Profile: Dan Jago at Tesco
19th October, 2009 by db_staff - This article is over multiple pages: 1 2No stranger to contention or controversy, Tesco’s Dan Jago, category director for beers, wines and spirits at Tesco, is always happy to share his passionately held views, whether they be on the utility of wine price cuts or the importance of educating his customers.
His office walls, his check shirt, his trousers, even the sky through his office window may have been blue on the day we met, but Jago is currently feeling anything but blue.
This could merely be thanks to the mug of steaming coffee that’s just been delivered by his PA, it could be due to Tesco’s increasing BWS market share (among multiple grocers) which, at the time of meeting was 33.8%, it could be the launch of the huge category review, the rolling out of Tesco’s “Great with…“ initiatives, or its growing global presence. My bet is that his good mood is down to every single one of them.
Having said that, Jago’s upbeat persona is well-known to the trade. Equally well-known is his vociferous nature on many aspects of the trade, the wine trade in particular. But surely this is only to be expected. He is passionate about the industry in which he has had exposure to different periods and situations during his career, all of which have provided him with enough experience to enable him to draw authoritative observations, statements and conclusions.
His opinions are so sought after, his diary of appearances at seminars, debates and conferences doesn’t seem to be much less busy than that of Tony Blair. In November, he’s sitting on a panel alongside Robert Parker at Wine-Future-Rioja 2009, while in September he was on the panel for the WSTA’s low-alcohol forum in London, and the list goes on.