From Apprentice to Deputy Managing Director: Congrats on the promotion Martin!
Directors Philip and Roger Cranston (left, middle) and Martin Jones (right)
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Martin Jones to the role of Deputy Managing Director.
You may recognise Martin, he’s worked for Cranstons for over 30 years, since his days as a butchery apprentice in the Kirkoswald shop. Over the years as Cranstons has expanded, his role developed. In his time at Cranstons Martin has managed Carlisle Fisher Street and then Penrith King Street in the 80s and 90s, before overseeing the Cumbrian Food Hall when it opened in 2003.
He was made retail director managing the whole of the retail side of the business in 2011.
In his new role, Martin will direct day-to-day operations overseeing our four food halls and two high street shops, as well as the busy production unit and shaping the future strategy of the business.
Upon being asked about his time at Cranstons, Martin said: “I saw in the paper that Cranstons was opening a new shop in Penrith and I needed a job so wrote in. I never imagined I would spend my whole working life at Cranstons but 36 years later I am still enjoying it
“My best moment at Cranstons to date has to be managing the Cumbrian Food Hall opening back in 2003. It seemed like a huge space in comparison to the smaller traditional town centre shops we operated at the time and a gamble, but from day one we realised it was going to work well; we knew within the first week that we hadn’t in fact built it big enough! The subsequent extension in 2009 was built to resolve this! Since then we have successfully opened two further food halls and converted our Carlisle city centre shop into one as well.”
Asked what excites him about the future, Martin added: “Cranstons is successful because of the hard work and dedication of our team, many of whom are long serving. I plan to build on that expertise and passion, developing our people and making sure we continue our strong history of evolving the business model to meet new customer expectations. Right now we are focused on the further development our food to go ranges with people consuming more and more food out of the home. I am keen to build on the success of our local produce food halls; if the right site came up it would mean a fifth food hall. ”
Philip Cranston said: “We are thrilled to announce Martin’s promotion to the Deputy Managing Director role. With over 30 years’ experience at Cranstons he brings a wealth of knowledge to the role and an unwavering enthusiasm for developing our team, products and shops. Martin has been instrumental in developing our local produce food halls since the millennium, and is well respected by our loyal and long serving team.”