It’s June again, and United Fresh marked the halfway point of another year of tradeshows.
One of the elements of the event to which I looked forward was the high-profile recognition of the 25 winners of the United Fresh Retail Produce Manager Awards Program. These folks have been nominated by store directors, merchandisers and others.
Ultimately, these are the people who go above and beyond and approach their work as more than a job. Sometimes the supporting material for nominations even includes screenshots of glowing reviews from satisfied shoppers.
With produce managers on my mind, I decided to ask five industry veterans – Mike Orf of Hy-Vee, Rob Ybarra of Coborn’s, Scott Bennett of Jewel-Osco, Jeff Cady of Tops Markets and Louis Scagnelli of Krasdale Foods – what attributes it takes for someone to be worthy of that kind of recognition. What makes someone a great produce manager? You can check out what they had to say in this article.
There’s a natural question that follows, of course. How does a company train and motivate its people to meet those standards? And for the rest of the store-level produce people, what is the ideal process for teaching them not only technical necessities, like how to store and handle different commodities, but also ‘fun facts’ for shoppers, like where the product came from and what its flavor and texture are? Rob provided his insight on this question in a recent video interview.
In the spirit of reflecting on the value of the store-level individuals who are the face of the produce industry to consumers, I’d be interested to hear what your company does to invest in your talent. What does your training look like? How do you bring new employees up to speed in produce? What are the biggest challenges you face in delivering the ultimate customer service to shoppers?
Thank you as always for reading, and feel free to reach out to me about programs at your store you’d like to share about, or just to discuss where the industry is and where you see it going.
Enjoy this issue, and – speaking of people who contribute to the success of produce departments – don’t forget to submit a nomination for Produce Retailer of the Year. Go here to see the list of previous winners, and send me a note on LinkedIn with your suggestion on who should be the next addition.