Episode 2 Iceland Foods: Life in The Freezer Cabinet

This programme contains some strong language

Meet Malcolm Walker, Chief Executive of Iceland Supermarkets.

How would you describe yourself as a businessman?

Cowboy.

Right, what's going on then?

It's a place where the boss takes his staff on luxury holidays.

CHEERING

I always believe that having fun is a big part of why we are

so successful.

It's the Iceland incentive.

It's a Hummer, so just imagine that parked outside your store.

It's been voted the happiest company to work for, in a national pole.

Good morning!

I've never worked in a place like Iceland and I hope to never

work in a place that is not like Iceland.

Malcolm started his company from a handful of freezers in Shropshire.

Now, 25,000 staff provide low cost frozen food to more

than four million families every week.

I'm in love with all our customers, because they give me

everything I've got. They pay for my car, my house, my holidays.

But a food scandal is hitting sales.

Me and my boyfriend was like, "No, horse meat." We love horses.

Right, Nick, what are we going to do?

While the company's trying to expand.

Roll up, roll up, Iceland's open today.

It's a nightmare, we employ 25,000 people, there's jobs at stake here,

we've got to fight back and it's knowing how to.

Can Malcolm's plain speaking get his company out of hot water?

Did we test for horse?

No, but we haven't tested for dog or cat either.

Well, here we are in the PR nerve centre of Iceland at the end

of 96 hours of total hell.

That's fine. Yeah.

Malcolm Walker runs his frozen empire from Deeside in North Wales.

It's where we make the tea and coffee, and our really nice

boardroom, with a round table you see, there's no hierarchy.

This is democracy in action, isn't it?

It doesn't matter where you sit, they can't tell who's the boss.

But you don't believe in democracy. Well, we pretend we do.

We've just, um, refurnished this, we call it the happy room.

Mainly cos we have a fridge there full of alcohol.

Malcolm's staff voted him the best boss of a big company in 2012.

He lavishes them with perks.

One of these is the head office canteen,

run by Michelin starred chef, Mike Truelove.

We don't use frozen food. All fresh, um, all prepped on the day.

Malcolm just wants the best staff canteen in Britain.

The canteen costs Malcolm ?400,000 a year to run.

He's here, having the healthy option, the chicken and gnocchi,

how much was that?

I'll find out when I get there, about two quid probably,

probably costs seven quid to make.

Yeah. Plus the fruit.

Of course people won't believe that the restaurant's as good as this,

when you tell them.

Because that's the perception of Iceland, Iceland shops,

Iceland everything.

They also wonder why you're not serving everyone Iceland food?

Malcolm's company sells frozen food at low prices.

?1 pizzas are their stock in trade, and they're constantly

looking for new ones to keep ahead of the competition.

Have you got enough cheese there?

Even the cooks in the test kitchen, Annie and Penny,

are allowed to dream up food ideas to pitch to buyers.

Nobody's got one of these yet.

Of course we're always the leaders in frozen food,

so we're going to lead with a cowboy pizza.

Kids like cheese, they like beans, so why not have it all together?

What do you think? The big boys? I think the big boys myself.

You're not going to get more than that for a pound, are you?

Shall we just put a little bit of barbecue sauce on as you're spreading it.

Yeah, yeah.

And then I think we'll get sort of more of the cowboy

sort of flavour that we want.

We bounce things off each other and then she'll say, "Oh, that's

"a crap idea." We eat out a lot, as well.

We eat out a lot and we're just foodies, really.

We are foodies, yeah.

Everybody kept saying, "Oh wouldn't it be great if we could get

"an edible spoon?" So we thought "Ah right, OK, we can do that."

Everybody else is trying to jump on the band wagon,

but they'll have to jump bloody high to be as good as what we are.

You love them, don't you?

Lovely.

After a lull, food sales had started to fly, when a crisis hit.

HQ's been on high alert

since the Irish food regulator discovered traces of horse meat in

supermarket burgers, including horse DNA in an Iceland quarter pounder.

Responsibility for sorting it out,

falls to Taekwondo expert Trish Twohig.

People kept saying to me, "I'm amazed you kept your sense of humour."

To be honest with you, a sense of humour is what keeps me going.

And I think the day you lose your sense of humour, well, it's a bad day.

PHONE RINGS

TV: Nationwide food standards agency testing on beef ready meals

have been released in the last few moments,

the FSA says seven products

have tested positive for horse meat so far.

But the crisis is escalating,

horse meat's been found in a Findus ready meal.

TV: Findus Beef Lasagne carried more than 60% horse meat

and indeed levels up to 100%.

Now Trish has been ordered to test all of the company's beef products.

Hi. The results we should have?

The results will be due possibly Thursday, but certainly by Friday.

The minute you hear horse meat found in something else you go,

"Oh, we don't stock that, do we? We don't use that supplier, do we?"

Right now, the only test results which we've got against us

was a 0.1% equine. Well, it doesn't stop people putting our logo up

every five minutes on the news.

So whilst we are keeping a low profile, um, there's

a balance behind it.

And also bear in mind our test results will tell us

a lot more. By the end of the week we will have tested

all of our beef-containing products in the Iceland range.

So hopefully, we will continue our low profile.

SHE LAUGHS

Despite the uncertainty, Malcolm's pressing ahead

with his ambitious plan to open 50 new Iceland stores this year.

Malcolm wants the company to be the biggest frozen food

brand in the world, with new outlets

opening in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Treorchy.

