The curse of the little gray desk
There’s a reason that produce managers’ gray-metal back room desks are so small. That’s not your primary workspace.
Rather, a produce manager’s realm is the entire department. The dry tables, the refrigerated cases, the wet rack, the receiving dock, the back room, the walk-in cooler. The better the produce manager, the more likely you’ll find him or her in these areas.
I used to quip very simply to desk-attached managers, “You can’t manage from here.”
To be clear, a fair amount of paperwork awaits. Invoices must be checked off, accounted for and filed. To-do lists and labor schedules to be need written and everything on that little gray metal desk and bulletin board should be kept neat, orderly and current.
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And like your sign kit, the desk should have limited access in order to keep it organized.
A related favorite quote is this: “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships were made for.” A produce manager is just as likely to be building displays, catching up with stocking and cleaning up messes as writing an order or schedule, sitting in on a budget meeting or reconciling a period-ending inventory.
In other words, you rarely have the luxury of walking around with a clipboard, directing who should be doing what task. This is typically done while you’re covering some physical task as well.
Even if you’re not guilty of leaning too long on your desk, I’ve seen many produce managers guilty of immersing themselves in some time-consuming project. Whether they were spending too much time in the back room, in the store office, or elsewhere it’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the project.
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What happens next is predictable. Without direction, clerks tend to fall behind or lose focus of stocking priorities. Department standards start to slip, and you’ve made a common but big mistake as a manager. It’s your responsibility to monitor the department, and conditions can rapidly deteriorate if you take your eye off the ball. So don’t.
What should a produce manager focus on, with so many variables and critical control points?
There’s no simple answer. However, the advice I shared with young managers? Help stock all right, but don’t get buried in a single task during operating hours that risks losing sight of the big picture. Rather, keep your head in a swivel; look around as you work.
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Between loads, quickly walk the department to ensure there are no hot spots. And if there are, divert a clerk from a lesser-important task to tackle the more-important one. Your eyes and experience must be all over the department, all the time.
The little gray desk offers no such perspective.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years’ experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.
