Company Blog

Promoting Quality

by Adam Zack — November 30, 2016

Lets promote quality.

So the holidays are here and it’s the time of year to share love, family and friendship. It’s the time to be thankful and to let them know how much you appreciate them with gifts, cards and sharing a special meal or two together. Nothing shows how much you care like the very cheapest turkey you can find! Or the Prime Rib roast that is maybe a little tough, but good Lord only cost $4.88 per pound! The tradition of finding the cheapest meal ingredients possible, and bragging about it to those beloved, cherished guests has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Sure, everyone loves getting a “deal”. Everyone loves finding that bargain that saves money. But aren’t we talking about a special occasion? A gathering that happens once, maybe twice a year? Isn’t that reason to seek out the highest quality? The best turkey? The most tender cut of quality beef? For most supermarkets the quandary comes with appealing to those masses seeking that bargain of the century. If we don’t have the cheapest turkey in town, maybe we will lose customers to the competition. It’s a valid concern, definitely, because when they come in to buy that cheapest main course, they also buy the rest of the items for thei...

by Adam Zack — November 23, 2016

Everything I am thankful for.

It’s unbelievable. Thanksgiving 2016! When we were kids time seemed to just go so sloooooowwww and somewhere in our 20’s or early 30’s it seems to have speeded up. “I hope I die before I get old” has morphed into “I don’t feel as old as I look” and constantly reminds me of everything I have to be thankful for, every day.Top Ten Things I am thankful for 2016

An election year that brought out the worst in some people, the best in some, and made everyone pay attention and participate.

Tender Belly Bacon – Berkshire pork, uncured, cherry wood smoked. You need to find this.

The TV series Fargo. Some of the best storytelling and characters ever.

The Cubs win the series! The Cubs win the series!

A boss that makes it a point to compliment and is funny and weird.

Crispy chicken tacos.

Kids that make their own way, think their own thoughts and still love their dad.

A big family tree of nuts who doesn’t usually judge, seldom fights, loves each other unconditionally and always has each others backs.

by Adam Zack — November 16, 2016

Attitude is more important than facts.

It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away – U2I never really thought that a good day, or a bad day, had more to do with my attitude going into the day than with what my interactions with the day’s people and challenges brought. I was always the constant in the equation, and the actions of the people and situations I dealt with largely determined whether I’d have a great day or crappy day, right? I didn’t put enough stock in my attitude going into the day. I didn’t fully realize that if my day started with optimism, appreciation and energy that the rest of the day was likely to follow. Even more impactful was that as a leader the people around me were keyed to my attitude and followed suit. This was all brought into focus with an article on attitude shared with me recently. Thanks Linda for seeing how this could help me, and in turn help others.

ATTITUDEAttitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.Attitude is more important than appearance, giftedness, or sk...
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Voluntary Separation

by Adam Zack — November 9, 2016

The Short-timer Syndrome

A lot of time and thought is spent on counseling, teaching, correcting, reprimanding, warning, suspending and ultimately terminating employees who are not performing as expected. A lot of energy has been focused on correcting bad behavior and how to professionally and legally handle the end of employment for the bad children. But not much has been covered on how to best handle the end of employment for good, and sometimes great, employees who choose to leave your store. Maybe they have a better opportunity somewhere else. Maybe they want a career change. Maybe they inherited some dough from grandma. In any case, many stores just don’t have a clear policy in place for someone who gives their notice to leave. Mostly, a two-week notice is given and accepted. But is it in the best interest of your store to take that notice? If they are leaving for a better opportunity, or maybe to even work for a competitor, should you accept any notice at all or say thanks for your service and good luck. What doesn’t get a lot of thought is the interaction that the departing employee has with his co-workers. Short-timer’s Syndrome is a very real thing, and the amount of output you get, distraction to current employees and potentia...
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When To Say When

by Adam Zack — November 2, 2016

Here’s to great hiring managers.

Most everyone in management has hired someone you thought was the bomb, but turned out to be a mistake. Your instincts tell you that you have the right person for the job. They talk the talk, sling the lingo and dress to impress. You think you’re hiring royalty, but it turns out that the emperor has no clothes. And not in the good way. It’s kind of like you have a great first date. Maybe two, or even three. Then the next date there’s some not-so-discreet nose picking or a burp without an “excuse me”. Next thing you know you’ve stumbled into being engaged then married and are thinking, “I don’t want to get divorced again. If I just ignore her it will get better.” But it doesn’t, and before you know it your family is staying away and questioning your taste and decision making ability. If only you’d had the cajones to say after that first booger dig “You know, I don’t think this is really going to work out.” So the strong managers, the real leaders, realize when they’ve made a mistake. They take into account the best interest of their company and their employees and do what’s right by them and make the change. They do it quickly and decisively. They learn from it and ...
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Don’t Try. Do.

by Adam Zack — October 26, 2016

Requests for your effort should be reasonable and the answer realistic.