Treorchy is a former mining town in the Rhondda Valley in Wales.

Malcolm believes Iceland can thrive here.

There's more working class people in Britain than there are posh people.

That's the market we're in.

Treorchy's been blighted by decades of unemployment and the recent

closure of the local Burberry factory took with it 300 jobs.

But now, Iceland is coming to town, and with it, 24 new jobs.

I started with one shop, then three, then five, then ten,

and I remember people saying to me, "Well, how many shops do you want?"

As if I'm going to say, "You know 15

"and then I'll be happy then I'll stop."

I'd think what a stupid question, how many shops do I want,

just want to go on and on and on.

With the opening just six weeks away, the locals are looking

forward to the new addition to their high-street.

Oh, Chinese platter, I had them, sticky chicken skewers

and they're lush, for like a snack or like a party kind of thing.

Thank you very much. Ta, George. Thanks, love.

Would you shop at Iceland?

Sorry to say I'd go and have a try yeah,

and I think Vera would as well.

What's that?

Go to Iceland. And have a go, in Iceland.

I don't buy much. No, I don't use a lot of frozen stuff, mind.

Martin has been with the company for 16 years.

He'll be the manager of the new shop.

His mum used to work on the tills

and he started stacking shelves at 14.

I could talk to anybody who I work with,

about any subject I wanted to, and they would be all ears.

Outside of work I struggle that much more.

My abilities suit Iceland really well,

but outside of that they're pretty useless.

In the offices of the disused Burberry factory,

Martin is getting under way with recruitment for the new store.

OK, that's good if you'd like to follow me.

HR manager Alex has received some 200 applications

for the 24 posts.

Even though most of the contracts on offer are part-time,

the selection process is rigorous.

There you are, all right, my darling? Take a seat.

Today, those applying to be delivery drivers have been called in to

start their three stage assessment.

Is there an Iceland sort of type?

Happy people. You recruit happy people.

You can teach them nearly everything,

but unless they're naturally happy, motivated, enthusiastic

and look for the positive, even when things are a bit,

not going too great, um, you can't teach that.

Before we jump on to the DVD, get you guys to introduce

yourselves a little bit.

Um, I've been out of work for four years, it's really hard

and I just want to get back into work.

Did four years in the army.

As?

Infantry.

Still got all your arms and legs? Yes.

Out of work two years, former security guard.

Right. Bus driver for six and a half years.

I've had a driving licence for 26 years,

never had any accidents or any points, so I'm chuffed with that.

OK, um, we're going to go to another room, we'll do a group exercise.

BBC News is read by Zeb Soanes.

David Cameron has issued a stern warning to anyone

involved in passing off horse meat as beef,

saying they'll face the full force of the law.

Mr Cameron told MPs that people found to have done wrong

would be dealt with.

Technical manager Trish is still waiting for the results of her tests.

To see if there's horse meat in any of the company's meat products.

The kebab shop. Maybe they want us to drop off some test results.

SHE LAUGHS

I really shouldn't laugh, should I? I'm sorry.

Gets emotional in tiredness now at this stage.

With pressure on Trish increasing, she's been working round the clock.

I think they call it prophetic fallacy, don't they,

when the weather reflects what's going on?

But, I mean, there's a lot of stuff which is kind of unusual,

including a Pope's abdication, the finding of Richard III

in a car park is like whatever, now and again it's a

different headline, but the horse keeps coming back again.

So it's difficult, really.

And the jokes, of course, the jokes are evolving,

but it's still, "Why the long face?" Sorry.

It's a pathetic one, but it is definitely my favourite one.

Things are about to get tougher for Trish,

she herself is going to be tested.

She's taking advice from the company lawyer.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Hilary speaking.

Oh, hi, Hilary. I've got Trish Twohig with me, who you were expecting.

Hi, Hilary.

Hello, anyone who's been found to have traces in their products

will be invited to provide written evidence, that written evidence...

Trish has been summoned to the House of Commons to face the notoriously

tough parliamentary select committee

investigating the horse meat scandal.

And then the killer questions come in later.

Sorry the what? The what? Killer.

Killer. I just blocked that out.

Am I being naive here,

but I kind of hope it's going to be fairly routine for me?

You can't predict.

It's just about being prepared, really, that's all you can do. Yeah.

Be as prepared as possible. OK, thanks, Hilary.

All right, take care.

Thank you, bye.

Speak to you soon Hilary, bye.

Cheers, bye. OK.

In the last month, the company has lost over ?3 million

on frozen food sales and another 1.5 million on ready meals.

Malcolm's had enough.

The other supermarkets, they're all out there apologising,

um, and we should be defending the industry.

There is nothing wrong with food safety in the UK.

There is no crisis to fix.

Horse meat apparently has been in the supply chain for 15 years.

If the government knew two years ago, why didn't they tell us?

Then we'd have tested for it.

Trish must now defend Iceland's reputation from the wrath

of angry politicians, with the help of the company lawyer.

Nerves are mounting.

Trish, I'm sorry. I'm sure I had it.

My security pass to get into the House of Commons.

This is what happens when you put something somewhere safe.

What time is it?

It is 1:33, are we OK?

Trish will be on in less than an hour.

Inside the House of Commons, proceedings are already under way.

First in the firing line is the UK Food Standards Agency,

responsible for the labelling and safety of British food.

How do we know that this horse meat hasn't been existing

in these burgers for months if not years?

