May 3, 2012
For the Love of Food
Here it is, short and sweet. I’m now back from the FMI Show. In almost every presentation and conversation I had over the course of the past couple of days, I heard about better ways to buy, ship, display, price and sell all types of bags, bottles, boxes and cans. What I didn’t hear, except in a few instances, was how much the people selling those containers loved what came inside them and the world of culinary possibilities they represent. My question is simple: where is the love?
A very long time ago, a successful restaurateur told me that the key to his business success was understanding that food was about the heart, not the head. It occurred to me that anyone I’ve ever spoken with at a top line restaurant started and ended their conversation talking about the food and the relationship (the personal kind) that they and their customers have with it.
Today, chefs are celebrities, and millions of people, foodies and non-foodies alike, tune into various cooking channels and shows to see what people are making and eating, even if they will never prepare or eat any of those dishes themselves.
Few topics can get people as animated, in a positive way, as talking about a great meal or the preparation of a new or favorite dish. Here’s a consumer insight for you (no data crunching required): most people love food. They not only love eating it, they love thinking about eating it and talking about it. The memory of shared joys with families and friends over the years often involves food as a central element.
It’s not enough to talk about freshness or quality in ads or in-store signage. That’s the minimum requirement for being in the food business. It’s also not personal. No, to really build an ongoing and connected relationship (some call it loyalty, but I’m not big on that word) with the people who shop in your stores, share your love of food with them.
To do that, start by hiring people who really love food. Could there be anything sadder than working in a grocery store and not being intellectually curious and emotionally open to all the possibilities that literally surround you?
Follow the hire, talk about food all the time and encourage associates to talk with each other and customers about it. Conversations at the register shouldn’t just be about whether the customer prefers paper or plastic. When I was doing my research at Trader Joe’s and manning the checkout at a local store, if I saw a particular sauce in a cart that I had used, I would share my recipe and preparation tricks with customers. On a regular basis, customers would come back on a return trip and tell me they tried my recommendation and that they enjoyed it. Quite often they would then tell me about something else they were going to prepare and ask if I had any recommendations. I am not a trained chef and am certainly not a gourmet of any type; just a normal person who tried something, liked it and shared it with others.
Stores such as Trader Joe’s and Wegmans have prep and sample areas where customers can taste a particular dish and see how it was made. All the items required to make it, assuming they like it, are right there (or at least close by) for purchase. (I have an idea for a completely new food store format around this concept, but that’s for another column.)
So, here’s the recap: food retailing is a business about people and food. It’s about people who like people and people who love food. Share the love.
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: Do you think there’s a lack of love for food demonstrated by many in the grocery business today? How can retailers create organizations that are passionate about food and use that to better connect with the people who shop in their stores and go to their websites?
Poll
It may be an oddity to love a freshly prepared food commodity … but let’s give upgraded food sampling another try.
Prep and sample areas aren’t new, but some are badly handled. So let’s join George and not ration our passion for food nor our liking of people who love food. But let’s plan carefully so we don’t connect so well that we make supermarkets America’s next soup kitchens.
With all of the retail stores now in the “food business,” it is very hard to separate yourself from the competition, as all of the local media now have coupon queens, and cost cutter reporters in the field.
The article is correct, because in our store, we try to promote the taste of our homemade foods every day. Getting through the thick haze of the big-box stores, dollar stores, and all the non-exciting food dealers is a difficult thing to do, BUT it is the correct way to sell your signature deli items. Sampling and helping people understand what you can offer them is the key, and every day can be an opportunity to add a new customer to your quality offerings.
Using social media can also help drive your love of food concept at very minimal cost, so get out there and start sampling your goods!
I couldn’t agree more with George’s perspective. In recent research focusing on Mature Millennials (older Gen Y) I found the following significant life style differences espoused by this generation compared to Baby Boomers:
“It is important to try different types of food.
“I often talk about restaurants with friends/colleagues.”
“I like to try new restaurants.”
“I enjoy talking about food with friends/colleagues.”
