Company Blog

First Job

by Adam Zack — April 15, 2020

I made $2.15 per hour.

I’m a member of a charitable community club called the Optimists. It mainly consists of a bunch of funny old retired dudes that raise money through dues and events to help the youth in our community with scholarships and school support. Good guys doing good things. So with everyone staying at home, there are no weekly meetings, the annual fundraiser was cancelled and all these old dudes are just staying home and having cocktails. One had the idea for Optimist members to share the story of your first job. I love storytelling and know that telling the story of your stores is the key to differentiation. It made me think and reflect and I hope it does the same to you.My first real job was a dishwasher at a family owned Italian restaurant called Sala’s near Lake Arrowhead. The minimum age to work at our grocery store was 15 ½, so I’d have to wait six months to begin my illustrious career as a bagger. I was 15 and it was 1980, so my parents had to drive me to work and pick me up. I was saving for my first car, and they were incredibly supportive. Great parents. I’d work Thursday and Friday nights until about 10:30, and Saturday I had a day shift making pizza dough and forming the crusts for the upcoming week. I made $2.15 per hour. Like most act...

by Adam Zack — April 8, 2020

We love our routine.

My wife and I are so boring. We have our daily routine. Just the word routine sounds boring. Unexciting. Uneventful. Blah. Our evening routine consists of me getting home from work about 6:15. I pour us a drink, we have a sit down and have our “debriefing”, which consists of talking about how our days went, what’s up with the family, etc. We then cook dinner (always something delicious, after all we are in the gourmet food business), clean up, watch one of our programs (currently Homeland, Top Chef, Better Call Saul and Ozark), then wrap it up with maybe a little Sports Center with Scott Van Pelt and head to bed. 5:40 the next morning, the start to the routine begins again. But we love our routine. And during this Covid thing, it’s pretty much the only part of our day that’s normal. Masks and distancing, product sourcing, sanitizing, accommodating and protecting. Nothing’s routine in the grocery business today. I miss hugs. I miss handshakes and high-fives and fist bumps. I miss pats on the back and standing closer than 6 feet to you. I miss normal, routine, boring. And I think, in fact I know, our customers do too. As we get a handle on our business operations, I think it’s important to get back to our rout...

by Adam Zack — April 1, 2020

May leadership be for you a true adventure of growth.

These days the heroes are medical personnel and first responders, sanitation workers, transportation workers and the teams that keep our grocery stores running. Forget celebrities, athletes, politicians, and business titans. We are down to the necessities to get through Covid-19 and you are the leaders who will get your communities through this. But being a leader who is also a hero comes with great responsibility. You have to provide wise answers and direction to your customers and especially your staff. You need to think of the “what ifs” and have a contingency plan for every scenario. Like I said, it is a great responsibility. The best, most impactful words about leadership I have ever had were given to me a couple years ago at a course called Heart of Leadership by the always thoughtful and wise Amba Gale. I think it’s just the right time to share it with you all. “For A Leader” by John O’DonohueMay you have the grace and wisdomto act kindly, learningto distinguish between what ispersonal and what is not. May you be hospitable to criticism.May you never put yourself at the center of things.May you act not from...

by webmaster — March 25, 2020

You will always find people who are helping.

Dear Fellow Grocers. This is very impactful.WISDOM FROM MR. ROGERSRemember Fred Rogers’s famous advice: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.‘“ We are the helpers.As stress levels and uncertainty remain high during this Covid-19 crisis, it’s very important to let your workers know that the work they are doing is extremely important to our communities. Without the grocery stores, the soul and backbone of every great community, there would be chaos. Without the comfort of knowing that the families can come to you and find a calm and confident staff willing to help, the crisis would be unbearable. For “thinking outside the box” and taking precautions such as passing out disposable gloves, for taking extra sanitizing procedures and doing everything in your power to remain the seemingly one thing that even has a slight resemblance to normal, here’s to you. Cheers, my friends.Special thanks to my wonderful wife who got this Mr. Rogers quote and sent it to me with a note: “Made me think of...

by Adam Zack — March 18, 2020

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

I’ve never liked the phrase “Think outside the box”. It’s such a cliche. For business leaders and innovators there is no box. There is no border. The limits are only what physically and realistically is impossible. There are lots and lots of “no box” independent retailers. They rock. There are also lots and lots of conventional grocers who operate within the box. Their stores literally are a box with long aisles and hard borders. During this unprecedented COVID-19 coronavirus times, the no-box guys are finding ways to keep products on the shelves and the box guys are bemoaning the shortages on their orders from their wholesalers. Last week, one very sharp operator in Northern California told me he met with his team and planned for what was coming. He told them to not just have a plan B, but to have a plan C and D. What can you substitute for the products that are in short supply or out of stock?A huge resource is the companies that supply restaurants – Sysco, US Foods, Shamrock – and many others. They carry many retail adaptable products – pasta, toilet tissue, paper towels, juices. And eggs. Yeah, they sell them in cases of flats with 36 eggs on each flat – but you can sell the whole flat, or cut them ...