It had... We hadn't identified horse meat in burgers

as a likely, significant risk.

Wasn't it something you should have picked up on?

That in a time of recession, you know, people are having cheap meat?

Don't say the first thing that pops into your head,

take a sip of water cos there'll be a glass of water there. Cool.

So take your time, consider your answer.

You know, could be a bit embarrassing for me

if I can't handle a question or if perhaps

I say something which is going to be quoted on the news tonight.

Just be yourself, Trish, because you're obviously really passionate

and knowledgeable about what you do, so you just want that to get across.

Thanks Hilary. OK. Bring it on.

Thank you.

If you'd each like to give your names

and titles for the record, if you would.

Trish Twohig, Technical Manager, Iceland Foods.

Tim Smith, Group Technical Director for Tesco.

I am conscious that I've seen Tesco's apology,

I've not seen Iceland's apology,

would you like to place on the public record Iceland's?

We are clearly disappointed with what's happened,

it's absolutely not what we want to see,

and our customers are obviously disappointed as well.

Sorry, it may be my broad Scottish accent, what I said was would you

like to apologise, I didn't want you to tell me that you've taken steps.

I beg your pardon, sorry,

of course I'm sorry this has happened, of course I am.

OK.

Um, Tesco's I think today have announced new DNA testing? Yes.

Iceland are you doing the same and if so...?

I'm really sorry, would you, I'm so sorry,

would you mind repeating that question?

Yes, is Iceland also doing that?

We've all, we've had, um, speciation testing for years within Iceland,

done by a third party accredited laboratory,

and now we will add to that suite equine as well going forward, OK?

Good job, Trish, it's over that's the main thing. It's absolutely over.

And if ever I had to do something like that again, you know

I wouldn't be quite so scared next time.

I've had some nice texts and I haven't been fired by my boss.

Which is always a good thing.

With the parliamentary enquiry behind them, Iceland's meat products

buyer Zee now needs to get people buying the company's burgers again.

The meat from the company's allegedly tainted

batch of quarter pounders, came from foreign suppliers.

That's the new recipe.

That's a really, really quick turn around.

To get our sales going again.

So what we'll be doing is we'll be putting 100% British beef

sticker there, so it's really to shout to customers you can

continue to trust the products.

They'll trust everything British, they won't trust anything else.

They are smelling good.

We're trying to be on the front foot,

the first retailer to go out there

and say, "Look we're doing something to try and win you back."

This is the new one.

Good for me.

To be honest, you can't really tell the difference at all, but...

Shouldn't do, should you? No.

What we're effectively doing is giving the customer

the same burger in their minds, but actually what we're shouting

about now is 100% British beef to really try and win the trust back.

Men who say they can't boil an egg, I think it's pathetic.

You know, I mean there's nothing to it, really.

Malcolm Walker is also passionate about where the food

he cooks comes from.

The green egg.

We've got hens that lay green eggs and blue eggs.

He grows all his own produce in the grounds of his home,

Broxton Old Hall.

This is the orchard,

so there's apples and plumbs and greengages and everything here.

And these are the bee hives.

Organic vegetable garden, strawberries, raspberries.

Eaten within two hours of picking.

So will the peas and beans. You go to the supermarket

and it's probably five days old, you know, from farm, transport,

warehouse, shop, your fridge.

So the only alternative to growing it yourself is to freeze it.

Malcolm's continuing in his mission to spread

the word about frozen food.

Despite the setbacks of the horse meat scandal, he's determined

to press on with plans for a new range of innovative frozen dishes.

Senior buyer Alastair Crimp, has been

charged with revamping the flagging Party Fayre range.

One of the products he's come up with is prawns in a

rice crispy style batter.

But, it needs a dipping sauce.

When you get sweet chilli flavour right, it always hits the spot.

You're a good taster on the prawn front, aren't you? Great.

It's prawn in rice crispies?

It's much more than prawns in rice crispies, Max.

It's, um, yeah, yeah, it is.

I suppose they are very, very similar.

Snap crackle and pop.

Oh, look at you, Annie! You practising juggling?

So they still look good.

I think they look really attractive, they look different.

Yeah, I know what you mean, yeah. Popping candy.

Company veterans Annie

and Penny know exactly what the customers like.

You getting the heat?

It's a curry heat rather than a sweet chilli heat.

So there is some sweetness, but the heat isn't a chilli heat.

No.

As soon as you go prawns in an Indian sauce,

the sales drop off a cliff.

Um, the main title of the product's going to be Bubble Bobble Prawn.

It's not just the taste of the sauce that matters,

it's the product's name.

If the company gets it wrong, it won't sell.

We launched a product called Potato Gratin,

initially it didn't work, perhaps our customers just don't

understand what we're trying to sell them.

Potato Gratin?

We changed it to Cheese and Potato Slices,

um, and the sales went from ?5,000 to over ?20,000 overnight.

We've put here Bubbly Bobbly Prawns with sweet chilli. So...

LAUGHTER

What I want to call it is Bubble Bobble Prawns.

And is that OK?

What is... Why Bubble Bobble? Why not? No, but...

I think it's a great idea of mine, to be honest, and I'm going to

stick to my guns and make sure it launches as Bubble Bobble Prawns.

But product naming can be a legal minefield.

Bubble Bobble Prawn,

the only thing that's close to that that I am aware of

is on ice cream, Nobbly Bobbly. Which I know is registered.

One of the strongest brands in the market is Nobbly Bobbly.

