Fred Harrison is a Peninsula boy through and through.  He has lived in Frankston and Mount Eliza for 50 of his 59 years, and when he and his wife recently moved house – downsizing after two of their three sons had left home – they chose to stay here.

“We could have moved out of Mount Eliza and gone to another part of the Peninsula or even closer to the city.  (But) when we bought this house we committed to live in Mount Eliza for at least the next five or 10 years. I just love the area.”

The Ritchies IGA chief executive points to the relaxed atmosphere, the beach, the leafiness of the suburb and “the fact that people who decide to live here usually do so for a purpose – they tend to be more family-focused, they tend to be more sports-centric”.

Certainly sport has played a major part in Fred’s life – he actually wanted to become a professional tennis player – and in the lives of his boys, who all played footy and cricket here. “It’s just a great lifestyle and fun place to live. My only disappointment is I work long hours so I don’t get to see them play a lot, but that’s all part of the business we’re in.”

To that end it will be back to work after spending Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family and friends.  “I’ll probably have a week off in January (but) it’s a busy time of year for us. I’ll be on deck for a fair part.”

That commitment to work is one of the “points of difference” he says helps keep Ritchies in the game against the might of Woolworths, Coles, Costco and Aldi. 

“The fact that we’ve been able to grow from humble beginnings to 80 supermarkets and liquor stores I think is a credit to the intelligence of our business but also very much to the people in the business. We’re up against it versus the chains, so you’ve just got to accept that you have to work longer and harder, and that’s a fair commitment and sacrifice by a lot of people in our business.  We’ve got hundreds of our team who give over and above the call of duty.”

Another point of difference is Ritchies’ enormously successful Community Benefit program.  Launched in the 1990s, it has seen $46.5 million donated to more than 5000 clubs, schools and charities. 

Ultimately, though, Ritchies needs to be price-competitive – and is. “When it comes to milk, people expect us to have $2 milk; when it comes to $8 barbecue chickens they expect us to have $8 barbecue chickens.  So there is an expectation that we have to be competitive and we pride ourselves that we are. You can’t be uncompetitive in pricing these days – you will just not survive.”