Explaining Project Sunrise

Some big changes are happening at Sobeys Inc, Safeway’s parent company.

We have a new President and CEO in Michael Medline, who has a strong history in the retail sector and deep experience in creating highly effective change.

In a nutshell, here is what he is aiming to do with Sobey’s Inc:

We’re going to get out of our own way.

A task that begins in our corporate office, with ‘Project Sunrise’.

“We have an aggressive goal to transform our organization, better serve our customers, empower our employees and assuredly move from defense to offense in the market. To do this we need to unleash the talents and scale we already have at our disposal.” – Michael Medline, President & CEO.

‘Project Sunrise’ is a bold move that will transform our organization allowing us to better serve our customers, empower our employees and move from defense to offense in the many markets in which we operate. This will happen over the next three years, ultimately bringing $500 million in savings each year and much more efficiency throughout our system. In the future we will operate with a simpler, leaner structure, more efficient core processes and tools.

Here’s what we are doing: 

• We are moving from a regional to national structure to remove overlap, minimize our own bureaucracy and excessive processes so we can just get things done better, faster and cheaper for everyone.
• We will simplify our relationships with vendors by centralizing where it makes sense so we can increase our purchasing power.
• We are committed to continually improving the efficiency and productivity of the company across the country.

Why are we doing this?

Our customers shop differently now than they did even a few years ago, and we need to reconnect with those customers. We face new and different competitors with globally deep pockets. At Safeway, we have some of the highest costs in our industry.

Starting with ‘Project Sunrise’ we are making big changes to better service our stores and our customers.

We are going to need your help to get there.

We know you have concerns as well.

So we are going to do a better job of communicating and listening.

You will hear more from your store managers and regional leadership about the changes as they happen.

And we want to hear from you as this work unfolds.

Please engage with us on Safeway Talks to keep up to date on news, and to let us know what you think.