Um, a really popular product, that has been around for years and years.

Um, and we wanted to launch an own label equivalent product,

and clearly we couldn't call ours Nobbly Bobbly,

so we just called them Lumpy Bumby Lollies.

It's great, great, great name, was really successful.

Oh, here we go. Right.

So, Gold Rush brownies.

Am I the only person that thinks that this sounds like a

class A drug, gold rush?

You're alone on that one.

The opening of the new store in Treorchy is just four weeks away.

But for some, the excitement's been blighted by events in the news.

Because of the horse meat, you don't know

what's in there, do you?

It didn't really put me off cos I love my food.

I just wouldn't buy ready meals now.

Don't know what you're eating but...that's life.

OK, guys, so cluster yourselves round the table.

It's stage one for the candidates hopeful of landing

a job as a part-time delivery driver.

New store manager Martin, has set them a team challenge.

So your task, as a group you'll need to work together to create

a free standing route way, along which the ping pong ball will

travel, from a launch platform to the receiving basket.

Good luck.

Anyone got any ideas? Cos I haven't really at the moment.

Oh, right. Home deliveries are 18% of Iceland's business.

They do more per week than Ocado.

So the would-be drivers' skills are under scrutiny.

I'll make a chute.

24-year-old Chris, the store's deputy manager, will be

monitoring Cassie.

That in, yeah, folded some way into making some sort of channel.

31-year-old Luke will be evaluating former taxi driver, Trevor.

That's a good un, that.

It won't fit in there. I did try.

Observing the candidates are eight managers.

That's looking great. Don't you think?

That's it, cup of tea now and a biscuit.

Mind you, is it classed as free standing

although it's resting on the table?

OK, guys, how do you think you did?

Not too bad.

Is your structure free standing?

Yeah, it is.

A free standing object is something that's not,

that I can sort of pick up, and put somewhere else.

So I can go like this, pick it up, put it there

and it'll work the same.

But it obviously won't because it's not all in one piece.

So, it was interesting to watch, and...

Stage two, and the team assess the candidates for their interpersonal

skills, before deciding who will be given a trial shift as a driver.

OK, Trevor, group exercise, Trevor?

Very generous three.

Trevor in interview, seven.

Very, very good understanding about customer service.

He works with elderly people

so really, really good examples of excellent customer service.

What about Cassie Fairhurst, group.

Um, five.

Do you think she was a bit too overbearing?

The others were very quiet, she stood out more than anyone else.

How did she come across in the interview then? Very good.

I think she'd be a grafter.

Cassie Fairhurst and Trevor are the only people scoring ten or above.

Thanks, guys. OK.

Cassie used to work as a delivery driver for Somerfield,

but since they folded, she's been looking for work.

Oh, he's lovely and warm, he's been on the heat mat.

Oh, it'd be brilliant to get in there, I like to be in work,

it's, um, to stay in the house and just do things in the house

and not have a job,

you can get a little bit down, and it's not a nice feeling

so I'd like to be back in work.

Former security guard Trevor has been unemployed for two years.

There's always a buzz when there's new jobs on the market

and everybody got a bit buzzy with the Iceland

and it lifted people and this is what is needed in the valley.

A real boost before it dies.

MUSIC: "William Tell Overture"

At Iceland HQ, Trish is waiting for the results of her most

recent tests looking for horse meat in the company's food.

The Doner Kebab pizza is on there because it's got beef in it,

you just would be, um, mindful of that sort of meat.

If you were to bet on something, would you bet that a

cottage pie or a Doner Kebab pizza would pass or fail the test?

Your money would go not on the Doner Kebab pizza, correct?

So that's just why I'd be interested in that one.

Hello technical, Trish speaking.

The horse gate media storm is continuing to dent sales.

Failure of Trish's tests would be a disaster for the business.

OK, so let me just check I've understood you, everything

from the first day which is raw has been tested for equine and is OK?

And the... OK, OK I really am focusing on equine, thank you.

Fantastic. So by the time I go home this evening I'll

know about equine on all of my products.

Steve, brilliant, you're a star, thanks a million! Thanks! Bye.

Who-hoo, all our raw is OK for equine. Great.

Brilliant, so we just have to keep our fingers crossed that everything

else, which they're testing before the day is over, will be OK as well.

Oh, my God, that's just brilliant.

Listen, I better tell a few people that now, hadn't I?

Hiya, can I see the boss, please?

I'll just go see if he's ready. Thank you.

Trish's boss Nigel is responsible for all of the company's food products.

We've had the first lot of results through. Yeah.

And they're the raw ones, which went in the first day, and they're OK.

The rest will be through to us later on.

So the first lot are OK. Good so far then. Yeah.

Well, we didn't expect anything different, did we?

Um, I'm planning for either plan A or plan B.

I'm delighted we're on the correct route.

This is the start of frozen fighting back.

Onwards and upwards.

Malcolm has heard about Trish's results,

and wants to use them to fight back.

We decided we'd go on the attack.

We haven't got all our test results, but I'm pretty confident.

So, we've taken a full page advert on Monday in every

national newspaper, Food You Can Trust at Iceland.

Now, this phrase is something that we started using 15 years ago,

surprisingly, even though

there's this middle class prejudice against Iceland, and people assuming

that our food can't be up to scratch, quite the reverse is true.

What we're pointing out here, that in 1986, we took out

artificial flavourings, colourings, preservatives, from our products.

Marks Spencer's, who are the gold standard for food safety,

didn't do that until 19 years later.

