FEW roles in British business carry the quiet, pervasive power of running Tesco’s UK operation - and few executives embody that influence as fully as Ashwin Prasad.
The role shapes not only how millions of households shop, but how farmers grow, how suppliers price, and increasingly, how government thinks about food. When Tesco confirmed in May 2025 that Prasad would step up from chief commercial officer to replace Matthew Barnes as UK CEO from 30 June, the transition appeared orderly. In reality, it marked the elevation of one of the most influential operators in modern retail.
He took on the role with a blend of continuity and intent. “I pick up the reins of a business with strong momentum, a winning strategy and a talented team,” he said at the time. The remit is vast: responsibility for all UK operations, alongside oversight of Tesco’s product and customer strategy across the group – effectively giving him a hand on both the till and the blueprint.
Tesco’s Q3 and Christmas trading update for 2025/26 showed UK like-for-like sales up 3.9 per cent in Q3 and 3.2 per cent over Christmas, delivering 3.7 per cent growth over 19 weeks. Market share reached 28.7 per cent, the highest for over a decade, with the four-week figure climbing to 29.4 per cent – marking 32 consecutive four-week periods of year-on-year gains.
Yet numbers alone do not explain his influence. Fresh food sales rose 6.6 per cent, underlining a strategic focus on quality and value in core categories. Premium ranges such as Finest grew 13 per cent, with party food up 22 per cent, while online sales increased 11.2 per cent and rapid delivery service Whoosh surged 47 per cent. These gains reflect a philosophy honed during years of disruption: simplify the offer, invest where it matters, and remove friction for customers.
That instinct for clarity extends beyond the store. On farms, in conference halls and in policy forums, Prasad has positioned Tesco not just as a buyer, but as a partner. Speaking at the 2026 NFU Conference, he pointed to rising demand for British produce as both opportunity and obligation. “In January we announced our fresh food sales had risen by 6.6 per cent – proving the demand for fresh, healthy, British-grown food has never been stronger amongst our customers. I invite you to collaborate with us to meet that demand.”
The language of partnership is backed by systems. Tesco’s data baselining programme, launched in late 2025, is helping “360 of our beef and sheep farmers collect and use soil and nature data at scale for the first time,” while its low carbon concept farm in Lincolnshire is already translating theory into output – 260,000 packs of potatoes now on sale. Crucially, the emphasis is on practicality. Farmers, he noted, “do not want more research that sits on the shelf,” but “practical, on-farm solutions that solve challenges and deliver results.”
Through its Sustainable Farming Groups, Tesco is also reshaping the economics of supply. “I fully recognise financial sustainability must be the cornerstone of the partnerships we have with you all,” Prasad told farmers, pointing to transparent pricing models and sustainability-linked incentives now reaching more than 400 producers. It is a model that ties environmental ambition directly to commercial viability – and, in doing so, binds suppliers more closely to Tesco’s ecosystem.
If that reflects his outward-facing influence, his internal agenda is equally deliberate. Prasad has pushed Tesco to position itself as a benchmark employer, expanding family leave policies well beyond statutory requirements. The retailer now offers 26 weeks of fully paid maternity and adoption leave, six weeks of fully paid paternity leave, alongside kinship and fertility leave – part of a broader effort to ensure colleagues feel “the company they work for truly understood what they needed”. It is a strategy that recognises retention and culture as competitive advantages in a tight labour market.
At the sharper end of retail, he has also confronted the industry’s growing safety crisis. With abuse and violence against shop workers and delivery drivers on the rise, Tesco has accelerated investment in deterrence and protection. The rollout of body worn cameras to drivers – following trials that reduced serious incidents by 50 per cent – is emblematic of a pragmatic approach.
“Nobody should have to face verbal or physical abuse at work,” he said. “The safety of our customers and colleagues will always be our first priority and we are making significant investments to make sure we lead the way in tackling retail crime.” Alongside this, Tesco has backed stronger legislation, including a standalone offence for assaulting retail workers, while arguing for delivery drivers to be included.
Born in Suva, Fiji, and raised in New Zealand, Prasad’s outlook was shaped early by movement across cultures and markets. After studying at Auckland University and Harvard Business School, he built his career at The BOC Group and Mars before joining Tesco in 2010, rising through commercial roles to the executive committee by 2020. He often credits his father with instilling a simple but enduring principle: “giving up was just not an option.”
That mindset has been tested repeatedly. His career has unfolded against a backdrop of almost continuous disruption – from Brexit to the pandemic, from supply chain shocks to inflationary surges. As chief commercial officer, he became known for his willingness to push back against suppliers and absorb short-term conflict to protect long-term value, reinforcing Tesco’s position with both customers and competitors.
Now, as UK CEO, that same resolve is visible in his engagement with government. He has been among the most vocal critics of the inheritance tax charge on farms announced in 2024, warning of the pressure it would place on smaller, family-run operations reliant on agricultural relief. When ministers moved in December 2025 to scale back the policy by raising the threshold for individual inheritance tax relief, it signalled more than a policy adjustment. It underscored a broader reality: in modern Britain, the leaders who command the food system do not merely respond to policy – they help reshape it.
ENDS