see what was being thrown away, Mr Baitiéh added his direct email address to the complaints section of the company’s website and has reportedly sent directors pictures of empty shelves and shabby displays in stores in an attempt to drive up standards.

Interestingly, Mr Baitiéh has now directly referenced Sir Ken as an inspiration for his vision in how to take the company forward in the company’s upbeat trading announcement this week which reported a 4.1 per cent increase in like-for-like sales.

He said: “This summer we are celebrating 125 years since Sir Ken Morrison’s father established the very first Morrisons store.

"This important milestone is a great platform to remind customers of the timeless values that Sir Ken built into the company and how our Market Street counters and our 18 food making factories set Morrisons apart. Embracing, preserving and enhancing his legacy is the foundation for building the Morrisons of the future.”

While Sir Ken’s business philosophy was based around the simple concept of “outstanding value for money, unbeatable customer service and a pleasant shopping experience”, Morrisons’s new strategy is based around the “three pillars of commercial excellence, operations optimisation and new value creation” – a more modern way and slightly less-catchy way of basically aiming for the same goals.

Interestingly, Mr Baitiéh said in the eight months since his arrival the company has engaged with more than 340,000 customers, colleagues and suppliers to get feedback on how to improve – resulting in a greater focus on product availability and use of its More Card loyalty scheme.

There undoubtedly remains plenty of work to do.

Morrisons, which was bought for £7 billion by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in 2021, reported a near £1 billion loss last year, driven in large part by soaring debt financing costs.

The company also reduced its staffing levels by almost 9,000 workers to just shy of 105,000 employees.

A post on The Yorkshire Post Facebook page reporting the figures when they were released in March attracted more than 500 comments in response – most of them largely negative opinions about the condition of stores, the cost of food and the business’s general direction of travel.

But the situation does appear to be improving, certainly on a financial level.

Its latest results showed Morrisons has cut its debt levels to £4 billion from a peak of £6.2 billion, driven by the proceeds of the £2.5 billion sale of its petrol station business to Motor Fuel Group.

Loyal customers will be hoping the improvements can continue.