The risks, yeah, there's a risk that I'm doing all this

and then next week they find some horse

DNA in one of our products, then I'm going to look like a prat, aren't I?

But hopefully they won't.

Malcolm is about to make a bigger splash than he could ever imagine.

Right, let's go.

Good morning!

In Tooting, store manager Sandra is helping to enforce his new campaign.

That could potentially be the right one.

As soon as we get instruction we'll display this straight away

on the front of the window, nearest the door, where the

entrance doors are, so everyone sees it.

No horse meat has ever been found in any Iceland product,

all our burgers are made in the UK from British beef.

And law graduate, she knows the importance of getting things right.

That side, down a little bit.

But winning back public trust is not going to be easy.

I believe what they say on the advertising sign outside,

but I'm slightly put off buying lasagnes and things

from anywhere at the moment.

I refuse to eat it just in case the horse is in it.

I don't know how long the horse has been in the food,

obviously it's been there for years, but I just won't eat it.

It's six weeks into the scandal

and the company have now had their own tests back.

They are 100% clean.

While other CEOs are keeping their heads down,

Malcolm's about to put his above the parapet.

He's arranged three days of media interviews to trumpet the results.

Whatever happens, we're going to come out of this damaged.

All today and the next few days are about damage limitation.

Um, you know, our sales are down, sales of burgers

and products are well down.

I quoted 15% on a radio interview this morning

but I was exaggerating the wrong way.

You know, they're massively down.

So, how can you reassure the public? It's not easy.

So, we're doing all we can - TV interviews, radio interviews,

you know, bigger, more professional companies will have to check

with the lawyers and technical people before they dare

breathe in case something goes wrong, and the great

thing about being a private company is we can say what we like.

If it goes wrong and I get into trouble,

I'm in trouble with meself.

Hello.

Malcolm. Lovely. Nice to meet you, I'm Lee.

Hello.

Whilst Malcolm embarks on his media spree, Keith Han, the company's

PR expert, has been left behind in the Iceland offices.

VOICEMAIL: Two new messages.

1:29pm.

INCOHERENT VOICEMAIL MESSAGE

Hurrah, my car is mended.

One bit of good news.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Keith Han.

After 30 years of working for Malcolm, Keith is still

trying to navigate his boss's unique style of press management.

Well, I mean he's happy to talk.

He is our designated spokesman, he is happy to talk.

Malcolm has agreed to talk to the Today programme,

which he organised directly, because in our spirit of openness,

we sent out a press release with his mobile number on, um

whereas everybody else would have come through me.

So, I have been blindly reassuring all the other media

that no, he's not doing any other interviews today.

Whereas in fact he is.

I called him stupid on camera, do you think they'll show that bit?

I said are you stupid or what?

Sky news are sending a camera round now.

Um, so I'm waiting here in the shop till six o'clock.

See how that goes.

With the first interview completed,

Malcolm's about to be live on national television.

Make a big noise.

Yeah, OK.

TV REPORTER: 'But the boss of Iceland

'says good value doesn't always mean bad processes.'

We're talking about suppliers that we've dealt with for 20 years,

30 years, we're almost in partnership with these people.

We know what goes into the product.

I don't see what more supermarkets can do, they probably wouldn't be

testing routinely for horse DNA, neither are we testing for hedgehog.

Within hours, Malcolm's comments are headline news,

for the wrong reasons.

If we're going to blame somebody,

let's start with local authorities,

because there's a whole side

to this industry which is invisible, that's the catering industry.

We do not sell cheap food. Personally, I wouldn't eat

value supermarket products because they won't contain much meat.

At the risk of these words coming back to haunt me,

horse meat has not been found in supermarkets.

The Co-op did apologise and did take responsibility,

you're doing neither.

We don't have a problem at Iceland, let's get that straight. OK.

Malcolm's interviews have been broadcast over the weekend.

The message of clear test results has been lost.

His appearances have badly backfired.

David Cameron was saying last week where are the supermarkets?

Why isn't anybody stepping forward and, you know, talking?

Well, I did.

All right, maybe I shouldn't have said we don't check for hedgehog,

but I'm trying to get the point across.

The media, the Government are saying why weren't you testing?

How did you allow this to happen?

Why would we test for horse?

The board gather for the Monday morning meeting.

When does it start? Now.

All right, can I have a wee first? Cut.

Channel 4 News have already been on,

do you want to go back tonight?

Well, they've been ringing me on a blocked number so fuck 'em.

Don't cut that, I like that.

Malcolm's press appearances have shaken his colleagues.

The Sun has put his comments about not eating cheap food

on its front page.

As I was driving in, I had a half-hour interview on the phone

with PR Week

who were asking what our PR strategy was,

who was advising Mr Walker...

Actually, the underlying question was what idiot is advising Mr Walker?

THEY LAUGH

Were we employing a proper crisis PR agency to deal with

the fallout and if not why not?

The key thing is, the first lesson I was ever taught about doing

anything like this is you only ever mention the positives,

you never mention the negatives and you never attack anybody else.

And actually I think you've just broken both those rules

rather substantially in the last 48 hours,

but never mind, that's not saying we can't go forward.

Right, Nick, what are we going to do?

We just need to work out what we're going to say and stick to it.

All right, let's do it.

I would go out on a positive stance about frozen food, but I'd stop the

knocking and I'd stop the trying to deflect the flack to somebody else,

if you want my view.

