Passion, commitment and respect topped with hard work has earned Waiata Shores Jatinder Chahal the Woolworths NZ Store Manager of the Year award.

“I was so surprised when my name was called out. It’s such a good feeling and definitely a highlight of my career,” he smiles proudly.

From a multigenerational farming family in India, Jatinder’s desire to achieve professional excellence through hard work and dedication has been instilled in him from a young age.

“I finished my schooling in Nabha, Punjab and came to New Zealand on a student visa. While I studied I worked at Woolworths Greenlane filling shelves two nights a week. As English was my second language it helped to be working and interacting with customers and other team members.”

One year later, Jatinder was working as a checkout operator at Woolworths St Lukes.

“I was always looking for ways to learn and I put my hand up for any opportunity that came my way.”

As his confidence and understanding of the supermarket business grew, Jatinder soon worked his way up to supervisor, duty manager and then eventually fresh food manager, back at Woolworths Greenlane - where it all began.

Seventeen years later he is now the store manager at Waiata Shores, South Auckland.

“Along the way I had the support and encouragement from my group manager Steve Cross and operations manager Darryn Brash - among others. They taught me so much and filled me with the confidence I needed. Their support went a long way.”

Jatinder said outside of work it was the women in his life that were his “lucky charms”.

“As my family grew, so did my career. The year I got married to my wife Ravneet I got a promotion, and then two years later when my daughter Jappan was born, another promotion,” he laughed.

Family and friends are important and he paid tribute to the support of his parents, who live with him in Papatoetoe.

His father Jaswinder Singh and mother Gurmeet Kaur take every opportunity to show off his Store Manager of the Year trophy to everyone who visits their home.

“My mum is very proud. She has always been there for me. As a young boy she used to carry me 6km to school every day.”

From humble beginnings, Jatinder does not take his Waiata Shores store manager’s job for granted - always striving to do better for his customers and the 110 team members who report to him.

Woolworths NZ Director Retail & Franchise Jason Stockill says Jatinder leads from the front and shows a high level of respect to his team members.

“He is a great listener and he explains the ‘why’ extremely well,” Jason said.

With positive sales growth, a nearly 900 day accident-free work environment, consistently good customer and store scores, Jatinder’s philosophy is “do the groundwork and the results will come”.

Woolworths NZ Team Experience Partner Daphne Fineaso says Jatinder consistently demonstrates a profound passion for both his team and customers, an approach that is highly regarded and affirmed by his team and peers.

Listening to his customers, Jatinder worked with his team to ensure more Indian food products and items were brought into the Waiata Shores store.

“It means now our Indian customers can do all their shopping in one place instead of visiting many other Indian grocers and supermarkets over Auckland.”

Jatinder’s positive attitude and willingness to do right by his customers and team members has recently led to a six-month secondment as a group manager. It involves travel outside of Auckland and overseeing 11 stores.

“I’m really loving it.

“I’m grateful for my career with Woolworths and the company has not only supported me in my goals but it’s offered me a work life balance that means I can be a good son, husband and father.”