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Introducing Joe Miskimins,
Kroger’s Vice President Of Produce And Floral
In honoring Kroger for its progressive sustainability initiatives, we were captivated by Kroger’s perishable donations partnership (PDP), symbolic for many reasons: notably the company-wide engagement; the powerful impact for people in need; and the scalable nature of a community-centric program. Exploring the impact of PDP on Kroger’s produce department, we contacted Joe Miskimins, a 32-year Kroger veteran who recently replaced Reggie Griffin and now leads the company’s vision and strategy for the produce and floral departments.
CONDUCTED BY MIRA SLOTT
PRODUCE BUSINESS: Could you share with our readers how produce is being incorporated into PDP?
Joe Miskimins: To start with, PDP is a great program. Our first inclination is that we want to sell product. If that doesn’t work, it goes to those in need through PDP, a critical and far-reaching social cause. If someone can use it to help stave off hunger, we feel good about that.
PB: What challenges partic- ular to produce do you face in executing the program? Miskimins: It’s best to look at the logistics piece of that as both a challenge and opportunity for us. Produce is a highly perishable product, but if there’s a food bank right down the road and good logistics, we can make it happen. In the same way, if the distance to the food bank, church or other charitable organization presents obstacles or there are other oper- ational issues, we need to partner to overcome them.
Meat you can freeze and use another day, but you can’t do that with produce. In many cases, per- ishable products designated for the food bank can be shipped to the warehouse. Produce, how- ever, is normally picked up from the store and doesn’t go back to the warehouse.
The distance thing is what we worry about. Produce items dif- fer on shelf-life and levels of perishability. Some produce cat- egories gear themselves more easily to PDP. A potato, for instance, has product attributes
to withstand various elements and hold quality longer, while berries and soft foods are more sensitive, highly perishable and go bad quickly.
Much depends on how sophis- ticated the food bank and warehouse operations are; how far away is it, and whether they have proper trucking, logistics and refrigeration.
PB: Does Kroger work with food banks and other charita- ble organizations that are not set up properly to handle pro- duce donations? How does Kroger handle issues of food safety? Could you elaborate on how a program of this scale and magnitude becomes implemented across so many banners covering such a diverse nationwide landscape? Miskimins: In many ways, it comes down to the individual store. There are pockets of the country where the program is more developed. We keep food safety standards a priority and requirements remain uncompro- mised. Some success depends on how frequent the pickup, and environment makes a difference. For example, is the area highly populated or not?
PB: How far along is the pro- duce portion of the Perishable Donations Partnership? Out of the total 41 million pounds of food Kroger donated last year through the program, what percentage of that was produce-related items? Miskimins: We have no number,
but we’re continuing to grow. It depends on how sophisticated we can get, how engaged we become as a company, how our associates — I call them ambassadors — help build the program.
From an operational strength basis, we have a conditioning pro- gram and culling program to make sure we’re offering the best products to our consumer, or they are pulled off and put in a markdown program or in a differ- ent bin for PDP.
PB: Does composting play a role here as well?
Miskimins: The composting is not done straight through pro- duce; it’s something we are doing in some divisions and testing. Much depends on the capacity of the community we’re in. In California, there are
plenty of places to compost, and com- panies that will take it.
It’s a new process for our associates. Both composting and
the Perishable Donations Program are novel experiences for our associates, but ones they’re really
anxious and excited to run. W e go to stores and they want to help. The younger associates are enthusiastic, and many of our long-term associates know we’ve been getting rid of food for years and now we can use it to feed the hungry. It gives people such an important cause to rally behind.
PB: In a broader sense, a reoc- curring theme throughout our visit to Kroger was the concept of community engagement, both internally and within the markets you serve. How does this mantra relate to produce? Could you comment on sus- tainability programs such as zero waste initiatives in the context of produce? Miskimins: Engagement is
important. You don’t move an organization like this without engaging your associates or cus- tomers. It must work at the corporate level and divisionally down to the individ-
ual store.
I wouldn’t use that
phrasing of “zero waste.” We
Joe Miskimins
44 PRODUCE BUSINESS • MAY 2012


































































































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