Company Blog

Calm before the storm

by Adam Zack — October 23, 2019

Winners remain calm under pressure.

I think I can speak for the group of us when I say that we all love being in a state of calmness. There’s no emergencies going on. We’re relaxed, focused and content. Calm is organized, aware and productive. It’s not distracted or interrupted. Calm comes after a good night’s sleep and isn’t easily distracted. Winners remain calm under pressure, even when the pressure is intense. We all want to remain calm, and want others around us to do the same.I have learned, however, that staying calm is not a piece of advice that can be easily given. Telling someone to “Just stay calm” or “Calm down” usually has the opposite effect. Something along the lines of “Don’t you tell me to calm down! I am calm! YOU calm down!!!!” Calm doesn’t have exclamation points. Ever. So next time you find someone on your team or your family in an obvious non-calm state, the way to get them to calm the F down is by how you behave in the situation. Leaders stay chill under pressure, and the team follows.

Read More – Hope And Fear Are The Same

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by Adam Zack — October 16, 2019

I have long had the need to be a fixer.

It’s good to help, right? People need our help and it makes us feel good to help them. They say, “Thank you, how can I repay your kindness?” We of course defer and say, “No, no, it was my pleasure to help you.” But deep in the blackboard of our mind a mark is tallied, and they now owe us a debt because of our help. When I first heard this analogy last week, I had to step back and really think about it. I always have wanted to help. It feels really good. But does it make the helped feel good? Do they now feel the obligation of owing me one? Something really to ponder. In fact, think of help in terms of The Help. To be referred to as “The Help” immediately conjures up images of a maid, a butler, a driver – some kind of subservient role. No one wants to be referred to as The Help. Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen really nails the subject Helping, Fixing or Serving?I have long had the need to be a fixer. Need advice? I’ll give a solution. Don’t need advice, but just want to talk? I’ll give a solution. Something not working right? I’ll give a solution. I ta...

by Adam Zack — October 9, 2019

Very few of us just did it on our own.

I was talking with a friend yesterday who is in the wine business. Actually, I was tasting some of the wines he sells. And it was before noon. Somebody has to do the hard work. Anyway, I asked him what trends he sees in his business as a wine broker. He talked about the pressures on restaurants and retailers to lower food and beverage cost to make up for the increase in minimum wage here in San Diego. He lamented how it’s tougher and tougher with added pressure to get high quality wines to diners at an affordable price. He went on to tell me of people in the industry he has worked with over the last 25 years and really supported. Company parties at their restaurants, consistently patronizing their business, sponsoring many individuals in their wine education.He had many mutually beneficial long-term business relationships. He mentioned that today, as time has gone on, many of the people forget those past relationships. Memories fade, management changes and some people just seem to have forgotten how they have achieved a level of success with his help. It made me think long and hard about remembering to acknowledge the key figures that got you to your level of outstanding success. Mentors, manage...

by Adam Zack — October 2, 2019

Sous-chef^{[ soo-shef; French soo-shef ]}^{the second in command in a kitchen; the person ranking next after the head chef.}

We all have sous-chefs in our stores.

The executive chef gets all the credit. They are the big names – Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, David Chang. They are the creative face of the brand, the ones ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the restaurant. But it’s the sous-chef who deserves the credit for the prosperity of the restaurant – or deli. They put in the long hours, place the food orders and direct, inspect and insure that what is going on the plate and into your mouth is delicious and consistent every time. It’s like the executive chef is the car – be it an old Nissan pickup or a new Ferrari – and the sous chef is the driver.We don’t give our sous-chefs enough credit. We need to thank, honor and reward them more, for they are the ones doing the work. In your stores, you as the owner are the executive chef. You are ultimately responsible (and on the hook) for successes and failures. When you have outstanding profits, you reap the rewards. When business is tough and profits are down, you absorb them personally. We all have so...

by Adam Zack — September 24, 2019

Dick.

So what’s your nickname? I’ve know Reds over the years that obviously get their name from being a ginger. We’ve talked about Lazy Susan. My dad gave himself the nickname Ace because he was good at most things (but tennis wasn’t one of them). There’s been endless supplies of Shortys, Shiftys, Leftys, Stinkys and Smokys. They got their nicknames from a physical trait or behavior. There’s the obvious ones – Fred is Fredrick, Sam is Samuel, Matt is Matthew. Junior was anyone named after his father. It’s like saying the whole name became just too much work. And there are some that are a real stretch. How did Henry become Hank, John become Jack or Richard become Dick? And seriously, how did Dick become either a part of the male anatomy or a really mean and unpleasant person? No wonder there are no little kids nicknamed Dick anymore and the ones named Richard strictly stick to Rich or Rick. No one wants their kid to be a Dick.Foods you sell and love can differentiate themselves from their generic name by cementing a nickname that no competitor can copy. Seaside Market in Cardiff, CA has sold a million pounds of their marinated tri tip called Cardiff Crack, a nickname made up by a customer because they thought it was so add...

by Adam Zack — September 18, 2019

Ultimately, the cost of not investing is higher.

