Company Blog

Important to me. Important to you (not so much)

by Adam Zack — April 3, 2018

Not a one-size-fits all hat.

On Sunday it was three weeks since I last washed my car, which for me is way too long. Most of the year we wash our cars every week. On Sunday mornings my wife and I drive the cars to the self-wash. We vacuum. I spray, she scrubs, we both dry. I Armor all the tires. Her late father Bob Jones used to say “A clean car just drives better.” I couldn’t agree more. It’s important to me that my car is clean. I just feel better driving it when it is. So on Sunday as I was happily drying it, I thought of how a clean car is just not important to some people. Actually, to a lot of people. A lot of people I know! Even some I’m related to. While I may cringe at trash and crap stuffed in side pockets and glove boxes and empty water bottles and candy wrappers strewn about a dirty car interior with 2 months of street dirt on the floor mats and the place where the dog licked the inside of the window last year, other people couldn’t care less. And when I step off my high horse, I have to be OK with that. In fact, I need to be great with it. It’s not my car. I passed judgment and I am not even a judge! I started thinking in broader terms, especially work terms, how the very best managers and business owners know what is important...

by Adam Zack — March 28, 2018

He’s been carrying the weight.

We’ve all done some incredibly stupid things. We say things we regret. We do things we wish we could take back. We even think things and catch ourselves trying to wipe that thought from our memory.Golf lets you take a mulligan. Kids games get do-overs. In tennis you get a second serve. Even track and field gives a re-start for jumping the gun. But real life makes you live with your mistakes and if you’re halfway smart you learn from them and not be like hair conditioner – rinse and repeat. But sometimes the gravity of your mistakes weighs very heavily. Guilt, remorse and even grudges seem to become heavier by the day, which turns into weeks and years. You can’t let go. You can’t put it down. You can’t forgive yourself. I was watching the sometimes funny “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” with Jerry Seinfeld yesterday on the train ride home and Jerry’s guest was Michael Richards, the actor who played the iconic Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld. If you don’t know Kramer, Google him now. About 7 years ago Michael was performing stand up comedy in L.A. and was heckled about not being funny. Instead of ignoring it or going with it like good comedians do, he got pissed and called the heckler prob...

by Adam Zack — March 21, 2018

Pick the best ‘great idea’ of the week and make a plan to make it happen next month.

Everyone is just so busy. It seems that especially in the grocery business that constantly something comes up that gets in the way of your To-Do list and what you planned for today gets pushed back to tomorrow.The dominoes fall and your monthly and weekly plan gets screwed. Procrastination, distraction and disorganization don’t help, but it’s the consistency of the unexpected that really mess with our planning. How many times has someone asked you to do something for them and when you ask when they need it by, the answer is “Well, umm, yesterday. But ASAP will have to do.” It’s impossible to put out your best work when you’re rushing to meet a deadline that has passed. The pressure to produce something that is “just fine” and that doesn’t allow for contemplation, review, revision and polishing often produces ho-hum results. And when the CEO wants to know why the promotion was not the success he (or she) envisioned, what do you tell him. “Well, ummm, you know, the deadlines were tight, and, ummm, Tammy didn’t get us the copy until Tuesday, and, ummm, the server went down so we couldn’t check our email, a...

by Adam Zack — March 14, 2018

What’s the response of a good listener?

Listening is my aspiration in life. Not just listening, but good listening. The kind where who I am talking to says “Wow, you’re a really good listener.” That happened to me once, and it was from the lifetime grocery consultant Harold Lloyd. It was a compliment that still makes me feel great a year later. So, as I aspire and listen daily, I started categorizing (not judging) the types of first responders I have been and that we all have been or interact with daily.RESPONDER CATEGORIES1. I KNOW! – The common response to most every statement or comment is countered with “I know!…”, which makes you wonder why you say anything at all since they already know everything.2. I KNOW, BUT… – A close cousin to “I know”, “I know, but …” not only already knows everything, they also need to throw in a big “but” which lets you know that you really don’t know what you’re talking about.3. THE REPEATER – Repeats everything you just said. “The Super Bowl was a really great game!” Response – “The Super Bowl really was a great game!” Kind of like a human echo chamber.4. THE SILENT TYPE – The listener says nothing, or pauses long enough...

by Adam Zack — March 7, 2018

Show them the target, and get out of the way.

Has anyone ever told you to just get out of the way? To move it or lose it? It’s almost never well received. It implies that you are impeding progress and are an obstacle to progress. It’s an uncomfortable feeling when you’re in the way. You feel useless and stupid. Strong (and not necessarily in a good way) and powerful bosses often do a great job of making their employees feel like they are in the way. General impatience, arrogance and the fact that they are indeed the boss often make employees feel like they ARE in the way. They become timid and withdraw, resulting in action that only happens with direction from the boss. In reality, it’s the opposite that’s true. The bosses are the ones that need to get out of the way. We need to let our employees exercise their judgment, training and experience to achieve the goals we give them. Show them the target, and get out of the way so that they can shoot. Think of it this way: You have 100 employees that you have goals for. Goals that will help your business, help your customers and help your bottom line. Only problem is, you are standing right in front of the target. They are gun shy – who wants to kill the boss (Ok,...

by Adam Zack — February 28, 2018

Less is more.

