The Tesco empire has struck back "People have been bruised, felt a bit of failure, and they are not used to it," said Clarke. There is now a new sense of energy and optimism to plans. The changes at Tesco can be summed up by its controversial investment in artisan coffee chain Harris+Hoole. Customers have claimed it is disingenuous for Tesco to take a 49pc stake in Harris+Hoole, which opened last summer and has ten shops in the south east, and then present it as independent chain. But the fact that Harris+Hoole feels independent rather than part of a multinational behemoth is exactly what Clarke is trying to achieve with Tesco. Tesco invested in Harris +Hoole because Clarke "wanted to find another attractive reason for customers to shop in our stores." The Tesco chief executive wants to improve its in-store eating options and believes that customers do not want "traditional family cafeteria" anymore, but "a good coffee and a Panini." "As soon as it [Harris+Hoole] is ready, we will put it in store," he adds. Clarke has authorised around 170 pilot projects and trials like Harris+Hoole, including investments in the Euphorium Bakery in Islington and digital bookseller Mobcast. Tesco has also launched a drive-through service to collect online grocery orders, which helped online sales to grow 16pc in the six weeks to January 5. "Tesco is changing, here are the signs," Clarke said. Drive-through is a good example. I thought it was mad when they said they were going to try it. The fact that Clarke now feels confident enough to step aside as head of the UK business -with company veteran Chris Bush named as the new managing director - suggests that the Tesco juggernaut has been turned round in less than a year. However, there is more work to do. "We have got to keep our feet on the ground, this was only six weeks," Clarke said. A lot done, more to do. Exciting year ahead. For a start, non-food sales are still dragging down Tesco as demand for electricals and entertainment products falters. The company's turnaround plan has focused on fresh food so far, but there are still two years to go and Clarke now wants to refocus the non-food business on "sustainable, profitable categories," such as clothing. Secondly, there are doubts about whether the sales growth recorded in the last six weeks can be sustained. The 1.8pc increase was against weak comparisons in 2011 and, as Clarke says, "only six weeks." Rival Sainsbury's has also claimed that Tesco inflated its growth by including sales from Clubcard vouchers. Tesco's trading update said that like-for-like growth fell to 1.4pc when voucher sales were excluded, although this is still impressive and ahead of Sainsbury's. It should be noted that, despite the impressive growth, Tesco has not increased its profit guidance for the year. Caroline Gulliver, analyst at Espirito Santo, said: "We think the company is moving in the right direction now but that, given the recent decline in UK consumer confidence and the competiveness that Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose, Ocado and Aldi have shown on price matching, consensus estimates for 2014 are too high. In addition we anticipate a fight back from Morrisons and continued macro-economic pressure in international markets, particularly for hypermarkets.