Food for Thought
December 2024
A newsletter for the associates of B&R Stores, Inc. Blocking and Tackling Welcome back, B&R teammates, to our new newsletter! It’s often said that retail is detail, and with a typical B&R supermarket carrying 40,000 different SKUs, four fresh food departments, 100 associates, and 12,000 customers coming in weekly, there’s a lot of important details to track and maintain. Let’s start with the SKUs. It’s critical to have the right products on the shelves that our customers want. While we can’t carry every item, we need to keep our finger on the pulse of customer requests, stay aware of what our competition carries, and pay attention to new trends. Shelf tag maintenance is key—often, a missing tag can result in a product not being ordered for weeks. Limiting out-of-stocks improves sales and customer satisfaction. So, if you see a tag on the floor, pick it up and return it to its proper place. If you notice an empty spot on the shelf, ask yourself: was this a mis-order? Is there a missing tag? Is more product in the back? Most importantly, help resolve the issue. Our fresh food departments are like individual businesses. Running one business is hard enough, let alone several! Our customers want products that are as fresh as possible, and their budgets are tight. When it comes to fresh items, the old rule still applies: If you wouldn’t buy it for yourself, it probably shouldn’t be on the shelf. Fresh products can give us an edge over Walmart, Aldi, Dollar General, and even Hy-Vee! I’m proud of our meat cutters, our fresh, never-frozen fried chicken, our fresh cuts in produce, beautifully decorated cakes, award-winning
smokehouse products, and the best authentic tortillas around. These fresh items are what make us stand out from the competition. Without our B&R teammates, we wouldn’t be the company we are today. We’re fortunate to have such a strong team, and our focus should be on taking care of each other. Leaders need to teach and coach, and a great starting point is The One Minute Manager, which was our first group management read years ago and is still relevant today. Here are its three key principles: • One-Minute Goals: Clearly communicate what the goals are. • One-Minute Praising: Praise the behavior as soon as possible and be specific. • One-Minute Re-Directs: If a goal isn’t met, re-clarify it and agree on a way forward. To succeed, we need to grow our customer base and turn shoppers into loyal fans of our stores. The best way to do that is through excellent service. Treat customers the way you would like to be treated. Try to learn their names, engage with their kids, and make light conversation. If a customer is making a purchase directly from you, always thank them. Building positive impressions will lead to word-of-mouth recommendations, and customers will look forward to coming back. Even in Lincoln, our largest market, it’s a small town in many ways—you never know where you might run into a customer, and you just may need their help. Retail can be a complicated and ever-changing business, but it’s also a fun one. No two days are the same. Success comes from consistently executing the basics—blocking and tackling every day—so that everyone wins. Pat Raybould Chief Strategy Officer/Chairman of the Board