It has been said that a produce manager is a person with unique characteristics, sometimes hard to understand, difficult to deal with on occasion, passionate beyond belief and loyal to a fault.
What that short description leaves out is being empathetic, understanding and compassionate and having emotional intelligence. To be clear, a produce manager is all those things as well — but the latter are only available to a produce manager when he or she stops to breathe, if only for a moment, which happens not nearly often enough.
One must understand and imagine the feeling of being responsible for the life of hundreds of products (fruits and vegetables). Every living thing in the produce department is screaming all at once: Don’t let me die right here on the shelf! While the average person doesn’t hear a whimper of a noise, the produce manager hears the screams like a stadium full of Swifties.
This is a day in the life of a produce manager, It is also expressly why this person is, from my experience, the most valuable asset in a supermarket. A department that has become so over roughly the past 25 years or so; a department that retailers have built their brands of freshness around. In many cases these strategies — which have developed and tweaked, adjusted, remade, marketed and promoted over and over again to the consumer audience — are intended to drive home the message that their produce department is the best: the best value, the best quality, the best variety, the best prices, the best experience — the best of everything. But what is missing in those messages?
Leveraging the expertise
The expertise and product knowledge that a produce manager and associates possess have incredible value in how they educate consumers on product attributes, including origin, how its grown, the taste profile, ripeness, how to select and use, when to use, how to store, etc. This message is often underplayed by retailers, yet it is the biggest differentiator with competitors and consumers alike.
I have always thought a produce manager should be classified like a wine sommelier or cheese monger. Aren’t they considered experts in their area? Of course, and so should a produce manager.
The bench is important
When I was in retail — a career that spanned 35 years — I started as a clerk and progressed to an assistant produce manager, produce manager, merchandiser and, ultimately, a director for 22 years. Suffice to say, I have done it all in produce retail since the first task I was given: shuck a pallet (40 bales) of white jumbo onions.
I have often said I was assigned the worst task in the department just to see if I would hang around, and I did. Some might say that kind of work is meaningless, but it was exactly the opposite. It was the most satisfying thing I had ever done in a supermarket to that point.
You see, while I stood in the produce prep room and shucked sack after sack, I started thinking about the opportunity I was given and what I wanted to do with it. I did not have the answer right away, but I knew I loved the idea of creating something, like art — something unique and diverse.
This was 1979, so you can imagine how few items were available in the fresh produce department at that time, but I knew it was something I wanted to explore further. So, I began my path to growth in the produce department. I was on the bench.
Why it’s complex
A produce manager loves, in fact relishes, the thrill of a crazy-busy day, the challenge of a late truck or a visit by company leadership. Some might say that assessment is not correct, but I would debate the point because I lived it. While outwardly I may have complained, inside I was like, “Is that all you got?"
This is the character of a produce manager; just when they might seem to be broken, they are actually bearing down to win. That is when a produce manager comes out to show the doubters just what he or she is made of.
It truly is a beautiful thing, but many cannot understand unless they have stood in the shoes of a produce manager.
Misunderstood and underestimated
Like many produce managers today, I had my share of detractors and promoters, those who were mentors and those who tried to sabotage me. One example is when I was sent to an underperforming store to improve the produce department’s image before the store was replaced with a new location across the street.
I went in like a tornado, moving and cleaning before I started working on the merchandising, which needed help in the worst way. The crew was woefully trained and unprepared, and I think I scared a couple of them, because they soon quit. To me, that was a sign we had hired the wrong people in the first place.
After a week I began hearing rumblings in the break room, in the warehouse corridor and from the company’s other stores that I was shaking up the place. One store manager went so far as to say, “All new brooms sleep clean.” That was a remark meant to tell others not to worry and that I would fall into place with the other departments in the store, which was not in a good place.
We closed that store four months later and opened the new location, for which I was the produce manager. The image of the fresh produce department was changed forever after that experience. The point being that those who are produce managers are built just a bit different, and when hiring managers are selecting their next produce manager, they should look beyond experience and consider other factors.
I have hired many with a great resume but not a great love for the work they did. The best produce managers are the most complex and misunderstood — and certainly underestimated.
For these reasons and more, retail supermarket operators should realize the asset they have in their produce manager. They should have reasonable training resources and access to the labor needed to produce successful results. This is not to say a produce manager should have carte blanche to do as they wish in the department, but they should be consulted and listened to as it relates to the part of the business for which they are responsible.
The value a produce manager brings to the table is free for the asking, and they are more than willing to provide a potential solution to a situation or challenge.
Celebrating the produce manger
Supermarkets everywhere should not miss the opportunity to celebrate the best of the best of their produce managers — and they have that opportunity with the 2024 Retail Produce Manager Award program from the International Fresh Produce Association.
Retail supermarket operators are encouraged to nominate one or more of their best produce managers for this year’s award program. Twenty deserving produce managers will be selected and celebrated at the Global Produce and Floral Show in Atlanta this October.
Get more details on the award program website.
Always remember the “Three I’s of Merchandising:”
- Impact
- Impulse
- Incremental
Happy selling!
This column is part of a series by Joe Watson, who spent 30-plus years as the director of produce for Rouses Markets and was named Produce Retailer of the Year and honored as one of The Packer 25, both in 2014. Watson now serves as a vice president of retail, foodservice and wholesale for International Fresh Produce Association.