My 90-year-old retired rancher dad still likes to joke about how he was once outstanding. You know, out standing in a field. I returned the dopey humor, saying I was once a standout student. Mostly that is, out standing in the hall.
With those dad groaners out of the way, it leads to what I really want to touch on today: How does a produce department stand out from the competition, or just stand out within a retail operation? Not an easy task. But when you can pull it off, it’s a win as customers do take notice of an outstanding operation and react in kind, whether they fully realize it or not.
As a new produce manager, I was anxious to do exactly this — have the department stand out in some way.
Rummaging through our warehouse supply bins one day after a district meeting, I noticed a surplus of bright-red foil ties — some archaic item collecting dust. I grabbed a few boxes, took them to my store and started wrapping our leafy greens, once prepped and trimmed, with the colorful ties. People seemed to like the throwback look, so we continued and wrapped the celery the same way. The contrast of bright red and green gave the wet rack a nice touch, especially as we routinely, carefully hand-stacked these items in neat rows.
We didn’t stop there.
On top of the wet rack, normally a sterile and empty space, was a canvas crying out for more. So, we decked it out with a farm look, mounting some split-rail fence rails and posts that we had leftover in storage from some old watermelon bins. This made it a cinch to decorate the top of the wet rack with whatever was in season, wrapped along the old fencing: Fall leaves gave way to Christmas decorations, which came down in time for the winter and then wrapped with a spring look. Sometimes we stacked neat pyramids of shipper cartons up there, depending on what was in season. Easy, and at no cost. You wouldn’t think that customers even notice the tops of wet racks, but we got a lot of nice comments throughout the year.
I also had a disdain for the homely, brown aprons that we had to wear. Produce clerks looked no different than cashiers or grocery clerks. I noticed the butchers wore red aprons, and the bakers wore all-white. So, I was able to finagle my way into getting some Kelly green aprons for our produce crew.
It wasn’t an easy sell. My store manager wasn’t keen on the idea at all, but our sales and gross profits were on the rise, so our district manager gave the, uh, green light to proceed. The produce crew loved the distinction. They seemed to take extra pride, even taking the extra effort to keep the green aprons clean. Nothing says “produce” like a crisp, bright-green apron.
Décor, clothing and little touches around a produce department don’t necessarily change a lot, and fresh produce will always be the true star of the show. However, anything a produce manager can do to have a department stand out — especially with extraordinary displays; consistent stock levels and neat offerings; outstanding signing or overall cleanliness; and enhanced crew morale — leads to a bit more excitement, as well as increased customer traffic, sales and gross profit.
Just a few outstanding points that no one is about to joke about.