“I regularly watch the Food Network/cooking television shows.”
“I visit Internet sites that focus on cooking and meal preparation.”
“I visit restaurant Internet sites.”
This generation, at least, has a passion for food. Food retailers need to capture this passion to capture their business.
There is so much emphasis today on efficient supply chain, shopper targeting, sustainability, category management, etc. that I believe much of the industry has become numbers and analysis focused. Additionally downsizing, restructuring, etc, has numbed many people to the point that the loyalty necessary to “love” the industry is not what it once was. Both retailers and suppliers have people who view their position as a necessary job and not an avocation.
Certainly there are exceptions, Wegmans and Trader Joe’s to name a couple, but much of the industry is no longer the same. Retailers and suppliers can turn that around but it requires passionate management and follow through in the stores by all involved to change the attitude of employees. The shopper feels the “love” when it is present in communications and in person.
The evidence is abundant. Stores that know how to romance food are able to thrive and mitigate some of the price sensitivity that food shoppers carry with them to the store these days.
H-E-B, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, and certainly Whole Foods are great examples of companies that go the extra mile in creating the right mix of sampling, aromas and ambiance needed to attract “foodies,” and those that have a few more dollars to spend on food. These shoppers are willing to spend a bit more if they feel the retailer is helping them understand presentation, preparation, and even nutritional information. But this is a very intelligent, savvy shopper segment, not easily satisfied by traditional supermarkets.
It is not a coincidence that the aforementioned chains are performing better than the industry in terms of their financials. They all have made significant investments in their positioning. But not every retailer is in position to pull this off. Just having scheduled demonstrations in the store is not enough to establish the store as a place to go for new ideas, recipes, and personal interaction with food experts. That position only comes for a true commitment to having talented and trained associates in every perishable and service department who understand how to create the right “theater” to attract the true food aficionados!
George’s point is well taken, but I’m not sure that mainstream supermarkets like Kroger and Safeway can afford to spend a lot of time worrying about recipes and tastings when their main competitors are Walmart and Target and their real goal is to push as much product as possible out the door as fast and efficiently as they can. They can’t afford to pay food experts a whole lot more than minimum wage and turnover is so high that they’d spend an inordinate amount of time recruiting.
Publix has their “Aprons” program but it’s really just a kiosk with a recipe of the day that is being sampled for a very short period of time. FMI had their supermarket chefs contest this year, which drew a fair amount of interest. But I think mainstream supermarkets are really mostly about selling popular items as quickly as they can. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
While I’m up on my soap box….
Here’s the secret that few know aside from the likes of Trader Joe’s. It doesn’t have to cost retailers anything — as in zero — to do this if they encourage everyone within the organization to change how they approach their jobs.
Going back to my Trader Joe’s experience, I was never formally “trained” on the foods or wines sold in the store. I was encouraged to try what was being sampled and that led me to ask questions of the sampler (max time five minutes but usually more like one). We were always encouraged to pick up a sample on our way to the break room.
On Saturday evenings after the store closed, our first mate (assistant manager) as they were called then would have a wine tasting for all that wanted to be involved and were of legal age. It wasn’t a drinking party, but people who loved wine and talking about it with others who felt the same way. BTW — this was all off the clock and voluntary. Some Saturday nights it got pretty crowded. People just liked the experience.
We were also encouraged to buy from the store and given a generous discount on already low prices to do that. Also, we knew were never taking a risk because just like every other Trader Joe’s customer, we’d get our money back if we ever hated something. That didn’t happen often, but it did happen and there were never any negative repercussions because of it.
It was just normal practice while working at the checkout to discuss new products and foods with the other cashiers and customers. It was like an ongoing share group. Ultimately, and I think there’s plenty of evidence to support it, the environment created sales.
Today, whether you’re Walmart, Kroger or a single IGA store operator, you can do this. You just have to start and keep up the conversation throughout the organization. Again people love food and talking about it. Speak up!
