Mark Twain once said: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”
As an on-the-go produce retail specialist, you might say I’ve heard it all through the years after lacing up my Dansko footwear each morning.
Visualize this scene: It’s getting late in the day, and I’m inspecting perhaps the fifth and last store before I call it a day. Because of the early darkening winter sky, it’s a safe bet the morning-shift store and produce managers are long gone. My store visit goes fine with just a few concerns noted in my Day-Timer planner, which predated any so-called smart device.
I jot down a few notes, and I am approached by a curious part-time produce clerk.
I always enjoyed talking with the part-timers. I had an affinity toward them, as I was one myself not so many years before I traded in my soiled apron and knife sheath for the corporate sport coat and tie. The nice thing about chatting with clerks is that they often ask questions or make statements that even some managers would be afraid to bring up.
The openness and lack of fear were refreshing. After all, they probably thought at the time, what’s the worst that can happen? The big, bad produce supervisor will bust me down to a part-part-timer? Hardly.
It was, in all cases, a teaching moment. A chance to set something straight with the produce part-timer, who probably heard half-truths or rumors about what’s happening in a company.
Perhaps they question whether something is really company policy or not. Sometimes they asked product questions. (How long are winter apples held in storage? How is this even possible? What’s the best way to cut up a pineapple? What’s the powdery-looking substance on blueberries?) Other times I’d get a scheduling question. Random things like that. All normal questions I was happy to answer.
The question that always surprised me, posed during a new store setup or remodel, was this: Is it true that new store setups get a better grade of produce?
Now, I’d expect something like this coming from one of those young late-night clerks new to fresh produce. Sometimes, however, I’d get the question from a long-term produce manager.
Who knows where in God’s green Earth that myth ever started, but I heard it enough times over the years. Did our rank and file really think we had produce buyers that managed two separate receiving standards? One average (or lesser) grade for everyday run-of-the-mill quality that went to most of the stores every day, plus a whole other set of upgraded standards reserved for new or remodel setups, or perhaps this elevated grade was destined for stores in more affluent neighborhoods?
I shook my head at this comment every time and tried to calmly say that this was beyond ridiculous. Sometimes I’d just smile or laugh, depending on the relationship I had with the clerk or manager. “You honestly think we have a separate quality line sitting around somewhere?” I said.
I tried to calmly explain how I thought this might even come into a conversation.
I pointed out that with every new or remodel, as a setup crew, we always took our time, started with freshly scrubbed fixtures, new mats and new sign kits. Then we’d bring in fresh produce loads and assign produce clerks to hand-stack every fixture carefully, taking pains to turn the blush of a fruit facing outward, ensuring each display base was set so the end result was a neat and level presentation, complete with bright color breaks.
We also stocked every available SKU, with every destination display laid out neatly, every overhead light and product sign positioned just so and every automatic watering head adjusted perfectly.
When we were done setting up for the grand opening, every item gleamed like so many jewels in a case. It’s how fresh produce is supposed to be stocked: with care and attention to detail. You know, the right way.
And when someone dared suggest that we used special or upgraded produce for our grand opening or implied that we inserted fresh products not available to the rest of our stores, I’d wince and say, “Yeah, right. After all this work, I hope you don’t believe that.”
Armand Lobato’s more than 50 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions. He has written a weekly retail column for nearly two decades.