Not deflated by the criticism,

Malcolm has one more trick up his sleeve.

I think we should do a promotion on burgers.

I think the timing of it is absolutely critical.

So what?

You are going to have to have a...

We are going to have to have a very hard look at all the products we sell,

because what we've done now is said, "Right, well, come and test us."

You know, if you're The Sun now, you'll be sat there saying,

"Right, I'm going to take every Iceland product and go and have a look at it."

Well, let's see, go into your office.

It's a nightmare.

It's only a nightmare because sales are down.

I mean, Nigel reckons it cost us 1.5 million that he

could prove last week, but we were three million down.

I mean, this is really serious, and it's completely unwarranted.

And the TV that we're talking about, I was expected to go on TV and grovel

and apologise and say it's all our fault and we'll do better next time.

Well, I think that's what everybody else was doing, but we've

done nothing wrong, so it's not popular to say, you know, what issue?

Word of Malcolm's media spree, has reached Treorchy.

I think he's a right wally.

I'm sorry.

Why say that?

It's frozen foods, he puts horse meat in that.

I think it's absolutely disgusting myself.

I don't want to eat horse meat.

I used to buy Wine Gums, I won't be buying Wine Gums any more,

because according to the paper, it's in the gelatine,

it can be in the gelatine.

With the new store opening in three weeks,

the would-be delivery drivers face their final trial.

Trevor and Cassie have been invited to a nearby store to

start their driving assessment.

I want to see how you plan,

I want to see what you're like with our customers, and from all

that then, that will determine whether you're the right man.

This is about how you are, with our customers... Yeah.

..how you are whilst driving, and look,

try and be as relaxed as you possibly can. Of course.

I don't mind being out on the road, I haven't driven a van for a while,

I don't really mind that bit of it, it's just I don't know Ponty at all.

I like areas I know.

If I grew up in Treorchy, I'd know all the streets.

Bit shaky.

But, um, nervous probably.

The company's drivers earn more than the checkout staff.

If Cassie and Trevor can pull it off,

they'll eventually be on ?8.30 an hour.

Is that in the middle? Is that it or...?

I don't know, you tell me.

Can't see a lot, it's a bit awkward pulling out here, isn't it?

It's a black end road, that is.

So, do I go to the top of this road and turn round?

They'll need to find addresses within a time limit.

We came down this street, and I turned, didn't I?

It's not for you, is it? No. OK, sorry to bother you.

Sorry to bother you, love.

Where's Maritime Street?

They'll be judged on whether they can keep their cool.

Oh, shit.

This is home delivery? Yeah. Yeah.

This is what it's all about, you know,

the pressure is going to be there.

Let's hope we've got the right place then.

In Treorchy, the rest of the shop floor staff have been recruited.

Manager Martin's gathered them together for a dress rehearsal.

The shop floor as you see it

and the warehouse as you see them at the moment,

are pretty much how they'll be.

As you can see here, there's some bits and pieces still going on.

All that will be finished and done and dusted.

As soon as that door opens, and the customers start flooding in,

that's it.

This is crunch time now, everything we've done has led to this day,

and this moment and this time.

Next, an introduction to the company's rules and regulations.

If you do come in scruffy or that, we send you home, all right?

So I need to put that clear,

we are a new store, we've got to set the standards high, all right?

Sian, hair tied back, all right?

Naughty girl.

Beer and wine room, OK.

As well as beer and wine, we keep confectionary in here because it was

identified in the company that it's one of our biggest theft lines

in the company, and that's not just from customers, but internally.

For example, as I'm putting away the delivery, I'll just help

myself to some Munchies or Minstrels or whatever takes your fancy, OK?

Um, 2585.

Got all the procedure and policy out the way

so everybody's singing off the same hymn sheet.

And tomorrow is just crunch time really now.

Get in, get stuck in.

All the roads have led to this day, I think

was the terminology I used, and I guess it's sink or swim

really, but, obviously, we want the swim so...

It's been four days since the driving tests.

Cassie's waiting for a phone call to find out whether she's got the job.

Morning.

Trevor's already had his call.

The company doesn't think he can keep up with the job.

'That was a bit of a shock to the system when you get down to the

'last four and literally told you're not good enough when you're over 50.'

Go on then.

Come on, boy. Come on, big boy.

Come on.

That's it. Gone.

Feel his feet now and, hopefully, he'll come back later.

Here we go.

'When I went through the process of Iceland, I just couldn't get

'over how Americanised we've become.

'They wanted to be happy and friendly.

'People want to work, so they'll put up with anything.'

I am a bit gutted about it, cos we went through a lot to get to

that stage for, essentially, a part-time job.

But, job's a job.

Good girl.

Here we are.

Just very gentle with her, she's very delicate.

You know, if you were frightened of her, of holding her,

and she jump off...

PHONE RINGS

She don't want to come off my hand now. Go on. Good girl.

Hello, Cassie speaking.

Yeah, yeah.

Brilliant.

Thank you, thank you, my love, see you soon.

Bye, bye.

Yes. Oh, brilliant. I can't believe it.

So tomorrow at nine o'clock, I'm going down to see about doing,

driving the van.

Oh, I can't believe it.

Back at head office, the company is reeling from another

of Malcolm's interviews broadcast last night on Panorama.

Another casual remark has caused a storm.

How can you sell a product

if you don't really know for sure what's in it?

I know exactly what's in our products, I've just told you.

It said on that burger, that we looked at, 78% beef.