For many years, studies showed grocery stores losing business to food away from home. The economic conditions have somewhat reversed this trend but grocery stores have not taken been able to take real advantage. Why? Because, while they can provide fairly good meal solutions, they are unable to offer the kind of total experience of a restaurant. This includes not just food, but preparation, environment, service and clean-up.
George certainly has a point about the lack of love for food in a grocery store, but food is only one element of meal preparation. For most meal occasions, the focus is on convenience and value, not love of food.
Grocery stores need to improve on their shopping experience with regard to the more common shopping missions including both meals and non-food life requirements. Shoppers will love them for it.
It might be that the love of food is a subtext under all the FMI sessions.
I take people out to dinner for a living. People’s sophistication about food is at its highest level ever. The innovative grocers who concentrate on the edges of the store are going to win big.
George is right on here. What business are we in? Is it more a logistics and distribution company? A real estate play maximizing the space available to sell “widgets” (whatever they may be)? Or, is it a place to educate the market about better futures (whether that be food, cleaning, or health and beauty)? Is it something else?
Can it be more than one? Can they co-exist? These are the REAL questions. George, thanks for sparking this discussion.
I think it is more than just love of food. For too many associates, it’s a job, not even a career. How many of the associates cannot cook? My bet is half have never cooked a complete meal, excluding frozen dinners. Every one of the industry’s great retailers has a passion for food and people. They preferred to spend time talking with customers, not attending meetings. Most associates hired today have no interest or experience with food, other than eating.
I have to admit: I hate going to the grocery store! It’s not because of the food, it is because of the hassle and the lack of atmosphere. If the employees in the store would actually speak to the customers rather that to each other, it would certainly change my attitude. And you know what? I’m not alone in this. Thanks George, I certainly agree.
George’s last line says it all. “Food retailing is a business about people and food. It’s about people who like people and people who love food. Share the love.”
The problem is that most retailers, not just food retailers, do a poor — no, rotten job of hiring. It is not as much about what you pay as what you offer.
1. Hire people who just like working with people.
2. Hire people who want to serve.
3. Hire people who want to learn so teach them new stuff.
4. Hire people who want to be challenged. Make them stretch.
5. Hire people who like food. But is that not all of us?
Now do the following:
1. Quit hiring great applicants and start hiring great potential employees.
2. Only allow your best people to interview and hire.
3. Make sure your hiring managers are taught how to hire the best.
4. Don’t settle for mediocrity.
5. Recognize and reward your great employees.
The most important decision a manager makes every single day is who they allow in the door to take care of the customer.
To build on Richard’s comment, if there is any generation that has a love affair with food, it’s the Millennials! They are all about inspiration and information that will create a connection between them and where they can learn about food, purchase their food, share ideas about their food, etc. They love to sample and prefer to spend their time shopping the perimeter as it is more experiential, healthy and inspirational! They also seek out “food gurus” who can guide them in this new lifestage activity called “cooking.” Right now they turn to cable TV, websites, and other “experts.” Grocery retailers need to recognize this desire and provide better in store experiences through store layout, design and “foodie” associates to win this generation’s loyalty.
I completely agree. One simple solve is to have an imaginative food-lover in charge of the perishable and prepared food areas. Change up the thinking….
Great discussion. And a blinding flash of the obvious. As small brands became big companies and big companies became conglomerates, we have diminished the passion that got us here. George brought back some of the nostalgia and got me wound up.
One of my mentors taught me, “never sell, instead create within the customer the desire to buy.” It taught me to love my brand and spread the passion.
I declare my allegiance to George ‘Dr. Love’ Anderson! Love really is the killer app. But it’s not just about loving the grocery business, it’s about loving anything you do. That’s what’s missing everywhere today.
One of the other items today was about “engaging” people through Facebook, etc. There’s no “love” in social media — and if there’s no love there is no engagement. It’s that simple.
To paraphrase ancient text: “The greatest customer strategy in retail today is…LOVE!”
