Editor’s Note: This is the final entry of a two-part series. Read the first part here.
As mentioned in this past week’s column: A few years ago, I received a very nice email from Katy, a retail produce professional who, like many of us, thinks the produce department is the jewel of a grocery store.
She asked specifically: What are the tools a produce manager should have? Here’s a portion in list form of how I responded.
While this isn’t a complete list (I can talk shop all day long), I’d say some of the more important ones are:
1) Sanitation program: I grew up in the produce business with a trim knife in one hand and a scrub brush in the other. The most efficient produce departments are also the neatest and cleanest. They have a specific cleaning program, and they stick to the plan.
I didn’t mind daily or even deep-cleaning chores, but I’ve always thought if an organization has dedicated sanitation help, why not assign them to help with produce chores such as regular case cleaning, fixture cleaning, regular store sweeps and spot-mops? I’d rather my clerks keep up with stocking and maintaining stock standards, but this isn’t always practical.
In many stores I’ve even arranged with the store manager to provide a courtesy clerk to help in the produce department on busier days (especially holidays) to dump trash, compact cardboard, fill bags and twist ties, anything to free my clerks so they could be where they were most needed: on the sales floor maintaining stock conditions.
2) Training: While tied with labor, produce managers are in a perpetual training mode. When a produce manager can assign a new or less-experienced clerk to work closer with experienced crew members (or with the produce manager), this goes a long way to developing that crew member with strong work skills, product knowledge, product handling, rotation, quality, shrink control and speed of work, along with providing firsthand demonstration of great customer service. Investing in training is a valuable and indispensable tool.
3) Technology: Does a chain or independent store have a good ordering system? I’ve seen some that are so streamlined that they help a produce manager get through this task with minimal obstacles. However, I’ve also seen ordering systems so cumbersome and so outdated that they are counterproductive and time-consuming — time that is better served managing the department.
The same thing goes with internal computer systems that help track sales or manage inventory. Such good technology tools are tied to the registers; can a produce manager easily print basic reports showing real-time department sales, percent of sales, produce pricing and quantities sold at any given time? I’ve run reports in poor-performing stores that exposed mis-rings (usually items ringing up incorrectly, out-of-season items or other discrepancies). State-of-the-art, readily available systems are a great tool.
4) Sampling program: A lot of chains have sampling teams, and I like to encourage stores and chains with such to include produce sampling in their program, especially when select fresh produce items are peak season or of general interest. From a popular or local grower — be it for mainstream, unfamiliar or specialty produce items — sampling is a great tool and investment for produce managers to spark excitement and help drive sales.
5) A regular checker-ID test is very helpful. This is such a simple thing a produce manager should do. Arrange an array of produce items on a table for checkers to ID. While many suppliers sticker their products, it still helps checkers to know the difference between red cabbage and radicchio, cilantro and flat-leaf parsley, organic versus conventional, etc. It’s also a good opportunity for a produce manager to call attention to newly arrived items that might otherwise catch checkers off-guard and prevent possible mistakes at the register. So, support of this (be it weekly or monthly) is a good practice and another good tool.
One enterprising produce manager I knew would sometimes personally sack groceries on a busy Saturday for brief periods, engaging in lively chats with customers and cashiers while he observed if the cashiers were correctly identifying and ringing up produce purchases.
6) Providing the best tools is a two-way street. Management provides tools to succeed, and it’s up to the produce manager to make the best of the support: to stay focused, organized, execute the daily plan and train and hold their clerks accountable. This maximizes sales and profit margins, keeps shrink in check and makes for happy, repeat customers.
And when it all comes together, a well-run produce department is indeed the jewel of the store.
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.
