Company Blog

My Favorite Thing

by Adam Zack — April 10, 2019

I LOVE my bed.

What’s your prized possession? It can’t be a person, a feeling, a place or a pet. An actual thing that you bought or were given. I think generally the people I hang out with are not overly materialistic, so we’re not talking a lot about stuff. About food, and wine, yes, we get enthusiastic. Probably too enthusiastic. I understand how some might have an antique car that they’ve restored, an exceptionally meaningful piece of jewelry, or super cool big screen TV as a prized possession. I get it.What made me think about my prized possession happened on a Sunday morning a couple weeks ago. The blinds were all shut tight, I didn’t have to work or be anywhere, and I slept in until almost 8:00. Normally up at 5:40, the two-plus extra hours sleep felt so great, and as I woke up slowly, I thought “I LOVE my bed. It’s my prized possession.” And it has been for the last 10 years or so since I got it. I lovingly rotate the mattress 180 degrees every three months to keep it from getting old and saggy and we make it up every day out of respect for the rest and support it gives us. When I am away from it traveling, I miss it. When I get in it with its comfy sheets each night, I am thankful, and rest com...

by Adam Zack — April 3, 2019

What can I do today that will help me tomorrow?

I’ve beat the topic of necessary change nearly to death. Beat it like a rented mule. Like a redheaded step-child. Like an expense account rental car. I believe in necessary change wholeheartedly, but, come on man, move along. So I am not going to write about change, I am going to write about the effects of change. Because whether we are choosing to be proactive about it or just ignore it, the long-term effects are going to be there. Long term change (think of it more as evolution) is not a young man’s concern. He thinks of what can I do today that will help me tomorrow? Immediate change and gratification are the concern. I think our business is a lot like that too. We want to effect change through our actions, and we want to see and measure the results right away.As a young man I never thought the slow change of evolution would affect me. I looked at my grandpa and wondered why his earlobes were so big? He always had a receding hairline, right? I didn’t know him any other way. And how about that hair growing in his ears? Gross. To me these weren’t changes, it was how he always was. Surely he’d always used Brylcreem on his hair and Old Spice aftershave. He didn’t change, he just was what he was. Constant. Wel...

by Adam Zack — March 27, 2019

Lazy Adam over and out.

Lazy Susan: A turntable (rotating tray) placed on a table or countertop to aid in distributing food.I smirk every time I see a Lazy Susan in action. I can just see some dad at the dinner table asking his weak armed fat daughter Susan to pass the gravy. Pass the potatoes. Pass the carrots. Sick of passing food, one night she’s doodling in her room and playing with her marbles and a Frisbee, and shazam! she gets the idea for the first Lazy Susan. (Although she thinks of it as a food distribution platter.) She’s a smart girl and puts one together in woodshop out of a wooden top from a whiskey barrel and some ball bearings. She puts it on the dining room table discreetly and that night when Pa asks for her to pass the gosh darn yams, with a flick of the wrist she spins the food distribution platter and bam! yams are in front of Pa. No more tired weak arms for Susan. When kin comes as dinner guests they ask just what this new device is, and Pa explains that Susan is just too lazy to pa...

by Adam Zack — March 20, 2019

A great band combines creativity, excitement, collaboration, longevity, practice and hard work to produce success.

Teamwork is the most frequently used word when people talk about their business success, as it should be.

“Teamwork: Simply stated, it is less me and more we.”
“There is no I in TEAM.”
“Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.”
“Teamwork requires that everyone’s efforts flow in a single direction.”
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan

It’s a lot of catchy analogies and idealistic thinking. Most often, business teamwork is compared to sports teams. A championship season, a string of winning seasons, a record setting performance. But very rarely is the team of players the same from season to season. There are usually some constants in great teams, such as the coach, like John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski and Bill Belichick. Or the best players, like Tom Brady, Derek Jeter and Bill Russell. While we all (OK, not all – my daughters are ...

by Adam Zack — March 13, 2019

I maintain that “I know!”

Apparently last week’s blog got a little too descriptive. And I didn’t think there was such a thing! Lesson learned: When it comes to farts, bodily functions and pimples, detailed descriptions are not needed. Everyone just knows what you’re talking about with a few brief descriptors.So, I think one of the underappreciated things in business, and in life, is experimentation. It’s not the safe route, and the outcome is the opposite of certainty. If there’s something you want to change, experimentation with different options can usually lead to ways to make that change you need. Or it just may be a change you want, but don’t necessarily need. Now I’m not talking mad scientist kind of experimentation like Dr. Brown in Back to the Future, or the “Hey, let’s see what happens when we take mushrooms and drink a bottle of Jack Daniels” experimentation. I’m talking more practical experimentation like if we make the ad signs a different color what does it do to sales? Or if we tweak our ad pricing strategy, what are the possible results. Or if we don’t respond when someone makes a statement, does the conversation turn uncomfortable? I maintain that “I know!” and “Yeah, I know” are...