Whole Foods has shown the grocery industry that actually loving your product can bring strong results. But are they learning? To me, yes, somewhat; you see more demos, videos, ‘how to’s’ and even in some cases, classes. But it still seems forced.
The reason “we love food” is a stretch for most grocers has everything to do with more than a century of treating product as a commodity from the top down. Which to me, is where changes towards that attitude should start; hiring. Why can’t you be a good business person, a solid grocer and a food lover too? Nike does it. If you visit their campus, it’s a monument to athletics and working out; people running everywhere.
You would think that if the teams that worked at grocery stores, including top management, actually loved food, that feeling would emanate down to every part of their business — to the point where customers would feel it.
Interesting thought; normally these are the discussions where we put on our wavering, elderly voice (even if we don’t actually have one) and wave our (virtual) cane about excitedly: “sonny, nowadays all people care about is money, but when I was younger we had MERCHANTS…” but I seldom — if ever — apply that kind of nostalgia to groceries. Oh sure, there was the fruit peddler, or the butcher — all craftpersons, really — but as for the bulk of the foodstuffs, I never associated passion (or even knowledge) with canned beans or cornflakes. Were there ever Mr. Whipple types in the real world?
This is an excellent conversation and answers are hard to come by. While “love” certainly is the end goal (“love” denoting you care deeply about what you offer and what you do), “love” is very hard to institutionalize and hard to scale. So while my neighborhood deli has lots of love (and made-to-order sandwiches to prove it), chains have a much harder time getting to that outcome.
The answer may very well lie on a) how you treat your employees (employees who are treated well are much more likely to treat customers well) and b) what the expectations are. If you want love, make love part of the equation. Love your employees, love their feedback and make customer satisfaction the end game. It won’t be cheap and it won’t be easy, but it may just be your best long term plan.
George gets it! Because it is all about food. Food is nourishing and sustaining. Food is intimate (how many other things do individuals actually put inside their bodies?). Food is a metaphor for cultures and cultural differences. Sharing food makes is a human bond and makes for indelible memories. Hopefully you get the point — as George does. Merchandising is a careful blend of art and science. Previous generations of store owners/operators innately and intuitively understood that. They had a “local merchant philosophy” and knew their customers — likes, dislikes, preferences, and provided a pleasant shopping experience. So, to George’s question (with few exceptions), where is the love — today?
A couple great grocer examples are in the article. I do think most grocers take the easy way out, as they have for decades: “Pile it high, and watch it fly.”
Regardless of store format, a store manager can have a sign up sheet on the seafood counter, schedule a seafood cooking class on a Tuesday night. Set out folding chairs on the sales floor, right in front of the seafood counter. Connect an electric frying pan, and all of the sudden, you’re engaged with your audience and are passionate about food! Announce your cooking class on twitter, etc. This doesn’t have to be difficult.
You don’t create passion; passion creates you. Ask anyone who has it and they will tell you the same thing: they’re possessed. I was in a Starbucks line at the recent KBIS show in Chicago, and the woman making the coffees was asking people, “Do you want some passion with that?” Most people didn’t know what to say. When it was my turn, I said, “And make my with a double shot of passion.” She said smiling, “You can’t have too much passion.” Like I said, passion — for whatever you do — shows through in everything you do, no matter what. Retailers simply have to find people who are passionate about retail! And aren’t people behind all the successful retailers?
It’s part passion, love, empowerment, creativity and the right DNA. Finding and managing the balance is the tricky part.
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It may be an oddity to love a freshly prepared food commodity … but let’s give upgraded food sampling another try.
Prep and sample areas aren’t new, but some are badly handled. So let’s join George and not ration our passion for food nor our liking of people who love food. But let’s plan carefully so we don’t connect so well that we make supermarkets America’s next soup kitchens.
With all of the retail stores now in the “food business,” it is very hard to separate yourself from the competition, as all of the local media now have coupon queens, and cost cutter reporters in the field.
