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48 / MAY 2017 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
stores,” says Arneson. “The program was  awlessly delivered all the way down to each store, so it could be talked about at all levels of the company, just as we talk about it — sustainability, packaging, merchan- dising and pricing — the key factors in the ability to sell product.”
“We knew Mis ts was a program that needed to happen over time so we could have territory meetings, explain the process, why it was important, who needed to be involved and ultimately, how to make this a big success,” says Griesenbrock. “Through the process, we didn’t need to ask the stores to get on board. They knew that sustain- ability and Hy-Vee’s focus on being a good
world partner were important. This wasn’t something we had to convince the stores to do because of our autonomous way. It was an easy sell.
“In fact, it wasn’t a sell. They just wanted to jump right in and be a part of this sustain- ability piece. That’s the most important part, but frankly, these items are economical; they’re less expensive than some of the alternatives,” he explains.
MORE THAN MISFITS
“There are other avenues for less-than- perfect produce than simply having to either eat an ugly fruit or it goes to the dump,” says Hensley. “For instance, if we
DRIVING FORWARD
Hy-Vee started working with Palo Alto, CA-based Tesla, the major automaker, to provide an electric highway from Lincoln, NE, to Chicago. “We’re building in the infrastructure to encourage our customers to buy electric,” says John Brehm, Hy-Vee’s director of site planning. “Right now, we have six supercharger stations that link Chicago to Lincoln on Interstate 80. There’s a Tesla station at a Hy-Vee store along every stop, except for Council Bluffs, IA. We’re still working on that. There is one in Council Bluffs; it just happens to be owned by a certain gentleman named Warren Buffet.”
Hy-Vee is providing Tesla with the parking
stalls. “We’re giving them a license to be on our property for a period, and they have options to renew. Then Tesla builds, owns and operates the supercharger stations in each of the sites we agree to,” says Brehm. The charging stations have their own transformer, power source and meters. “Our customers love it. It takes about 20 to 40 minutes to charge; we call it dwell time — the perfect amount of time to shop,” he says.
“Tesla owners are a tight-knit, diehard group,” says Pat Hensley, senior vice president of non-foods. “They are cutting-edge, innovative type of folks — the kind of people we want shopping in our stores.” pb


































































































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