"At the top of his game" — Jeff Cady is the 2020 Produce Retailer of the Year
Photos by Lindsay Sisting for PMG
Jeff Cady rarely misses an opportunity to get better, and that approach has served him well as director of produce and floral for Williamsville, N.Y.-based Tops Friendly Markets.
Cady’s predecessor Steve Wright, who was named Produce Retailer of the Year in 2013, describes Cady’s persistent pursuit of improvement as driven by “that burning desire never to be complacent and satisfied with where you’re at.”
In a year unlike any on record, with the COVID-19 pandemic presenting unprecedented challenges, Tops has continued to remodel locations, continued to drive sales and creativity in stores, and continued to push forward on sustainability. In produce, Cady has been leading the charge.
“He’s always aiming to be the best,” said category business manager Justin Rowe. “He always wants to kind of be leading rather than following when it comes to our competition.”
Tom Stenzel, president and CEO of the United Fresh Produce Association, in which Cady has held numerous volunteer leadership positions, made a similar observation.
“He wants to be better,” Stenzel said. “Some people kind of get set in their ways, but he’s constantly looking for new opportunities, learning opportunities. It’s funny because even on the virtual convention that we did just a couple months ago, he spent a lot of time on the site, looking at different exhibitors, seeing what’s new. He’s a guy who always wants to get better ... and I think that’s what you have to do.
“If he’s going to succeed, he doesn’t have the capital that some retail chains have, he doesn’t have the dense urban markets with hundreds of thousands of people really close,” Stenzel said. “He’s got to serve a little more rural area, people make a choice where to drive to go to the grocery store, his produce assortment’s got to be right. So I think he’s just always looking for some advantage to keep his company in the game.”
Cady’s colleagues report that the trend in recent years has been a positive one.
“Going up against Wegmans and Walmart is not an easy feat, and the fact that we’re able to grow is really cool,” said senior vice president of merchandising Jeff Culhane.
Produce and floral specialist Rick Wright described Tops’ progress during such an unusual time as remarkable.
“Look at the numbers, look at the pictures,” Wright said. “Look at all the fun we’re having right now.”
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Join us for the Produce Retailer of the Year award presentation at Fresh Summit at this link at 11:45 a.m. CST on Oct. 14 — https://farmjournal.zoom.us/j/92498771978
Cady started his produce career in 1986 and has been with Tops for more than two decades now. Steve Wright, Cady’s predecessor and now the chief customer officer for Harrisonburg, Va.-based Shenandoah Growers, said it was clear to him early in his tenure that Cady was unique.
“In order to succeed, you’ve just got to really love what you do, and Jeff has got a great love and passion for the business, for what he does, and that’s contagious,” Wright said.
He described Cady as one of the best merchandisers he has come across.
“There’s a talent to being really good at execution, displays, telling the stores what to do and programming things out,” Wright said. “There’s some people that just clearly have that kind of imagination that it takes to make that happen and have that come to life.”
Wright said he could tell in his early days working with Cady that, anything he might need to improve, he would commit the time to learn it.
Cady has taken advantage of formal training opportunities like United’s leadership program and the executive development program it offers in partnership with Cornell University, and he has learned from others around him.
“Any time there was really something to work on developing my leadership skills, I thought it’s worthwhile, and I still do to this day,” Cady said. “Just because it’s been six years as director doesn’t mean I stop. I keep going and I keep learning. I learn every day.”
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For Cady, part of learning is hearing people out, whether they be colleagues or aspiring produce partners.
“He listens,” produce and floral specialist Rick Wright said. “He wants us to be better. Instead of being the guy that’s, ‘Hey, I’m the boss, and we’re going to do it my (way)’ — he’s not that guy. He’s trying to make the business better, and he listens.”
He explained that Cady will evaluate suggestions by listening to his colleagues and also studying the data.
“If you’re going to argue with him on whether something’s working or not, you better make sure you got your numbers, ‘cause he’ll have his,” Wright said. “Oh yeah — he’ll have his. He’ll be loaded for bear if you’re going to push back on him on something ... Very smart man like that. Very in-depth.”
Rowe described conversations with Cady as always productive; when Rowe pitches an idea, Cady rarely gives a go-ahead with no discussion, but rather asks a question or shares an insight, and the dialogue generally leads to a better version of the idea or another option to consider instead, Rowe said.
Cady also takes a learning view when it comes to interactions with suppliers.
“He’s always willing to give somebody the time of day, which I think is also important in his role,” Rowe said. “Something that Jeff likes to say is, ‘You don’t know what somebody has to offer until you’re willing to listen.’"
Like others in retail leadership roles, Cady and his team get approached often.
“Jeff is not one that will just kind of dismiss an email and throw it in the trash pile without going through it or entertaining somebody — at least the elevator speech — to see what they have to offer,” Rowe said. “Even down to just some of the smallest companies, again, walking through especially the live tradeshows with Jeff, he wants to hit every booth, he wants to stop at even the smallest independent grower’s booth because they’re there, they paid the money, and you don’t know what they have to offer until you’re willing to listen.”
Read the second half of this feature article on our 2020 Produce Retailer of the Year winner here.
