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RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
“As far as autonomy goes, our store directors make their own decisions on their product assortment, on their pric- ing, their hiring and their scheduling; everything like that is made at the store level.”
— Brett Bremser, Hy-Vee
that is made at the store level,” says Bremser. “This allows our people to better tailor their product mix for their individual market. They can tweak their competitive pricing. If they need to respond to a competitor that’s right across the street, they’re able to do it on a moment’s notice. They don’t have to call corporate and get permission; more importantly, they’re not handcuffed by some corporate pricing structure they can’t manage. It’s a great system. It takes a higher caliber store director to run a Hy-Vee store because of that.”
There is no shortage of expertise on that front, and store directors earned that exper- tise the old-fashioned way. “The majority came through the Hy-Vee system, and grew up with Hy-Vee,” says Hensley, who himself has been with the company for 39 years. “Many of the executives started out as part- time in college and went through the ranks. We’re all close because everybody came up through the system. There’s a culture that’s been built and there’s plenty of great people behind it.”
Being employee-owned and privately held comes with a source of pride. “It allows all of our people to have a vested interest in the success and long-term viability of Hy-Vee. A lot of the sustainability efforts are more about the future than they are about today,” says Bremser. “As much as we must look out for today’s results, there are some sustainability initiatives that might not be exactly the right thing now, but are the right thing for the future — and that’s where all of our people are always looking.”
Hy-Vee employees (84,000 chain-wide) can receive bonuses based on the results of their individual locations — all the way down to the part-time level. “If their store does well, they can receive a bonus at the end of the quarter, so that’s just another thing to inspire them,” says Bremser.
Being a socially responsible, sustainable company also plays a role in both employee and customer recruitment and loyalty. “When the food waste diversion program started, we didn’t demand anybody get on board — it was a voluntary thing,” says Hensley. “What happened was a complete embrace of the program. We laid out the parameters and provided the contacts. It was up to the store directors to work with the vendors and make the decision if they wanted to be on it, and to what degree,” says Hensley.
42 / MAY 2017 / PRODUCE BUSINESS