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WAKEFERN/SHOPRITE RETAIL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Members of the Wakefern Environmental Committee: (L-R) Bill Sumas, Diane Drust, Charles Culver, Harry Garafalo, David Deets, Charles Miller
nities across the Northeast and neighboring regions, with stores in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Joining Forces
“Our structure is unique,” says Suzanne
Forbes, Wakefern’s environmental affairs administrator. “Our members own Wake- fern, which is different than many other cooperatives. All members share resources to help them compete with international firms,” she says.
cies as a group and do things through committees — Produce, Quality Assur- ance, Environmental, etc., which include both members and Wakefern staff. We identify initiatives, such as energy, waste and water use reduction we believe is
“It’s a pretty tight family. We adopt poli- worthwhile for our members to pursue,
Continued on page 34
DERRICK JENKINS,
Vice President of Produce
and Floral, Wakefern Food Corp.
Within Wakefern/ShopRite’s overall sustainability mission, produce-related programs play a key role. The produce department has been a cornerstone in many of the company’s winning strategies. Derrick Jenkins, vice president of produce and floral at Wakefern Food Corp., shares his thoughts on sustainability from a produce perspective, and as an active industry proponent of environmentally friendly solutions.
DERRICK JENKINS
PB: How did Wakefern’s sustainability platform grow to a prominent element for the stores?
DJ: Locally grown has become a popular movement symbolically linked to sustainability, and issues of reducing carbon footprint, protecting the environ- ment and eliminating food waste. So sustainability went from not even a concern to one of our core values, partic- ularly in the produce arena.
PB: How have you tackled this shift in business?
DJ: We made a big push into locally grown. Some products are sourced through Wakefern, where we at corporate, work directly with local farmers, while individual members also have separate locally grown programs.
From Baltimore, MD, to Buffalo, NY, most of the members do local programs at the store level, and then there are certain products in season we provide in our ware- house. Customized programs really go deep using local farms in the communities.
Our locally grown campaign continues to grow, with a 15 percent increase every
year. I attribute a major reason for the growth to internal marketing and adver- tising, and point of sale displays.
PB: Please elaborate on the merchan- dising and promotional activities.
DJ: From May to November, we adver- tise what’s local in season through a weekly circular, complemented by merchandising and signage in the stores. One of the things we do that’s been very successful is a farm stand barn display, which the advertising department designed, Grown Fresh — locally grown for ShopRite. This program is
30 PRODUCE BUSINESS • MAY 2014