Celebrating our JJ Women on International Women's Day
Updated: 23 February, 2024
This International Women's Day, we want to highlight just a few of the many influential women at JJ Foodservice, who contribute to the smooth running of our business every day. From the incredible teams that deal with customers face-to-face, to the people who have developed many of our best-selling own-brand products.
Here's a round-up of just a few of our incredible female colleagues.
Tarsiar Cox
Senior HR Coordinator
Tarsiar started out as HR Administrator back in 2015 and has since progressed to Senior HR Coordinator. Now handling all employee relations across our 11 branches, Tarsiar establishes effective and fair approaches to all matters company-wide, as well as taking on the responsibility of ensuring all staff are paid on time!
Inspired by people who never give up on achieving their goals, Tarsiar is a firm believer that 'teamwork makes the dream work' and is happiest when she is fully engrossed in the day-to-day doings of her department.
During her eight years at JJ, Tarsiar's proudest achievement was completing her CIPD accreditation, which gave her the skills to adapt to every situation that is thrown her way.
Francesca Palma
Category Manager, Purchasing
Francesca joined JJ Foodservice with a master's degree in management engineering and has progressed through the ranks at JJ to now head up the Drinks, Oil, Sauces, Canned Products and Snacks categories.
In her eight years with the business, she has been promoted three times from her role as Supply Chain Analyst in 2015, to Assistant Category Manager in 2016, and Category Manager in 2018. Francesca works closely with many of the world's biggest brands including Coca Cola, Unilever, Nestle, Britvic, Lavazza and many more.
She is one of the most senior women in JJ's buying team, and is a great support and inspiration to her colleagues.
Civan Atta
Cashier Team Leader
Eight years ago, Civan (also known as Cherry), hopped onto the cash desk at our Enfield counter, and has since been the face of the branch; with customers visiting the counter just to see her.
An expert on product recommendations, Cherry serves hundreds of customers every day, offering gold-standard service with a smile and making every customer feel welcome. Her knowledge and experience acquired over the past eight years meant she was a fundamental figure in opening our new branches, helping them to get up and running smoothly.
Cherry receives the most reviews from customers across all of our eleven branches, and consistently goes the extra mile for both her team and the customers.
Suna Durakoglu
Assistant Category Manager
Following a promotion from Category Analyst to Assistant Category Manager, Suna has pioneered the growth of JJ's biodegradable and compostable packaging ranges - helping the category grow 120% year on year for the past five years.
An MBA Greenwich University Graduate, Suna works closely with our supplier partners to meet customers' needs and develop sales for mutual growth and benefits. Most recently, she has been responsible for developing our relationship and significantly increasing the branded cleaning products range with the support of DCS Group and P&G.
A kind, caring and lovely person to work with, Suna is a fantastic asset to JJ's.
Yagmur Bomboz
Customer Service Supervisor and Counter Manager
Yagmur's JJ journey began back in 2016, where she joined the Telesales team, consistently going above and beyond to ensure customers were happy. Down to her hard work, Yagmur earned herself a managerial role after just 18 months, and now oversees both the Customer Service and Counter departments.
Revolutionising the idea for our new 'Request a Refund' procedure, Yagmur took on the feedback she receives from our customers daily and worked with our IT team to implement the new feature, making it easier for customers to shop with JJ.
Armed with heaps of patience and problem-solving hacks, Yagmur is proud to have reached the position she's in today, but has big ambitions to take customer service to the next level.
Roya Tehrani
Deputy Branch Manager
Manchester Deputy Branch Manager, Roya, began at JJ back in 2016, where she progressed from a role in Office Admin to Office Manager, before landing in her current position.
Day to day, Roya's responsibilities aren't shy of a few. She handles everything from resolving customer queries, to providing on the job training for new staff, assisting with stock counting, and monitoring the freezer, chiller and ground operations; alongside acting as a fire marshal, first aider and mental health first aider.
Taking inspiration each day from her Branch Manager, Umut, Roya appreciates and praises her colleagues for their hard work, and is "always there to help and encourage them", providing support when it is necessary.
Nina Grosicka-Capur
Group Accounts Acquisition Manager
Responsible for getting JJ products into the hands of education suppliers, such as schools, colleges and universities, Nina is responsible for submitting tenders for local education authorities, in addition to managing the accounts currently on her customer base.
After navigating her way through multiple roles within the Customer Services department since she first began at JJ in 2007, Nina moved over to the National Accounts team as Contracts Manager, before taking on her current role.
Alongside working full time, Nina completed a BA Management degree at the University of London; her proudest achievement since working at JJ. With 16 years of experience from JJ under her belt, Nina is able to inspire her colleagues by sharing her own personal experiences to help others better themselves.
Karolina Kasperczak
Office Manager
Nine years ago, Karolina joined our Basingstoke branch as a Cashier, where she then progressed to Office Administrator, before taking on her current role as Office Manager.
Day to day, Karolina hasn't shied away from doing what she knows best - working on the till - but her ability has taken her beyond just a till role. She is now responsible for other areas of management including handling drivers and cashing up their deliveries, assisting with recruitment processes and working closely with the transport department.
Since working at JJ, Karolina is proud to have progressed to where she is now and enjoys working alongside the best team every day. Her dedication to her job is exhibited by being positively and consistently mentioned by our Basingstoke customers in Google reviews.
Lorraine Yoannou
Finance Assistant
As part of JJ's Financial Reporting team, Lorraine is responsible for preparing, analysing and commenting on the company's monthly management accounts, keeping a close eye on revenues and costs, the balance sheet and cash flow.
Based at JJ's Enfield headquarters, Lorraine's organisation and management skills keeps the business's accounts accurate.
Highly experienced in working within hospitality, Lorraine previously headed up the finance team for a major hotel, before taking a break to start her own family. She says outside of work her nine-year old daughter is her biggest inspiration, "She is only nine but she's my ray of sunshine."
We are wishing all our staff a Happy International Women's Day - from every branch up and down the UK and every JJ department. The IWD theme this year is #EmbraceEquity - a theme designed to get the world talking about why equal opportunities aren't enough.
People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action. Here at JJ's, we love to look after our people, and recognise how important they are to our business. Whatever situation or background, anyone can find a place here at JJ Foodservice.
Read more about our culture and values here.
Interested in a career at JJ Foodservice? Click here to view our current vacancies.