B-E-E-F. Beef.

That's what's in our burgers.

I know, but the Irish say there is 0.1% of H-O-R-S-E horse.

Well, that's the Irish, innit.

Trish is a native of Donegal in Ireland.

Malcolm said something about the Irish,

which did not go down well with Irish people

because some people might have thought

he was actually criticising Irish people.

Unfortunate at best, and people have been insulted by it.

So, as a result of that today,

an apology has gone out on our website,

which it needed to do

and I think it's the right thing to have happened.

And I believe that there's been a lot of talk on the radio

in Ireland today because of the comment.

RADIO HOST: 'He made one of those you-crazy-bunch-of-Paddy's-type insinuations,

'which is something that you might ignore or you get offended by.

'It was done with the usual kind of standard cut and paste apology.

'He notably didn't come out in front of the building himself.'

'And what do you think?'

About what, sorry? 'About it all.'

I don't know really, sorry, James.

'And is this the end? Of?'

The end of me?

SHE LAUGHS

No.

'It's not the end of you, is it?'

No, I wasn't sure last night, actually,

because I did ask Keith, I said, "Do I need to resign or what?"

cos it kind of kicked off a bit last night,

and he said that he didn't think so, but then he wrote this, you know,

he's always got funny e-mails, and he wrote this e-mail saying I'm going

to be in from 8:30 and I'll have a resignation letter

drafted by 9:00 and we can debate which one of us will sign it.

And I thought, "Oh, it's just between me and Keith,"

but I looked and there was a lot of other names

on there as well, including some fairly, you know, senior guys,

so I thought, well, by law of averages,

I might survive another day.

And I have.

In the wake of Malcolm's comments,

Keith's spent a few days fielding complaints.

Here we are in the PR nerve centre of Iceland at the end of

96 hours of total hell,

during which our Chief Executive has offended every local authority

and public sector caterer in the country,

and then, for good measure, insulted the entire population of Ireland.

But, hey, we like a challenge so it's all been good, clean fun.

The colleague reaction has been nothing but positive.

They think it's great that he defends the company so passionately,

they think it's great that he speaks out,

they think it's great that he has an opinion.

Keith's inbox from the public tells a different story.

There was one that I particularly like,

which was taking him to task for saying

Iceland doesn't sell cheap food,

pointing out that's what they came to Iceland for, you fucking idiot.

"Walker's comments about the Irish were inconsiderate

"and downright fucking ignorant."

"Please feel free to pass on my message to that smug

"cock-licking BLEEP freezer at your earliest convenience.

"I wonder if he would go to Ireland and say it or like most

"chicken-shit Brits,

"is he too cowardly to say it from outside Britain?"

Thank you, Mr Bastard.

The company is hoping their newly-rebranded British burgers

will reverse the downward spiral of sales.

I mean what are they doing here? They're destroying an industry.

"They, who's they?" Well, the press and the Government.

We employ 25,000 people, there's jobs at stake here.

So, we've got to fight back and it's knowing how to.

And, do you know, the best thing we can do to fight back is just to put

beef burgers on at half price and just watch them fly off the shelves.

It's an audacious plan to get burgers moving again.

The message is being fed down to the store managers in region

three by area manager Steve Cropper.

So we've got half price burger promotion.

It was going to be a week, it's now going to be two weeks at half price.

The public are pretty fickle, and that includes all of us.

You know, we'll read about it today, it's disgraceful,

it's a scandal, and by next week, they'll be eating their burgers

on Skegness pier or whatever it is.

We absolutely want to make sure that all old stock is out

of the business, so that half-price promotion will help us do that.

It's not about it's a risk product,

which we're trying to clear it, we're saying our product is great.

We're not trying to flog a dead horse.

THEY LAUGH

Burger sales are starting to move again.

We're selling as many burgers now as we would

do in the height of summer.

But Malcolm wants to go a step further to win back

the British public.

And he wants to use the press.

Instead of unleashing himself on the media,

he's trying a more democratic approach.

The board is sitting in to keep a close eye on him,

whilst he calls a journalist from The Sun.

Am I allowed to say that this isn't a problem?

I think you're allowed to say it's not a problem in the broader

context, of the problems that we've got in this country, yeah.

Right. What you shouldn't do is trivialise it.

No hedgehog jokes. No hedgehog jokes, no. Why not?

Because whilst it's a non-story,

in terms of the absolute facts on it, it is now the story.

'Hello?' Steve.

'Hi.' Malcolm Walker.

'Malcolm, how are you?'

Well, I don't know how to do Twitter, which is a good job,

cos people keep telling me you're writing shit on Twitter.

'Would you say I was a twit?'

I think it might be looking that way.

Right, what shall we talk about?

Do you think people overreacted to what you were saying then?

As Keith Han keeps pointing out, the economy is knackered,

thousands of people are dying in Staffordshire health authority

and all we can talk about is bloody gay marriage and horses, you know.

It's... REPORTER LAUGHS

Yeah.

The Irish FSA found traces, microscopic traces, of horse DNA.

I'm not talking about horse meat, I'm talking about horse DNA.

We then tested the same products from the same batch

on the same day in two independent laboratories

using fully-accredited testing methods, and found nothing.

Really? It is a storm in a teacup.

Our products are 100% clear and we need to make that point.

We're thinking we might do a promotion with your newspaper,

if you're kind to us, giving away a 100,000 burgers.

'That sounds great,

'I mean what I'll do is, Malcolm, I'll get this in and then I'll...'

