I have an idea.
Those words can be the beginning of joyous celebration — or a collective groan.
Truly original ideas? These are met with even more pushback. Howard Aiken, a U.S. computer engineer and mathematician once said, “Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”
My unoriginal idea came to me recently. I attended the Minnesota Vikings versus Denver Broncos game. It’s a rare treat for this produce scribe to go to an NFL game; this was the first one I’ve been to in decades.
I bought some food at a concession stand. It was manned by volunteers (earning money for their organization) who appeared to be managing their duties of prepping and filling food and beverage orders just fine, if with a touch of nervousness.
I thought, why can’t retailers do the very same thing for short-term, seasonal purposes?
In fact, I worked in such a volunteer capacity years ago. My better half and I spent many evenings working bingo to help raise money for our son’s ice hockey team.
The bingo setting was a packed crowd of mostly no-nonsense grandmothers. They held a yellow highlighter in one hand and a dangling cigarette in the other, with a plate of half-eaten nachos along with several bingo pages spread in front of them — and, well, let’s just say the volunteering period was an experience.
Related: More insight from Armand Lobato
But the point is that learning to serve up sandwiches or sell bingo and pull-tab “pickle” cards is doable. In our case again, it was a chance to earn money for the respective business while whatever organization (youth sports teams, clubs, etc.) benefits as well.
In my last column, I touched upon the topic of building fresh produce fruit baskets for the upcoming holidays. In all fairness, the biggest pushback for this specialized produce category to build incremental sales is indeed labor constraints.
I received a few emails in reaction, the essence being, “Armand this is a great opportunity, but the labor pool is just too tight.” Right. So why can’t the grocers (the business entity) try to attract the charitable organizations or nonprofits (sports clubs, senior centers, schools) into their fold for the seasonal fruit-basket period?
When I mentioned in that column how in my old chain we built tens of thousands of fruit baskets at the warehouse level, I neglected to mention how this was staffed. We hired about 50 temporary workers — many of whom only desired seasonal work — into our warehouse over a two-week period to put the baskets together. We provided coffee and light snacks each day to keep them nourished, and each took home a bountiful basket of their own when we, um, wrapped up the last day.
They were easily trained and, for the most part, did an amazing job. We even recruited some from the bunch to work in the stores as permanent employees.
Similarly, an in-store volunteer fruit-basket crew could do the same thing, providing much-needed seasonal labor for the grocer while earning money for their organization. The set amount of labor course, paid by the grocer, would be offset by fruit basket sales. If it works at an NFL game or smoky bingo hall, it could also work with any retailer.
It can’t be that difficult, and the seasonal aspect isn’t limited to the Christmas fruit-basket period. I can envision this working for any seasonal push. (Floral holidays especially come to mind, such as Valentine’s Day, Easter or Mother's Day.) In fact, grocers already host organizations (such as the Girl Scouts) to set up shop at their front entrances. Why not replicate the same inside the store?
Like I said, this idea isn’t original, so there’s no having to ram it down anyone’s throat. Just a “what-if” moment and a thought from someone sitting in the cheap seats at football game, trying to stay warm while eating an overpriced hot dog.
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.