Some people get paid ridiculous amounts of money. Actors, Musicians and Sports stars who sign big contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars with mind boggling deals amaze me. Mike Trout signs a contract for $400 million. Manny Machado for $300 million. Bryce Harper $330 million. Their teams, the Angels and Padres are having terrible seasons, well below .500. The Phillies might make the wild-card playoff. Maybe. So it’s natural to think these owners shelling out the big bucks are insane. Who would pay that much for one player? But they’re not. These owners are very successful businessmen who, I believe, look to monetize their investment. But how? They haven’t turned into winners, at least not yet. These high-profile deals result in a lot of residual profits we don’t see. Merchandise sales, team publicity, legitimacy in the marketplace all figure in to the return on investment. Grocers who remodel stores, add new locations, reinvent their websites and hire top talent are making those investments to monetize them over the long run. It’s easy to say that investing in a cutting-edge website or replacing aging meat cases is just too expensive. Yes, it is expensive. But the cost of not investing ultimately is higher. L...

by Adam Zack — September 4, 2019

It’s a huge pain in the ass.

It’s been said many times, including in this blog ad nauseum, that it’s that little things that add up to the larger success. The small kindnesses and details really are more important than one big, sweeping gesture. But it’s also the little things – done repeatedly and with no clear path of correction – that add up to bug the crap out of you and eventually change shopping habits. Example: I was in a store in Seattle recently (Whole Foods) and their bakery and pastry case looked great. They had well decorated, delicious looking cakes. Then I got to the cake with fresh strawberries and while they were red and beautiful, they had the stem on them. Now this has been a pet peeve of mine for many years. To eat that strawberry, which is usually glazed too and has icing on the bottom side, you have to pick it up by the green top and either eat it whole, or cut the top off and put it back on the cake. It’s a huge pain in the ass. Why, oh why, I wonder every time I see strawberries on a cake, can’t the decorator cut the stem completely off and put the strawberry on the cake cut side down. It’s a beautiful presentation and still glazable. And I’ve seen it in lots of bakeries. It’s like the world’s first cake decorator kept the stems on...

by Adam Zack — August 28, 2019

Perfect

I’m a keen observer of speech habits and grammar. I’ve been called a picky ass-wipe more than once. Phrases like “you know…”, “perfect!”, “I know!”, “right?” and “ya know?” are, well, slightly overused. I try and not to use these words and phrases, but it’s hard, right? So I got totally busted when I said “I don’t care.” It’s one of those phrases in my mind translated to “Whatever you prefer darling, I just want you to be happy.” My wife was talking about wedding plans. She’s a stickler for details and planning, and my modus operandi is more like “It will all work out, don’t worry.” So we were talking the other day and she said something (I’m not sure what, I don’t think I am as observant as I think I am) and my response was “I don’t care.” She said something along the lines of when I said that about wedding plans and questions she had, she just about punched me in the head. It’s the biggest event of our life, and I don’t care? I knew she was going to do whatever she wanted anyway, so in my mind I was being agreeable. It’s a running joke of ours – why are you even asking me? You’re going to do what you want anyway. But just like “perfect” is very rarely perfect and ...

by Adam Zack — August 21, 2019

Expectations are high for the do-ers in your company.

I make a lot of mistakes. Every single day. Every day there are things I would have done differently, or not at all. Things I would have said differently, or things unsaid that I should have. The people not making mistakes are the ones not doing anything at all. Just letting it ride and leaving no wake as they putt through life, trying their best not to rock the boat of the universe. A great teacher once told me that his acceptable level of failure is 30%. You make a lot of decisions, try a lot of things, do vast amounts of work and if 70% are successful, you’re doing pretty damn good. It’s the people who have a track record of really being great employees, or just great humans in general, who, when they make a notable mistake, really pay the toll. Expectations are high for the do-ers in your company. They make things happen. They are leaders. They are the example. And sometimes they make a big mistake. It could result in a big financial loss. Or it could affect customer confidence in your store. Sometimes orders are not sent before a big holiday, costing you money in lost sales. Mistakes happen, and nearly always unintentional and are learned from.Those people of yours who make mistakes are usually hardest on...

by Adam Zack — August 14, 2019

Instead of offering cake, he chose death.

When told of that fact that French citizens were dying of hunger in 1789 because of a great famine, Marie Antionette, wife of King Louis XVI, reportedly said “Let them eat cake!” Now that would be fine if she was actually giving them cake, but it was a comment that was so out of touch (there wasn’t even any bread to be had, much less cake) that it led to her being despised and eventually losing her head to the guillotine. Comedian Eddie Izzard did a very funny riff on the subject in one of his stand-up specials, where the tyrant King of England offered subjects the choice of “cake or death!?” which of course everyone chose cake – until there was no more cake and “my choice is … ‘or death?’”. Which leads me to the point of this story, where a grocer near my home in Oceanside, CA is trying to sell his neighborhood grocery store that has been in business since 1959. His business has eroded so much over the recent years that even though he owns the property, he is losing a lot of money every month. In the local San Diego Reader weekly publication, he is quoted: