Troubled Pick n Pay appoints new executives to lead its turnaround

The new executive appointments come in the wake of the confirmation of Sean Summers as CEO late last year. Summers previously headed the company from 1999-2007, and took over the reins again in October 2023 when Pieter Boone left suddenly after just two-and-a-half years at the helm. 

Pick n Pay calls the new executive appointments a “structural adjustment” which will allow it to “focus with clarity on customers, buying, store execution and the store estate”. 

Dallas Langman has been appointed to the newly created position of Managing Executive of the Pick n Pay Retail Division. Langman has been with the Group for 34 years, having most recently been managing executive of the Rest of Africa division. Prior to this, he held senior management roles within Pick n Pay Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, and Franchise. 

“Dallas is respected for his ability to drive consistent operational standards and team performance [and] will work closely with Sean to lead a step-change in the performance of the core Pick n Pay retail business,” the company says in a statement. 

Johan Grobler will take over Rest of Africa leadership from Langman and will have additional responsibility for Value Added Services and Tomis, the newly acquired meat producing and processing facility. He has been with the Group for 32 years, most recently being Head of Fresh within Pick n Pay Retail. 

The Group Executive will consist of six strategic roles. These are Group CFO Lerena Olivier, Chief People Officer Thembi Mbengashe, Managing Executive for Clothing Hazel Pillay, and Marek Masojada as Boxer Managing Executive. 

“These changes will allow us to focus with clarity on the job at hand. This includes creating a new, dedicated head of Retail, regionalising our Retail division to allow a much sharper focus on our customers, and the creation of a dedicated Commercial section to focus on our products across the retail spectrum,” says Summers. 

“With six reports, I can now focus properly on the next three years and build for the future. The new structure will enable clarity of leadership across our business, with seasoned professionals in charge. Our people have been moved into position and will now be playing to their strengths.” 

While the group’s Pick n Pay supermarkets have been struggling, there has been strong performance by Boxer (which operates at the low end of the grocery market), Pick n Pay Clothing and Pick n Pay Liquor stores. 

According to the Pick n Pay group website, it operates just over 2,000 stores and has around 90,000 employees. Apart from South Africa, it has a presence in several African countries. Among them are Botswana. Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia.