Hats off to our store managers!

A special shout-out to the store managers of Outback Stores in times of COVID-19!

Navigating the latest COVID regulations requires agility at the best of times, let alone when you’re living in remote communities amongst a highly vulnerable population, and tasked with supplying the only source of food for hundreds of kilometres.

They’ve maintained their essential service to communities through ever-changing legislations, quarantine confinements, mask mandates and rapid-testing – all while enduring extra-long periods away from family and friends.

“Chasing down vaccine certificates from our staff has been especially tough”, said Shkarra Baskott, co-manager of Santa Teresa store. “But thankfully they all understood the need for it, and there was a delegated person in community to help everyone access their certificates. This really helped the whole community.”

Recently the team at Santa Teresa were tested to the limits when both store managers, Shkarra and Matt, needed to undergo isolation while awaiting test results. And worst of all, on delivery day! It was a chance for local team members Troy Turner and Michelle Young to save the day, with Troy navigating the forklift and Michelle coordinating the unloading. The local team successfully handled the operation of the store for two days while Matt and Shkarra were in isolation awaiting their negative test results.

“Our store managers and their teams are the lifeblood of Outback Stores and have done an amazing job navigating another year of changing COVID-19 conditions,” says Michael Borg, CEO of Outback Stores.

Well done to all our remote store managers and staff for their resilience in these challenging times!