One of the critical control points for ideal produce management is product care and handling. I've seen the topic in every training chart, in every video and in every produce manual.
More importantly, I've heard it from every produce manager that I worked for along the way: “See those ‘care' reminders on the sides of most every case in this produce department? Those aren't just suggestions.”
Produce is fragile. On the side of every product lists at least a recommended storage temperature.
The reality is that retail clerks too often get into a hurry. Unsupervised, they easily forget about their training — or they never received proper care and handling training in the first place. And when they take shortcuts, it costs a department in terms of sales, gross profit, increased shrink and lower customer satisfaction.
I thought about this over the weekend when I ducked into my nearby grocer to fill a prescription. As usual, the pharmacist said it'd be about 15 minutes. No problem. So, I meandered over to the produce aisle.
It was about 10:30 Sunday morning, and the department was way behind. The wet rack hadn't been set up for the day yet, and three clerks were stocking the dry tables. This wasn't unusual, as this store has ongoing labor and management issues.
That's especially noted, as there was no obvious leadership and no sense of urgency.
One particular clerk seemed experienced enough in how he handled his cart, maneuvering through the crowd with what and where to stock. But it was his bad habits that stuck out immediately.
He cleared the potato display all right, and I thought, good, there's an example of someone rotating an item. However, he didn't clean the fixture surface, and worse, he took the case of fresh, bulk potatoes and dumped them onto the fixture — hard. He then pulled on his cart, moving on to fill another item on another table.
Unbelievable. Doesn't that clerk know you don't treat any produce item that way? Potatoes in this example may appear resilient, but doesn't he know that a forceful dump like that damaged some of the product? Potatoes bruise and break, and when they do, customers don't buy them — and this becomes unsaleable, avoidable shrink.
I understand that sometimes when a department is this far behind, the temptation to dump out product is great. It happens. But there's a difference between carefully pouring out, say, a case of oranges and forcefully dropping spuds onto a hard surface.
And at the very least following a soft “pour,” a clerk should take a minute to straighten the display and finish it off with what one supervisor calls, “an attractive, representative front.” It's a quick but gentle handling and facing that gives the produce display a finished look.
Related: More retail insight from Armand Lobato
In the dumped example, the clerk didn't look back, didn't straighten anything. In fact, he didn't even finish rotating the older product, leaving everything piled to one side. Sloppy doesn't begin to describe the scene.
It's said sometimes that the last 100 feet or so between the produce backroom and the display area is the most difficult in our industry. I believe it.
It's all in the execution. If clerks and produce managers only knew the intense preparation, care, handling, packaging and temperature control that growers and shippers put into delivering a case of produce to their back dock in a top-notch, saleable condition, they might be more careful to put everything away promptly when they receive a load or when they cart it out to the sales floor and stock it on the shelves.
As for the chains that insist upon good training, emphasizing care and handling, it shows in how fresh the produce is and how it's neatly put away and prepped; it shows when product is hand-stacked, level, frequently straightened and culled. When there's an element of pride and discipline in good work performed, it shows.
Shoppers also notice and react in kind. Mostly, it's reflected in a chain's success and reputation — with a strong market share, optimum sales, employee retention, profitability and, especially, with satisfied repeat customers.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.