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RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
HealthMarkets program. “We have local produce partners that are also organic, and our business is steadily increasing with those partners as well,” says Griesenbrock.
Of course, one size doesn’t t all. Some stores display separate organic sections, while others merchandise organic and conventional produce together. “I guess that’s the beauty of Hy-Vee’s autonomous nature. What a customer would want in Milwaukee isn’t necessarily what one would want in El Dorado, IA, so you’ll see a little bit of both at Hy-Vee,” says Griesenbrock.
On a macro level, a cookie-cutter approach is antithetical to Hy-Vee. “For new store development, we are constantly evaluating who our customers are going to be, because the same store for every neighborhood with the same product mix, the same pricing structure, and the same leadership team simply doesn’t work,” says Hensley.
Produce Business witnessed that philos- ophy rst-hand by visiting Hy-Vee’s rst urban lifestyle store concept in downtown Des Moines. The store offers a different foot- print and vibe than anything done before. For instance, Click and Collect Lockers at the store’s front entrance give its busy city dwellers 24/7 access, where they can place and pick up their orders, which are delivered by Hy-Vee’s ful llment center.
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Hy-Vee positions the Mis ts line, which is vibrantly merchandised and sold at an average 30 percent discount, as part of its overall mis- sion to reduce food waste and further its sus- tainability identity.
A PERFECT FIT
Though individual store autonomy may sometimes present challenges to the overall company mission, it is evident that sustainable measures to reduce food waste are universally agreed upon at all 244 stores. From store level to corporate level, Hy-Vee is intent on combatting the “stag- gering amount of produce that is thrown away or unharvested every year because it doesn’t meet store size and shape stan- dards, or is cosmetically challenged,” says Griesenbrock. “We were looking for the right program for a long time,” he says, to convert consumer cultural mores against imperfect fruits and vegetables, in line with the “ugly produce” movement pioneered in Europe.
This was the impetus for partnering with Robinson Fresh, Eden Prairie, MN, to launch its proactive Mis ts branded program last
fall, rolling it out chain-wide in a notably full- edged commitment. Hy-Vee positions the Mis ts line, which is vibrantly merchan- dised and sold at an average 30 percent discount, as part of its overall mission to reduce food waste and further its sustain- ability identity. “When we kicked it off, the social media traction we received was incredible,” says Hensley.
Since Hy-Vee already had a strong rela- tionship with Robinson Fresh, taking on the Mis ts program was a natural transition. Robinson Fresh works with its own network of farmers, which could at times overlap with Hy-Vee’s growers, and then there are situations where there are separate supply chains to procure the Mis ts items. “The biggest thing growers need to adhere to is there can be no condition defects — decay and mold cannot be present. Other than that, if the eating experience is the same,