The old saying goes, ‘behind every good man is a good woman’ and this could not be truer for the team at Groupe Geraud, although it would be slightly amended to ‘behind every good business are several good women’. As you walk through the doors of the Groupe Geraud office you are greeted by the warm and friendly faces at reception. The two ladies behind reception work tirelessly as they have many duties to perform, some of which include working all night to help put up stalls and run markets. Megan Davies, who is the Business Administration Assistant, has worked for Groupe Geraud for 18 months and as well as answering the phone and doing general day to day reception duties she has many other jobs to do. She helps to plan the Farmers Markets and Christmas Markets, and also always has a weekly market to plan for. She also informs market managers how many traders to expect and what the income should be from that for the Geraud markets.

Part of Groupe Gerauds Market Team at Great Homer Street Market, Megan Penlington, Pam Linnett Richardson (Operations Manager), John Connolly (Contracts & Business Developments Manager) and Megan Davies
Part of Groupe Gerauds Market Team at Great Homer Street Market, Megan Penlington, Pam Linnett Richardson (Operations Manager), John Connolly (Contracts & Business Developments Manager) and Megan Davies

Megan told MTN,
“I love it here, it’s really exciting and even though I haven’t been here to long compared to some of the others, they were all very welcoming and nice when I joined.”

The other lady on reception is Megan Penlington, who is the Business Administration Assistant and has worked for Groupe Geraud for two years. Her job entails working on reception at the head office of Groupe Geraud, as well as providing administration assistance to the market managers in the booking of market traders for events throughout the year and many other various tasks.

Megan told MTN,
“I find working for Geraud to be challenging and educational, having started in the company as an apprentice”.

Once you have walked through the reception you come to the finance team, who work very hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. They are a very close and friendly bunch that makes sure all the finances for the business are kept in ship shop shape.

Groupe Geraud Street Shot2Rachel Lloyd, who has only been with the company for seven months, is the Group Financial Accountant. She told MTN,
“I haven’t been here long, however I was welcomed with open arms. The majority of the finance department has been here a long time and they are like a family, which they accepted me into straight away. After my first couple of weeks here it felt like I had already been here a long time”.
“We have regular team meetings and I arrange a lot of training for us all so we are always improving and developing our skills. Groupe Geraud also offer a lot of apprenticeship schemes when they are looking for new employees and offer the current staff opportunities to become further qualified”.
“The company want you to better yourself and I would say that while they are very business focused they are also family friendly, which makes them a pleasure to work for.”

Groupe Geraud Street Shot1Pam Johnston is the longest serving employee and has been with the company for 11 years. Pam is the Senior Management Accountant and produces management accounts for Geraud Markets Liverpool Ltd and Forge Market. Working closely alongside Pam is Azilma Hall, who is Senior Management Supervisor. Azilma has been with the company for 8 ½years and she looks after the accounts for GM UK Ltd, GMUK and GMScandinavia and also deals with the special events manager. Dawn Olson is the Credit Controller and has been in the role for 10 years. It involves processing any returns; processing any cash coming in from the markets; keeping track of the continental markets; posting the invoices for the continental markets and also invoicing the traders at the Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market for their rents.
Dawn told MTN,
“There has been a lot of changes recently and things are continuing to progress onwards and upwards, Malcolm has been a big influence with regards to this.”

Karen McGrath and Lorraine Kenwright are Groupe Geraud’s Purchase Ledger Clerks. They have worked at the company for 10½ and 8 years respectively and look after 6 of the companies businesses, authorising incoming invoices and processing payments.

Groupe Geraud Street ShotProperty Assistant, Sarah Coffey, has been with the company just over a year and she is the first port of call for Geraud’s Market Villages. She is in charge of ensuring the company are getting the best business rates for the locations of the markets.

Sarah is involved a lot with the local councils where the markets can be located, making sure everything is running smoothly. As well as this she does general admin work and makes sure payments are allocated to the right accounts.
She told MTN,
“My first year has been really good, it has been really easy to settle in, everyone is lovely and so helpful.”

Anna Grimes is the Property and Treasury Accountant and has been with the company for 2 years. Anna deals with all the banks across the company and compiles reports for the Managing Director and Rachel. She also looks after the cash flow for Market Village and Brixton Market.
Anna told MTN,
“Everyone is really nice and friendly here and have so much experience. I really enjoy working here.”

Accounts Assistant, Gemma Garner, has been with the company just over 2 years and her job involves the invoicing and processing of payments for Market Village. As well as doing the journal entries. Gemma has also just been put on a study scheme so she can do a professional qualification in Accountancy.
Gemma told MTN,
“My first two years have been really good and it was so easy to settle in. I have learnt a lot already and am continuing to progress.”

HR Manager Kristen Kininmonth and HR Assistant Vicki Ward have together built the foundations of the HR department over the last 5 years. Kristen has successfully completed her MA CIPD whilst in employment with Geraud and continues to implement positive changes within company policies for the betterment of the group. Groupe Geraud is the largest operator of local authority markets in Europe operating more than 1300 market days each week and is certainly the largest French private operator of retail markets, produce markets, cattle market and fairs of all kinds. It has more than three hundred contracts (around 600 markets) with towns and cities of all sizes, including some, such as Bordeaux, which are very large. In addition the Group also has an extensive experience in car park management at centres such as The Centre Georges-Pompidou in Paris and is currently expanding its level of activity in that area.
If you are interested in trading at one of Groupe Geraud’s markets or would like to find out more information you can call 0151 233 2165 or visit www.geraud.co.uk