The article is correct, because in our store, we try to promote the taste of our homemade foods every day. Getting through the thick haze of the big-box stores, dollar stores, and all the non-exciting food dealers is a difficult thing to do, BUT it is the correct way to sell your signature deli items. Sampling and helping people understand what you can offer them is the key, and every day can be an opportunity to add a new customer to your quality offerings.
Using social media can also help drive your love of food concept at very minimal cost, so get out there and start sampling your goods!
I couldn’t agree more with George’s perspective. In recent research focusing on Mature Millennials (older Gen Y) I found the following significant life style differences espoused by this generation compared to Baby Boomers:
“It is important to try different types of food.
“I often talk about restaurants with friends/colleagues.”
“I like to try new restaurants.”
“I enjoy talking about food with friends/colleagues.”
“I regularly watch the Food Network/cooking television shows.”
“I visit Internet sites that focus on cooking and meal preparation.”
“I visit restaurant Internet sites.”
This generation, at least, has a passion for food. Food retailers need to capture this passion to capture their business.
There is so much emphasis today on efficient supply chain, shopper targeting, sustainability, category management, etc. that I believe much of the industry has become numbers and analysis focused. Additionally downsizing, restructuring, etc, has numbed many people to the point that the loyalty necessary to “love” the industry is not what it once was. Both retailers and suppliers have people who view their position as a necessary job and not an avocation.
Certainly there are exceptions, Wegmans and Trader Joe’s to name a couple, but much of the industry is no longer the same. Retailers and suppliers can turn that around but it requires passionate management and follow through in the stores by all involved to change the attitude of employees. The shopper feels the “love” when it is present in communications and in person.
The evidence is abundant. Stores that know how to romance food are able to thrive and mitigate some of the price sensitivity that food shoppers carry with them to the store these days.
H-E-B, Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, and certainly Whole Foods are great examples of companies that go the extra mile in creating the right mix of sampling, aromas and ambiance needed to attract “foodies,” and those that have a few more dollars to spend on food. These shoppers are willing to spend a bit more if they feel the retailer is helping them understand presentation, preparation, and even nutritional information. But this is a very intelligent, savvy shopper segment, not easily satisfied by traditional supermarkets.
It is not a coincidence that the aforementioned chains are performing better than the industry in terms of their financials. They all have made significant investments in their positioning. But not every retailer is in position to pull this off. Just having scheduled demonstrations in the store is not enough to establish the store as a place to go for new ideas, recipes, and personal interaction with food experts. That position only comes for a true commitment to having talented and trained associates in every perishable and service department who understand how to create the right “theater” to attract the true food aficionados!
George’s point is well taken, but I’m not sure that mainstream supermarkets like Kroger and Safeway can afford to spend a lot of time worrying about recipes and tastings when their main competitors are Walmart and Target and their real goal is to push as much product as possible out the door as fast and efficiently as they can. They can’t afford to pay food experts a whole lot more than minimum wage and turnover is so high that they’d spend an inordinate amount of time recruiting.
Publix has their “Aprons” program but it’s really just a kiosk with a recipe of the day that is being sampled for a very short period of time. FMI had their supermarket chefs contest this year, which drew a fair amount of interest. But I think mainstream supermarkets are really mostly about selling popular items as quickly as they can. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
While I’m up on my soap box….
Here’s the secret that few know aside from the likes of Trader Joe’s. It doesn’t have to cost retailers anything — as in zero — to do this if they encourage everyone within the organization to change how they approach their jobs.
Going back to my Trader Joe’s experience, I was never formally “trained” on the foods or wines sold in the store. I was encouraged to try what was being sampled and that led me to ask questions of the sampler (max time five minutes but usually more like one). We were always encouraged to pick up a sample on our way to the break room.
On Saturday evenings after the store closed, our first mate (assistant manager) as they were called then would have a wine tasting for all that wanted to be involved and were of legal age. It wasn’t a drinking party, but people who loved wine and talking about it with others who felt the same way. BTW — this was all off the clock and voluntary. Some Saturday nights it got pretty crowded. People just liked the experience.
