Everyone loves a good parable. This one has a fresh produce connection.
One that comes to mind now has refers to “The blind men and the elephant.” I suspect most of us have heard this classic. The roots of the parable go back thousands of years and transcend philosophical and religious teachings.
The summary, of course, is that a group of blinded (or blindfolded) men are challenged to determine what kind of animal the elephant is based on being exposed to only a specific part of the animal. Since each part is different (skinny tail, long trunk, massive head, etc.) every man projects the animal according to his own perception, and each one is only partially correct.
OK. This may be a stretch to tie this to a fresh produce message, but bear with me.
Being in the heart of summer, people often attend cookouts. In joining with family or friends, small talk always turns into more; asking what everyone does for a living can spark further questions.
For example, I ask my electrician nephew for advice. Since he knows I’m a novice at best, he smiles knowingly and says, “Don’t tackle that yourself. I will help you.”
Why? Because he knows his stuff. He’s a pro and advises against weekend hacks like me trying what he calls, “home cooking.”
Likewise, when you’re the produce guy at the cookout, sooner or later people ask questions like, “When is the local corn starting?” and “I’ve never tackled making eggplant — how do you know what’s good or not?” or “I see people thumping watermelon at my store. What’s that all about?”
The question that seems to be the overriding one all these years? “Where is the best place to shop?”
It’s a great question. After all, the cost to put groceries on the family table is second only to a person’s mortgage. So, any insight into what store is the best choice can be especially helpful. And because you’re the produce person, the cookout guests will consider you an expert.
My answer? I always say it depends. Are they talking about which chain offers the lowest prices? Ease of shopping? Best customer service? Some combination of this or other points? Just like the blindfolded men, all with a different perspective.
Typically, what they’re asking about is which chain has the best overall fresh produce quality.
When I narrow the question down from this, my answer is always, always, always “Shop at a busy store.”
There. That’s it. That’s my sole, blindfolded man’s account after being around all the other parts, identifying the multiple mass of the elephant to give them my best conclusion of the animal we call the grocery business.
Why shop at a busy store? In a word: freshness.
And I tell them to shop not just any old busy store, but the one store where it’s nearly impossible to find a parking spot — a store that is just so busy that shoppers say they will avoid it if they’re just picking up a small order. But the main shopping trip? Oh yeah, nothing beats shopping in the really busy store.
I ran into Frank Knute, our Fresh Express packaged salad broker many years ago. Being from the East Coast, he mentioned that at home the best and busiest delicatessens sell the absolute premium specialty sandwiches, because nothing sold is less than a few minutes old. Fresh trumps all other qualities.
Likewise, I advise my less-than-knowledgeable friends and family to do the same. An extraordinarily busy produce department sells product that is freshly stocked that day; produce that is likely only stocked a couple hours or sooner by the time the customer shops the display.
This means that all the expected shelf life belongs not to the store, but where it does the most good: in the customer’s crisping drawer in their refrigerator.
This helps in several ways. The produce is less likely to spoil so quickly, and the produce that is consumed is the sweetest, the crispiest and the most satisfying eating experience that a person can hope for.
A busy store turns their inventory, sometimes several times every day, so what’s on the shelf when you shop was in the shipping carton in the cooler that morning, in the busy warehouse only a day or so earlier and harvested just a few days prior. So, you can envision the whole field-to-fork, truck-to-shelf process is brief, redefining what fresh really means.
And like the parable of the blindfolded men coming together after examining the whole elephant, I’d say we made it to the end of this, um, produce “tail.”
Related: More insight from Armand Lobato
Throughout the produce supply chain, consistency and follow-through are key to building one's business, reputation and trusting relationships, says columnist Armand Lobato.
(Photo courtesy of Armand Lobato)
(Photo courtesy of Armand Lobato)
by Armand Lobato, Aug 12, 2024