Remodel burnout — I doubt this is a term you will find in any marketing textbook. It’s what frequently occurs during a major retail grand opening or remodel process. People aren’t just tired; they’re tired beyond being effective any longer.
It happens. It typically occurs at the end of a long day of getting a produce department ready for grand opening day. It can be defeating, even dangerous to a person’s mental health, and it affects clerks and management alike.
Burnout doesn’t usually happen at the onset of a remodel, if you can picture a remodel action plan with, say, five or six days to go. Those first days are the easiest and usually the least stressful. With five days to go, there’s not even any fresh produce to work with yet.
In fact, there’s usually a light crew. They’re busy readying the fixtures. Cleaning, placing fresh mats on the surfaces. Positioning lighting, adjusting fixture placements just so. The biggest thing going on is one or two people taking care of signing. That’s a chore all right, and not one you want to wait until the final day.
So, how can you minimize the burnout demon? It’s best to have your merchandising plan in place as a starting point.
The anxiety bug has hit the produce manager, no doubt, so it’s best for the produce supervisor to limit what gets done each day — and then send the manager home on time.
If it’s a well-organized plan, the remodel labor setup schedule has long been written at this point, as well as the grand opening week schedule and perhaps the schedule after that week. No need to fret over these at the last minute.
Also in this plan, setup product orders have already been placed with the warehouse — pre-arranged so that only certain commodities arrive on certain days leading up to the remodel or new store grand opening day.
Do this step carefully and according to your merchandising plan — so that the only product you bring in goes directly to the shelf (no backstock) — and all you will have to worry about each day is tweaking your inbound orders for any out-of-stocks or last-minute quantity adjustments.
Ideal remodels and new store grand openings have this credo to stick to: Plan your work, then work your plan. Include enough hands for ongoing prep, perhaps schedule some overnight shifts to receive and put loads away ahead of time.
Don’t kid yourself. There will be snags along the way. There always are. The idea, of course, is to minimize any problems. Burnout shouldn’t happen as the days before the grand opening wind down to a precious few. The produce department steadily comes together, one phase at a time.
In your schedules, do yourself a favor or two. Schedule a courtesy clerk or a maintenance clerk or two each day to help with keeping floors swept, boxes cleared and any miscellaneous tasks that come up. You’ll want your clerks to be stockers, not wasting time breaking down cardboard. On the other end of the schedule spectrum, try to recruit some heavy-hitters from nearby stores. Perhaps these are top-level clerks or (even better) top-notch area produce managers. Schedule one to help close up the store each day for the first week or so, once the grand opening is underway. This will greatly reduce the stress overall, as an experienced set of eyes is always on the job.
Do this, and every day you, Mr. or Ms. Produce Manager, should be sent home at the end of your regularly scheduled end of shift. Same goes for your days off. Take them, both. With a good plan in place, your store will manage fine and you won’t get burned out.
Finally, in the days leading up to the store grand opening, set your time and list your priorities. You’ll be engulfed in a thousand details, setting up, dealing with problems, communicating with management, being pulled into one too many meetings. It happens, so plan on this, and again, at day’s end, you focus and when the shift timer goes off — point your shoes towards the door and leave.
Burnout occurs when you find yourself pacing endlessly and triple-checking endless details already covered. You and your produce supervisor must make the pact: When it’s time to leave, leave.
If you can be so disciplined during the setup week, the grand opening week and the week after that, you’ll find yourself with positive, productive and healthy momentum you’ll need for the long run.
And I promise, despite the inevitable stress that happens, you won’t be burned out.
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 two decades.