We were also encouraged to buy from the store and given a generous discount on already low prices to do that. Also, we knew were never taking a risk because just like every other Trader Joe’s customer, we’d get our money back if we ever hated something. That didn’t happen often, but it did happen and there were never any negative repercussions because of it.
It was just normal practice while working at the checkout to discuss new products and foods with the other cashiers and customers. It was like an ongoing share group. Ultimately, and I think there’s plenty of evidence to support it, the environment created sales.
Today, whether you’re Walmart, Kroger or a single IGA store operator, you can do this. You just have to start and keep up the conversation throughout the organization. Again people love food and talking about it. Speak up!
For many years, studies showed grocery stores losing business to food away from home. The economic conditions have somewhat reversed this trend but grocery stores have not taken been able to take real advantage. Why? Because, while they can provide fairly good meal solutions, they are unable to offer the kind of total experience of a restaurant. This includes not just food, but preparation, environment, service and clean-up.
George certainly has a point about the lack of love for food in a grocery store, but food is only one element of meal preparation. For most meal occasions, the focus is on convenience and value, not love of food.
Grocery stores need to improve on their shopping experience with regard to the more common shopping missions including both meals and non-food life requirements. Shoppers will love them for it.
It might be that the love of food is a subtext under all the FMI sessions.
I take people out to dinner for a living. People’s sophistication about food is at its highest level ever. The innovative grocers who concentrate on the edges of the store are going to win big.
George is right on here. What business are we in? Is it more a logistics and distribution company? A real estate play maximizing the space available to sell “widgets” (whatever they may be)? Or, is it a place to educate the market about better futures (whether that be food, cleaning, or health and beauty)? Is it something else?
Can it be more than one? Can they co-exist? These are the REAL questions. George, thanks for sparking this discussion.
I think it is more than just love of food. For too many associates, it’s a job, not even a career. How many of the associates cannot cook? My bet is half have never cooked a complete meal, excluding frozen dinners. Every one of the industry’s great retailers has a passion for food and people. They preferred to spend time talking with customers, not attending meetings. Most associates hired today have no interest or experience with food, other than eating.
I have to admit: I hate going to the grocery store! It’s not because of the food, it is because of the hassle and the lack of atmosphere. If the employees in the store would actually speak to the customers rather that to each other, it would certainly change my attitude. And you know what? I’m not alone in this. Thanks George, I certainly agree.
George’s last line says it all. “Food retailing is a business about people and food. It’s about people who like people and people who love food. Share the love.”
The problem is that most retailers, not just food retailers, do a poor — no, rotten job of hiring. It is not as much about what you pay as what you offer.
1. Hire people who just like working with people.
2. Hire people who want to serve.
3. Hire people who want to learn so teach them new stuff.
4. Hire people who want to be challenged. Make them stretch.
5. Hire people who like food. But is that not all of us?
Now do the following:
1. Quit hiring great applicants and start hiring great potential employees.
2. Only allow your best people to interview and hire.
3. Make sure your hiring managers are taught how to hire the best.
4. Don’t settle for mediocrity.
5. Recognize and reward your great employees.
The most important decision a manager makes every single day is who they allow in the door to take care of the customer.
To build on Richard’s comment, if there is any generation that has a love affair with food, it’s the Millennials! They are all about inspiration and information that will create a connection between them and where they can learn about food, purchase their food, share ideas about their food, etc. They love to sample and prefer to spend their time shopping the perimeter as it is more experiential, healthy and inspirational! They also seek out “food gurus” who can guide them in this new lifestage activity called “cooking.” Right now they turn to cable TV, websites, and other “experts.” Grocery retailers need to recognize this desire and provide better in store experiences through store layout, design and “foodie” associates to win this generation’s loyalty.
I completely agree. One simple solve is to have an imaginative food-lover in charge of the perishable and prepared food areas. Change up the thinking….
Great discussion. And a blinding flash of the obvious. As small brands became big companies and big companies became conglomerates, we have diminished the passion that got us here. George brought back some of the nostalgia and got me wound up.