The word “perfect” is probably the most misused word in America today. I washed the dog. Perfect. I took out the trash. Perfect. I was only 10 minutes late to work today. Perfect. Perfect is the new “fine”. Another phrase that is greatly misused is I’ll try. Hey, can you finish your blog today? I’ll try. Can you empty the dishwasher before your mother gets home? I’ll try. Will start going to the gym regularly like you said you would? I’ll try. Instead of being an action statement, it’s really more of an excuse that means I’m not really going to try at all. In fact, I’ll try and pretend that I didn’t hear your request and I’ll try to not do anything so you’ll forget all about it. Trying needs to involve the same effort that actually doing the action requires. Trying requires 100% concentration and commitment. It has to be something tangible and attainable. Trying should lead to success more often than it leads to failure, and when the result is failure, you should have a sense of satisfaction that your try really was your best effort. Requests for your effort should also be reasonable and the answer realistic. I need you to get your ...
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Not Outta Sight

by Adam Zack — October 19, 2016

What The Hell Was THAT!?

So I went to this party the other night that was a real gas. I was driving with my friends Scott and Mark in Scott’s ’66 Mustang when we pulled up next to this dude in a ‘Vette. His wheels were bitchen, and he thought he was boss, but turned out he was all show and no go and we blew his doors off. The bash was really far out. The tunes were neato and the foxes were not at all stuck up. Mark thought he was going to score, but I was playing it mellow because I did not want to catch any cooties. Some dudes were getting blitzed and the dead soldiers were stacked all around the pad, so they passed around a hat to collect more bread. Since I was the square who wasn’t drinking the brew I went out to the pay phone and dropped a dime to call my betty Linda and tell her that we’d have to go to the submarine races another night. She thought that was the pits, but I told her we’d go the next night and it would be groovy since she was my main squeeze and we were going steady. I went back in to the bash and this skirt offered me a big glass of moo juice. Since I was driving, I told her to lay it on me. The night was getting late so I told Scott and Mark that we had to split. On the way home those bozos decid...
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Youthful Enthusiasm

by Adam Zack — October 12, 2016

Enthusiasm for life is essential .

When I was in my early 20’s my good friend Karen and I would go out late at night and play the Purse Game. You know, where you tie a piece of fishing line to an old purse and throw it out into the road and wait for someone to drive by, see it and stop. Just before they got out of the car to look for it we’d yank the line and pull it to where we were hiding by the side of the road. We just thought it was the funniest thing ever to see these people get out of their car and look for this purse that they swear they’d seen. One night, in fact the last night we ever played it, we hauled the bag in and waited. This man has a flashlight and comes over to where we are hiding, shines his light on us and says something like “Aren’t you a little old to be playing the Purse Game?” We were totally embarrassed and thought, “You know, maybe he’s right.”Everywhere we go around Carlsbad, California it seems we are surrounded by youth. Millennial families with little kids that scream with delight every time their feet touch a wave. Gen-X kids on skateboards in the parking lots while they smoke cigarettes. High school age boys with girls wearing swimsuits that are not ...
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When “My Best” Isn’t

by Adam Zack — October 4, 2016

We are fully invested and part of the success.

I was working on a project a couple days ago and finished it with what I considered OK results. Not great. Not awesome. More like so-so. Fair. Acceptable. I thought “Well, I did my best.” And I thought that most of the time when people say that they really didn’t do their best. “I did my best” is more of an excuse than it is a statement of effort. I didn’t do my best. Not even close. My best requires deep thought and concentration. It requires hard work to achieve high standards. It can’t be done with distractions while multi-tasking. My best is something I am proud of and want to show off. I lowered the bar, then claimed it as my best. So what does doing your best really mean, and is it something that should be done in every task? That is surely a lofty goal – giving every single task you do your true best effort. While mundane tasks like washing the car, taking out the trash and shampooing the cat might pass muster without delivering your best, any interactions with your customers and your employees do deserve the best that you can do. Every time. When we complete a project for a customer and can honestly declare that it is the best work we could have done, then we h...
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It’s All A Test

by Adam Zack — September 28, 2016

Answers below. No cheating!

One thing I used to look forward to when I graduated college was the end of tests. Since I was 5 years old it seemed the test cycle was non-stop, and it would finally be coming to an end! No more studying stress! Standardized tests, mid-terms, finals, SAT, entrance exams, term papers, pop quizzes would all be coming to an end – forever! I was obviously wrong. While the scholastically required graded tests may have come to an end, life tests that are now constant usually are less fun than the school tests of the good ol’ days. Now as adults we have tests of patience, tests of determination, endurance and will power. You got drug tests, driver’s tests, competency tests, paternity tests, intelligence tests, medical tests, personality tests and self-tests. We monitor crash tests, stress tests, nuclear tests, software tests and beta testing. Life’s a test, it seems and everywhere we are being graded. It’s stressful just thinking about it! So to take your mind off of the tests of everyday life, I am giving you a pop quiz about food, the thing as grocers and grocery marketers that we all have in common. It’s easy, amusing and somewhat informative. Get 100% and you get to skip your next life test an...
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