We have all read something that as we are reading we think “How long is this guy going to go on? Get to the point already.” And then we skip ahead to the end, or sometimes just stop reading altogether out of boredom or informational overload. So many things – movies, books, blogs – go on for much longer than they need to because the author or director is satisfying an ego need by thinking of himself instead of his audience. It’s the same with advertising and promotions. The key is to identify the story and tell it succinctly before your reader skips to the end – or doesn’t start at all – because it just looks like too many words. Ads can turn into diarrhea of the mouth – you just want them to shut up for a minute. Still reading or have you skipped to the end? What am I trying to convey here? Less is more, especially when it comes to telling the story of your store and your signature products. Get to the point, make it interesting, then shut up.

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by Adam Zack — February 21, 2018

Empower them to make decisions and lead.

According to Fortune Magazine, Wegman’s Food Markets are the second best place to work in America. Fortune Top 100 Companies Wow! One of our own is very near the top in this era where all these tech companies have perks like stand-up treadmill desks, company chefs, work–from-home options, free massages and free child care. Two of our other brethren made the top 100 – Publix at #47 and Nugget Markets at #70. It’s a big achievement in a time when finding, and more importantly retaining good employees, is extremely challenging. I was speaking to a store owner in Northern California who has had to stop events such as weekend barbecues and catering (two profitable promotions) because he just can’t find the employees to execute the program. That says something about the tight job market and maybe something else about the company. Many years ago the grocery business could be a career. You could start at the bottom in maintenance or a courtesy clerk and work your way up, getting pay increases, good benefits and promotions. You could be a department manager or even store manager and earn a good living to provide for your family. My dad did it...

by Adam Zack — February 14, 2018

The root of rumors is gossip.

Did you hear that XYZ market is closing? Yeah, I heard it from a friend who dates the assistant to the assistant manager. She says that business is slow and Amazon is killing them so the owner is closing. Can you believe it? The thing is, it is 100% not true. One of my favorite comedians Tom Segura tells the story of his dad telling him that Tommy Lee Jones is gay. (Click here for the story Tom Segura Tommy Lee Jones Story) He goes on to tell everyone he meets that Tommy Lee Jones is gay. One day someone calls him out on it, and asks where he heard it. He says his dad told him. Turns out the dad didn’t even remember where he heard it, but that didn’t stop him from telling people. The rumor mill is a powerful son-of-a-gun. Once it gets started it can go like wildfire and when you deny the rumor and try to put an end to it, you are the one who looks like a liar. It’s brutal. The root of rumors is gossip, one of the evil deadly sins. It’s something that is just to titillating to keep to yourself, no matter how preposterous it sounds. I remember back in the day the rumor was that in Mexico the workers peed into the Corona because they knew it...

by Adam Zack — February 7, 2018

Jennifer Aniston

I was walking down the wine aisle of my store in San Diego last week and Jennifer Aniston stopped me and asked me for a recommendation on a good, value priced Pinot Noir. Wow, Jennifer Aniston! And she was even prettier in person (and shorter, too, but all those Hollywood types are.) We chatted about what her favorite wines (Meomi? Really? Someone had steered her wrong there, but who was I to tell her that) and what she was serving it with. Turns out Gwyneth and Brad, Ed Sheeran and his fiancée and Courtney Cox were all joining Jen and Justin for the weekend at an Air BnB here in San Diego. She’s going to need a lot of wine, and it turns out Justin likes his bourbon, so I saw some Eagle Rare in her future. We picked out some nice bottles (she made sure she got 6 so she could get her 10% discount), then I escorted her to the meat department, where Alex cut her some beautiful prime ribeyes and Chris packed up 10 of his fantastic crab cakes. After helping her with more supplies (Toilet paper Jen? Air BnB’s are usually stocked up), I took her to the checkout, got her a cup of complimentary coffee and packed her groceries in reusable shopping bags (no charge, I wanted Jen to be photographed carrying one of my bags so it would...

by Adam Zack — January 31, 2018

The culture of caring is painfully absent.

Your company’s culture starts at the very top. There’s no way around it. If the boss is a moody a-hole, the company vibe will be that of moody a-holes. Think about places you’ve been to and consistently get indifferent, or even terrible service. Convenience stores, Walmart, Sears, the DMV all have reputations for marginal – at best – service. In businesses that rely on repeat customers the emphasis is often not on making those customers want to return, it’s on improving the bottom line. The culture of caring is painfully absent. And it’s not just customer service that flows down from the big boss, it’s cleanliness, organization, efficiency and more. A messy and disorganized office of the CEO gives employees no reason to be organized and neat. I was fortunate enough to go to Littlefield, Texas last week and spend some time with the folks at Lowe’s Markets. They operate 155 stores mainly in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. It’s a lot of stores to maintain a culture of caring. And it’s not just the customer service at store level that I was impressed with, it was the feeling of respect that proliferated the office buildings I visited and people I met. The grocery business is notorious for going cheap wh...