Stop tweeting lies!

REPORTER LAUGHS

Send some...I mean, uh...

I will do, it's better for the health.

Yeah. Send a nice tweet out saying what...

I will do, well, I'll do that tomorrow with the story here.

But, no, I mean if you talk to our guys,

I'm sure they'd love to give away an Iceland burger.

Sainsbury's had similar campaigns during the BSE crisis,

which were a success.

Malcolm's ploy is looking promising on the shop floor.

Burgers are flying off the shelves.

I'm always hungry.

You are always hungry. You eat like a horse, don't you?

They look... They don't look...

Sometimes stuff might not look very nice,

but it can taste lovely.

In Treorchy, opening day has finally arrived.

Cassie is getting ready for her first full day.

As an Icelander, she'll have to cover up her body art.

I've got 15 tattoos actually, and none of them are on show,

so that's good for Iceland.

But, yeah, 15.

If we have a night out then they'll be on show.

There was a lot of people going for the job, and they picked us,

so you feel a little bit special.

Unless I get a serious lottery win, I'm going

to be there for years, hopefully, if they'll have me.

Martin's about to become the store manager of Iceland's newest branch.

His hope is to make ?15,000 on the first day.

But will the horse meat scandal keep customers away?

T minus nine minutes.

This is it.

Is the first customer me? Looks like it.

I'm looking forward to the cheap prices.

I like the ready meals I do. I'm cheap.

SHE LAUGHS

Yeah, she is cheap actually.

They're more tastier.

I don't know what they put in there but it's nice.

This is the only opening day that you guys will ever get

so make it last, Cassie, yeah? You up for it?

'Can't wait.'

Let's do it then.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Long live Iceland.

Roll up, roll up, Iceland's open today.

Don't be shy, we sell Birds Eye.

Town Crier Yian, not sure where the idea came from.

In a hurry? Grab a curry.

We promised him lunch, a 16-portion gateaux.

Are they going to pay him?

And he was more than happy with just that.

Diet Coke, that's no joke.

Oh, forgot the rest of it now off the top of me head.

A few nerves just before we opened,

we had the cashier on till one burst into tears, she's a local

girl, so they'll all come in and say congratulations for getting the job.

It's lovely to be back at work,

and back at work in Treorchy is the best place ever.

You won't get customers like this anywhere else.

The store's a success -

they've made ?21,000 on their first day.

It's a small token of my appreciation, I think you've

done a cracking job. Red or white? You've got the first choice.

Red, it's got to be red.

Well, look, congratulations, I think what we've seen today is

a start of a great success, and, Chris, hopefully, you drink white?

Yeah, that's fine.

So, again, thanks for your support.

It's Cassie's first shift on the road after months looking for a job.

My first delivery working for Iceland.

It's nice to be back in work.

It came just at the right time actually.

God, the hours are flying.

You know, enjoying your work,

it's busy but the time goes quickly too.

'So, what is today?'

So, this is a finale, I suppose,

so my opportunity to present the whole range.

At headquarters, senior buyer Alistair's Rice Krispie-style

prawns are ready to be presented to the board.

I think they're good. The Bubble Bobble, yeah.

It's got a good crunch.

I think these are great, absolutely great, these ones.

Good. Like those prawns.

Yeah, they're good, they're really good.

The prawns have arrived at Tooting for their first public outing.

The lawyers have approved Alistair's name for them.

Bubble Bobble prawns.

I like the name, it's quite difficult to say, Bubble Bobble.

I bet people just come in saying, "Have you got those bobble prawns?"

They are Bubble Bobble prawns they're called, and they're

in a sweet chilli marinade, king prawn, with crisped rice batter.

Like a shrimp.

Just like shrimp, yeah, I see. Do you want to try one? Yeah, thanks.

Let me know what you think.

Yeah, it's nice.

They're called Bubble Bobble prawns.

What do you think of the name?

Bubble Bobble prawns. Difficult to remember, it's a bit of a tongue twister, isn't it?

Bubble Bobble prawns. They're just here.

The horse meat scandal has finally left the headlines,

Malcolm's burger promotion has worked, and Iceland has shifted

more burgers than in any other month of their 40-year history.

After 30 years of working together,

Malcolm and his PR consultant Keith have weathered another storm.

You're too cautious.

I'll have a carpaccio then.

That's very nice. Have you had that before? Yeah.

I think we can always predict Keith. How are you, Keith?

GLUMLY: "Oh, I'm dying."

Have you ever watched one of the big Royal ceremonials in London?

Say the Trooping of the Colour?

Malcolm is the role of the Queen, he's there in the carriage

waving or something. Right at the end, after all

the horses of the house of cavalry have gone past, there's a bloke

driving a truck that sweeps up the shit, and that's my role in Iceland.

I'm the bloke driving the truck that sweeps up the shit.

Next time, an Iceland wedding.

The food went, whoof gone.

With the company's image still affected by Horsegate,

Malcolm's re-launch is more urgent than ever.

Posh. Oh, I like that name, posh grub.

Can Iceland attract a new type of customer...

Oh, this is Iceland.

We have to say the shop, not the country.

..and dissuade the wrong type?

Our job is to protect our staff.

We all get our sleeves rolled up and get stuck in.

Would you like to find out more?

Join the Open University in exploring the changing face of the high street,

and discover what's in store for the future.

Go to bbc.co.uk/freezer and follow the links to the Open University.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd