Company Blog

Practice Preparation

by Adam Zack — May 25, 2021

“People are raring to go and experience tastes and food excitement.”

I’ve never given a lot of thought to the church choir. Or any music at church. They get up there, sing or play, and then move offstage. No one claps or yells appreciation. There’s no standing ovation or encore. The sermon resumes and everyone goes about the rest of their Sunday business. What I didn’t give any appreciation to was that those church musicians actually have to practice. They practice a lot. The commitment to do something they love for a religion that they are committed to says something very strong about the character church musicians and singers possess. Face it, no one is singing in the church choir to land a record deal or to even score big tips when the guitar case is passed around. And the hours and hours that they practice and prepare are mostly taken for granted by the congregation. It reminded me that to be successful grocers and business people, we need to practice and prepare to really shine. As we emerge from the pandemic, promotions and store events are going to differentiate you from the chains. People are raring to go and experience tastes and food excitement. We have to practice and prepare to nail it. Nail it, and they ke...

by Adam Zack — May 18, 2021

“If we’re not making mistakes, we’re not learning.”

When I was a young driver in my 20’s I would always try and look ahead of the car in front of me when we were at a stop sign to anticipate when it was going to be my turn to go. The first time I hit another car was a light tap. I saw the opening into traffic, watched the car in front of me start to go, then started to go myself, bumping bumpers when the driver ahead didn’t actually go. It was a no-harm, no-foul situation. I apologized and we went on our way. A few years later, waiting behind another car in front of me to go and get on the highway, I looked ahead and saw the opening. The car in front of me started to go, and thinking that I had time to merge in too, floored it. Except the car ahead decided she didn’t have time to safely merge and BAM, I totally rear ended them, causing thousands of dollars of damage to both our cars. It was the last time I made that mistake. Now I focus squarely on the car in front of me, not even looking ahead, until they are gone. I even taught the lesson to my two daughters. One listened and remembered. I think about learning from my mistakes every time I drive now. I still make plenty of mistakes, but that one lesson has helped me not make th...

by Adam Zack — May 11, 2021

The store owner treated us as if we were locals.

“I’m on a much wanted vacation this week, so my best friend who has had my back for 53 years, and is also the Miracle Liver Transplant Man jumped in without me even asking and wrote a Guest Blog. Enjoy.” —Adam ZackGuest blogger Scott here again to step in for Mr. Z. Recently I had the pleasure of visiting a small town in Northern California and needed supplies for a weekend getaway. The small town Hot Springs had this inn where each unit included a private tub heated by an underground spring. What a great weekend. We weren’t quite sure of our accommodations so when we arrived we found that each unit also had a small kitchenette, allowing us to save money by making meals in our room. Don’t get me wrong, we went to a couple tiny town restaurants hoping for the best biscuits and gravy or a hidden diner with epic chicken fried steak. Comfort food at its finest. Once a market was found, we made a list and headed into town. The population was just over 500 people and yet the store owner treated us as if we were locals. The produce was fresh and ripe, meat department had an on-site butcher and even though the square footage was about 1/8...

by Adam Zack — May 5, 2021

The real challenge is to see your familiarity through new eyes.

Most everyone has heard the phrase “Familiarity breeds contempt.” I have to admit, I never really thought about what it meant. I used it, but not correctly. Defined, it means: “The more acquainted one becomes with a person, the more one knows about his or her shortcomings and, hence, the easier it is to dislike that person.” Personally, I have found that not to be true. For me, familiarity breeds comfort, trust and mutual caring. But I can see where with some relationships, personal and business, familiarity leads to jealousy, resentment and lack of appreciation – all such negative emotions. So I didn’t even start planning this blog with that in mi...

by Adam Zack — April 28, 2021

So gosh darn nice.

Have you ever met someone who is so sincerely nice that it makes you want to be a better person? I was on the train last week and I passed the conductor on the way in. I’ve seen her occasionally, and each time I’m struck with how genuinely kind she is. Every time. In the midst of a pandemic, checking tickets of stressed out commuters and general whackos who ride public transportation, her eyes and her words convey that she is just, well, so gosh darn nice. Even through a mask, her eyes sparkle with a kindness and caring about her passengers. I don’t know her name or any details about her. She doesn’t know my name or anything about me. I say “It’s nice to see you” and I mean it, because the positivity she imparts on me makes me want to be nicer not only to people I care about, but to everyone who crosses my path. It’s like the world is a little bit better because there is one more person who unselfishly appreciates what she has and is thankful for her blessings. So here’s to you train conductor lady. Thank you for inspiring me.