by Adam Zack — March 6, 2019

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

Every time I go to a public restroom, especially in an airport, sports stadium or busy restaurant, I think that the job of cleaning the bathroom would be the worst job ever. I hate cleaning my own bathroom, and I know the origin of those splatters. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? Not worst because the boss was a dick or it was super low pay, worst because it involved duties that were really disgusting. Back in the 80’s we had a maintenance man/janitor in one store named Jerry Hale. He worked for us until his retirement around 2011. One of Jerry’s monthly duties was to clean out the grease trap in the store. Now for those of you who have never smelled a grease trap when it’s being pumped, think of the very worst fart you have ever smelled and multiply it by four. That’s the reason grease traps get pumped at 4:00 in the morning. If your customers smelled that heinous aroma they would not be buying any food from you anytime soon at all.A life-long janitor, Jerry would get down on his hands and knees and scoop out that grease trap by hand, smiling and with a great attitude always. He had lots of gross job duties: Clean the bathrooms? No problem. Kid puked on aisle 2? Page Jerry. Old man with diarrhea on the froz...

by Adam Zack — February 27, 2019

“We all have personal lives too.”

It’s 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and I was resigned to not getting a blog done this week. In fact, I asked DW for a pass. The National Grocers Association is in town, coupled with Harold Lloyd’s M4 Marketing share group left not much time to think about writing. That changed at 5:00 this morning.I grew up in the mountains of Southern California. We had beautiful summers and snow in the winter. Sometimes a lot of snow. My dad wanted to be able to get us out of the snow occasionally on weekends, so he bought us a mobile home in Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs. Single-wide in a trailer park called Sam’s Family Spa. There were hot tubs, a swimming pool and an arcade with air hockey. Between riding our bikes, playing baseball (more like pickle or monkey in the middle), it was a pretty charmed life for a 6th grader. One weekend we were at the pool and I saw my 6th grade teacher Mrs. Johnson. She was with some other teachers at the pool. And the school vice principal was one of them! She wore a bikini and was drinking beer. And she was smoking. Smoking! It was big news in 6th grade. Teachers didn’t wear bikinis. And for sure they didn’t smoke cigarettes. When I got back to school on Monday my ...

by Adam Zack — February 20, 2019

“We’ve found we’ve had to adapt.”

How’s it been maintaining your company standards? It was easy (OK, not easy, but easier) 20 years ago to set your standards for employee appearance and store presentation. Shirts had to be tucked in, cleaned and pressed, top buttons buttoned, neckties knotted neatly and pulled tight. Hair worn back for the ladies, cut above the ears for the guys. No piercings other than the ears or visible tattoos. You shaved clean every day, were at your workstation at your scheduled times and clocked in and out for your scheduled breaks and lunches punctually. Cell phones were left in your car or locker. The store entrance was clean, neat and clutter free. Shelves were faced (double faced), cans turned labels facing out. Every day was “Grand Opening” day. The bar was set and compromises lowered the bar, and once lowered, there’s no going back, right? Just laying that all out evokes visions of “The good old days” when the “my way or the highway” style of management worked, and worked well.Recently I was visiting with Dorothy Lane store manager Dennis Chrisman. As we walked the store I saw one of his employees, behind the deli counter, take a sip of Starbucks type coffee drink. Visualizing the ...

by Adam Zack — February 13, 2019

Good operators have their finger on the pulse of their operation.

My notes show that this is Blog number 200, and man does that make me feel old and long winded. Like everyone, as we get old (but hopefully not too long winded) we require more maintenance. The warranty has long run out and instead of just changing the oil and putting the pedal to the metal like we did in our 20s we regularly need to be poked, prodded, scanned and tested. Colonoscopy? Sounds fun. Blood tests? Sign me up. CT scan? Why not. How about a little cosmetic surgery to nip that turkey neck or relieve those bags under the eyes. Why not?We care more about our health as we get longer in the tooth because, well, we are more likely to have a breakdown or failure. We want to maintain this bag of bones because we want to get 20 more summers out of it, right? Health care is expensive, but while we can still bitch about that part, it’s still vitally important to our survival. Our business is getting older just like us, and I just don’t see the checkups being done on it like we do on our bodies. Is our employee turnover too high like our blood pressure? Are the wrinkles of age on our equipment and decor 10 years past when the facelift should have been done.We al...

by Adam Zack — February 5, 2019

Great leaders find a way to humanize their toughness.

My daily commute involves a one-hour train ride each way. I get comments on how long that is or how I must hate the long days. I actually really love it. Leave home at 6:15 in the morning and walk in the door at home at 6:15 at night. It’s a great routine. So besides just sitting there looking at the California coast, I use my commute time to catch up on old TV series that I want to re-watch. It’s Sopranos right now, but before that it was Breaking Bad.There was one scene where Walter White was buying the carwash [so he can launder the drug money] from this bushy eyed Romanian named Bogdan. When he’s handing over the keys, Bogdan tells Walt that to be the boss, you have to be tough, and he doesn’t think Walt is tough enough (little did he know). Sometimes, when you’re the boss, you have to be the bad guy. You have to be the a-hole. And for most of us being the tough guy doesn’t come naturally.I know you know plenty of very successful business people who are ruthlessly tough. It seems the only thing they really care about is making sure that first nickel they made stays polished. They are successful, in a monetary wealth way, because of their toughness. The ...