We all love the jokes, the memes and more along the lines of, “The boss is coming. Look busy!” I love it too.
As with so many sayings, the origin of this can be traced back to a 17th century ballad, in the prologue to “The Merry Man’s Resolution, or a London Frollick” — “That many a true word hath been spoke in jest.”
All right, enough with all this ancient drivel. I want to tie this in, however, to how effective a produce manager is simply by being present on the sales floor.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped in to visit a store and check on how the produce manager and the department are faring — and the place is in terrible shape: low stock condition, clerks buddying up on stocking displays instead of spreading out to cover more areas, sanitation slipping and signs in disarray. You get the picture.
But the real kicker? When expecting that the produce manager is away and I asked, “Where’s Phil (or whoever)? Is he off today?” — and the response was, “Oh, no. Phil’s here. I think he’s in the back somewhere.”
That’s the worst place a produce manager can be, especially on a busy day.
I’ve made that mistake myself. Thinking all is in good shape, I could work on something away from the front end, like catching up on paperwork or a project. The minutes go by, then an hour or so. That’s when I felt my internal work-clock ticking. (It’s similar to how a quarterback’s internal three-second alarm tells him his time is up, right before he gets sacked by the defense.)
No matter how much you trust your crew, if you spend too much time in the backroom away from the sales floor, conditions will slip. Count on it.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you have a weak crew, but without the manager at least checking on things often, the clerks’ minds tend to wander: “I don’t really need to hustle with this load. How much time before my break, before my lunch? What am I having for lunch today, anyway? A smothered deli burrito sounds good. I think I’ll go chat with my pal in the dairy. I want to get into the football pool this week anyway. Hey, look at the time, another 40 minutes. I might just slip out unnoticed today. My shift’s almost done.”
What is it that many clerks aren’t thinking about? Getting their assigned area in top shape before they leave for the day — unless, of course, there’s a produce manager directing things.
Just the mere presence of the produce manager makes all the difference.
Even if Phil is indeed in the back catching up on paperwork, that internal timer — the voice in his head — should tell him to check on his charges about every half hour or so.
At the very least, especially in the medium-to-busier stores, a produce manager should make himself or herself seen and provide direction. Leave that paperwork (or whatever backroom task) for another time, load up a cart and start hustling. That usually lights a fire under the crew to pay attention and hustle, too, to get stock conditions under control again.
It’s great, of course, when a crew is so conditioned and disciplined that stock conditions are top notch even when the boss is away. I’ve seen these caliber of stores. But the reality for most stores is that, without an experienced produce manager keeping his eye on things, conditions do slip, affecting sales, gross profit and customer satisfaction.
And that is no joke.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.
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