One of my mentors taught me, “never sell, instead create within the customer the desire to buy.” It taught me to love my brand and spread the passion.
I declare my allegiance to George ‘Dr. Love’ Anderson! Love really is the killer app. But it’s not just about loving the grocery business, it’s about loving anything you do. That’s what’s missing everywhere today.
One of the other items today was about “engaging” people through Facebook, etc. There’s no “love” in social media — and if there’s no love there is no engagement. It’s that simple.
To paraphrase ancient text: “The greatest customer strategy in retail today is…LOVE!”
Whole Foods has shown the grocery industry that actually loving your product can bring strong results. But are they learning? To me, yes, somewhat; you see more demos, videos, ‘how to’s’ and even in some cases, classes. But it still seems forced.
The reason “we love food” is a stretch for most grocers has everything to do with more than a century of treating product as a commodity from the top down. Which to me, is where changes towards that attitude should start; hiring. Why can’t you be a good business person, a solid grocer and a food lover too? Nike does it. If you visit their campus, it’s a monument to athletics and working out; people running everywhere.
You would think that if the teams that worked at grocery stores, including top management, actually loved food, that feeling would emanate down to every part of their business — to the point where customers would feel it.
Interesting thought; normally these are the discussions where we put on our wavering, elderly voice (even if we don’t actually have one) and wave our (virtual) cane about excitedly: “sonny, nowadays all people care about is money, but when I was younger we had MERCHANTS…” but I seldom — if ever — apply that kind of nostalgia to groceries. Oh sure, there was the fruit peddler, or the butcher — all craftpersons, really — but as for the bulk of the foodstuffs, I never associated passion (or even knowledge) with canned beans or cornflakes. Were there ever Mr. Whipple types in the real world?
This is an excellent conversation and answers are hard to come by. While “love” certainly is the end goal (“love” denoting you care deeply about what you offer and what you do), “love” is very hard to institutionalize and hard to scale. So while my neighborhood deli has lots of love (and made-to-order sandwiches to prove it), chains have a much harder time getting to that outcome.
The answer may very well lie on a) how you treat your employees (employees who are treated well are much more likely to treat customers well) and b) what the expectations are. If you want love, make love part of the equation. Love your employees, love their feedback and make customer satisfaction the end game. It won’t be cheap and it won’t be easy, but it may just be your best long term plan.
George gets it! Because it is all about food. Food is nourishing and sustaining. Food is intimate (how many other things do individuals actually put inside their bodies?). Food is a metaphor for cultures and cultural differences. Sharing food makes is a human bond and makes for indelible memories. Hopefully you get the point — as George does. Merchandising is a careful blend of art and science. Previous generations of store owners/operators innately and intuitively understood that. They had a “local merchant philosophy” and knew their customers — likes, dislikes, preferences, and provided a pleasant shopping experience. So, to George’s question (with few exceptions), where is the love — today?
A couple great grocer examples are in the article. I do think most grocers take the easy way out, as they have for decades: “Pile it high, and watch it fly.”
Regardless of store format, a store manager can have a sign up sheet on the seafood counter, schedule a seafood cooking class on a Tuesday night. Set out folding chairs on the sales floor, right in front of the seafood counter. Connect an electric frying pan, and all of the sudden, you’re engaged with your audience and are passionate about food! Announce your cooking class on twitter, etc. This doesn’t have to be difficult.
You don’t create passion; passion creates you. Ask anyone who has it and they will tell you the same thing: they’re possessed. I was in a Starbucks line at the recent KBIS show in Chicago, and the woman making the coffees was asking people, “Do you want some passion with that?” Most people didn’t know what to say. When it was my turn, I said, “And make my with a double shot of passion.” She said smiling, “You can’t have too much passion.” Like I said, passion — for whatever you do — shows through in everything you do, no matter what. Retailers simply have to find people who are passionate about retail! And aren’t people behind all the successful retailers?
It’s part passion, love, empowerment, creativity and the right DNA. Finding and managing the balance is the tricky part.