by Adam Zack — March 11, 2020

Deals off and the killing begins

In the TV series Fargo, Season 2, there is a scene where Brad Garrett, (remember him? Ray Romano’s dopey brother in Everybody Loves Raymond?) one of the leaders of a big drug gang out of Kansas City is negotiating with a family drug gang in Minnesota. He’s definitely not sit-com funny here. He’s a bad-ass ruthless gangster. One way or the other Kansas City is moving into Minnesota’s territory. The mom of the Minnesota family gang is negotiating to sell or become partners and her dumbshit sons just won’t shut up and let mom get the best deal for the family. Brad worries that her hothead sons are going to muck up business, but she assures him that she can keep them in line. Brad disagrees. “You know what happens when one of my guys disobeys me?” he says. “He loses an arm. With family what are you going to do when they disobey you?” He’s right, deal’s off, and the killing begins.Family business is laden with protections and a lack of consequences for family members who don’t perform. But that’s not always the case. There is a terrific family grocery business in South Florida called Milam’s (Milamsmarkets.com). They are very progressive, quality driven, well run stores. There’s...

by Adam Zack — March 5, 2020

And you’re ghosted for good!

“No one comes together just to fall apart” – Marshall CrenshawThe conversation probably started with something like “We need to talk.” Next thing you know, the relationship is over and you’ve been dumped. We all have. Or at least most of us have. Relationships are grown, nurtured and developed with effort, care, and most of all love. It’s a partnership that is mutually beneficial and satisfying. It may have started out of convenience. Or maybe just a chance encounter. Maybe they saw your ad and your profile looked pretty sexy, so they swiped right (or left, I’m not quite sure how those dating things work) and next thing you know you are seeing each other regularly. Maybe you’re not exclusive, but you spend most of your meals together, and dammit, you feed them good. But your paramour is very attractive to the other suitors in your neighborhood. Very attractive. They flirt and woo and look their best every night, and pretty soon they are spending some time together. You think “What could I have done differently? I thought we had a solid relationship.” Turns out you didn’t actually have the relationship. You had transactions and what your lover wanted was a relationship. They felt like they were just ...

by Adam Zack — February 26, 2020

They were together long enough to record genius.

I spend a lot of time writing how teamwork is the driving force to success in the grocery industry, especially for independents. We have to have our team members backs, right? There is no “I” in team, or so the saying goes. We have to be a great band to make great records for long periods of time. I was listening to the Beach Boys’ “Surfer Girl” and “Wendy” this week. I was really listening closely, and it struck me just how brilliant their harmonies were. The complexity of the music and the vocals surely meant that they were a great team. Wrong. The band was the combination of three brothers, their cousin and a couple close friends. In-fighting, jealousy and different lifestyle priorities (the “we like drugs” team and the “we don’t” side.) They hated each other. Yet when it came down to making one of the greatest albums of all time, Pet Sounds, they were together long enough to record genius. The Ramones, pioneers of four-chord punk rock changed the landscape of American rock and roll in the late 70’s. They produced enough music to change music forever (there’s no Green Day without the Ramones, just to name one). They toured constantly. They dressed alike and had ...

by Adam Zack — February 19, 2020

“I dunno, nobody told us.”

My phone chimed and I looked at the text: “We need to talk” Uh oh. Has that phrase, whether it’s spoken aloud or written in a text or email ever conveyed a positive, optimistic tone. Nope. Even with an exclamation mark: “We need to talk!!” it delivers a sense of dread and worry. Something’s wrong. How about: “WE NEED TO TALK”. In caps, somebody is definitely in trouble. Add their name to it: “WE NEED TO TALK, STEPHEN” and the s%$# is definitely going to hit the fan for Stephen. Gulp, followed by a stomach roll and fear that something is going to change, and not for the good. Communicating effectively is vitally important in our business, and especially below par in the grocery industry. How many times have you asked, or heard an employee in a retail store a question they should know, and the response is “I dunno, nobody told us.” Or something along those lines. I’m telling you now that we need to talk, and we need to talk every day. To our employees and customers and vendors. When we do it, and really make the effort, the result is success for everyone. We need to talk, and we need to talk now, so we don’t get the text “WE NEED TO TALK!” later.

by Adam Zack — February 12, 2020

He’s the best of the worst!

Some time ago I went on a rant about how “Perfect!” is the most overused response in America today. Everything you do – Perfect! It dilutes the word so much, that no one really has a real idea of what perfection is and if it’s even attainable at all. To me, perfection is more of a goal than actual results. Many people fall very short of even attempting perfection. Their attitude is more “Nobody’s perfect…”. They have compromised attempting perfection before they even start. The bar is lowered from the get-go for them. So while true perfection is rare – think a perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics, a perfect passer rating in the NFL (158.3 – There were 5 in 2019 – Lamar Jackson (twice) Dak Prescott, Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson), or a wine that scores 100 points – attempting perfection is a character trait of your top employees. I think a more relatable way to aim is to be the best. And not in the “best of the worst” group.Being outstanding sounds much more achievable than achieving perfection. In the movie Ford vs. Ferrari (again with the movie references!) race car driver Ken Miles was explaining to his son his driving strategy to drive the perfect lap to win the race. ...