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by Adam Zack — April 14, 2021

Great service is largely controllable, and largely universally appreciated.

I have a friend who is a bourbon tasting ninja. He’s like the Tom Brady of tasting. A chess grandmaster. Tiger Woods in his prime. Not in terms of the quantity of bourbon that he tastes, it’s his ability to translate all the flavors, scents and sensations into words that once you read them and taste it, make you say “Oh yeah! I get that now. Scents of apples… caramel on the finish!’ Here’s an example of his description of an Elijah Craig 9-year-old Single Barrel Bourbon:Nose: The nose opens with soft baking spices, warm caramel sauce, fudge brownies and fragrant cedar woodPalate: Chunky peanut butter, cinnamon, chocolate chunk cookies and vanilla sweet cream.Finish: A rich finish of Snickers candy bar chased with a shot of cinnamon-spice latte. There is also a small amount of menthol and oak present to give it some depth.Now I know this sounds super geeky. Most of us would say “Tastes like bourbon”. But the point is that tasting is subjective to what the taster perceives and translates. You could steam me some broccoli a...

by Adam Zack — April 7, 2021

No repercussions

As we emerge from the Pandemic this year, it’s going to be more important than ever to try new ideas and promotions to differentiate your store from all the food options customers have. My favorite part of the game Monopoly is the Get Out of Jail Free card. I could take risks with borderline crazy chances and hunches, and if they didn’t work out and I ended up in the clink I could produce that special card, and voila! No more jail. Not even probation or community service to do! I emerged a free man with a clean record, able to learn from my mistakes and forge ahead exonerated, my record expunged, a twinkle in my eye and an extra bounce in my step. Ah, if only there were such a thing in real life. There isn’t, is there? But wait, I have the power to make things happen and I want my employees to stretch for new ideas, to try different things, to use their creativity and ingenuity to make magic happen for our customers. But you know what? In a lot of companies employees are scared to death to try new creativity. Why? Because the threat of failure looms large and failure is seen by many employees as a jail sentence and they don’t have a get out of jail free card. We even set up the jail analogy by using terms like “probation period�...

by Adam Zack — March 31, 2021

To grudge or not to grudge, that is the question.

Last week Dennis, one of our vendors who is also a friend, was dropping off some wine. We chatted for a bit and he said he had just seen another one of our vendors, who he used to do business with, in the store. They had parted ways a few years ago because Dennis’ company wanted to go in a different direction. Since that happened, the guy Dennis saw developed deep hatred and animosity towards him. He won’t speak to him and offers nothing but angry gazes when they do see each other. We started talking about how some people can hold a grudge forever and how that grudge is such a burden to carry. The Grudgee, in this case Dennis, goes about his life happy and willing to let the past be the past, while the Grudger holds that big stone of bitterness and the only one he’s hurting with that hatred is himself. We talked about how we both knew people like that. In fact, the last time he and his wife had a big fight was a couple years ago when he told her that she was a grudge holder and she held a grudge against him for saying that. It was funny to me. Life’s too short to let negative emotions have any space next to the positive ones. Move on, cowboy.

by Adam Zack — March 24, 2021

The culture of the company comes from the top.

Oh, boy. By my count this is Blog number 300. That’s a lot of rants, reflections, thoughts and stories. So here goes.A friend and employee yesterday asked me if I knew what this week’s blog topic was yet. As a charter member of the “Fly by the Seat of Your Pants Procrastination Club”, I told him I had not decided yet (maybe making it seem like I was deciding between multiple meaningful topics, when actually there were none in the hopper.) He said he thought it should be on The Perfect Employee and what my definition of that would be. Made me think. I started thinking the obvious. A perfect employee is an example to other employees. They are punctual, very friendly, caring, quality focused, follow the rules, don’t complain, are willing to do any task assigned to them, and are balanced in their work and personal life. They value family and know you care about theirs. They have your back and know you have theirs. They are content with their compensation and know you treat them fairly. They treat your products and money like it was their own and are as honest as your most trusted friend. They ask good questions, follow directions to the letter and take great pride in their work. They are happy to work for yo...