Page 9 - Retail_Sustainability_Award_09-to-18

“Whenever possi- ble, we do like to work locally. It’s advantageous for us as a retailer as well. We can bring the freshest prod- uct to customers.
— Maria Brous
has an environmental side related to trying to get rid of more of it. How do you balance those issues of food safety and sustainability?
Michael Hewitt: We’re very adamant that we will never compromise food safety or qual- ity, so we look for that balance where we can ensure safety and quality, and also provide more recyclable packaging, or even some- times, less packaging
Going back to the wax-alternative card- board again. We worked with the cardboard supplier. We worked with the farmer produc- ing the produce, and we worked with the mid- dle company that would buy and sell that produce. We actually followed that produce from the farm, through the distribution sys- tem, the warehouse, to the store. We did a complete trial.
When that produce got to the store, we could open up that box and look at that pro- duce and see exactly how well it did. That’s one example of our commitment to making sure that when we do make these adjust- ments, these changes to be more sustainable, we’re not going to do anything to compro- mise our food safety or quality, or the integrity of the product.
Maria Brous: Michael and I definitely agree that’s our philosophy. It doesn’t come to a balance for us. We will always put the quali- ty and the food safety as the top priority of
concern for us. Customers have grown to expect that. They trust us. We work hard with the Department of Agriculture. We work hard with the FDA. We built all these partnerships so that we’re close to the table, and we have a seat at the table when these issues come up.
We have a corporate quality assurance department that is led by one of our directors who has worked in the industry for other competitors as well as outside of the industry, and he brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. We believe in the communication and the establishment of relationships.
Much like what Michael said, we can’t do this alone. We need to be informed. We need to be able to understand it from a different perspective. But, we also bring to the table what we know best, which is the food. This is what we do. This is our business, but there’s a lot more that goes on before it even reaches our stores.
CUSTOMERS HAVE A VOICE
Mira Slott: How do you feel about these issues of food miles? You had mentioned this goal of yours to try to bring in local produce. There’s been a little bit of controversy about food miles and we’ve written a lot about it. In the U.K., for example, there was an issue where Tesco and Marks & Spencer were putting little airplane stickers on packages to basically denote
that this was coming from Kenya or from abroad, and that it would be more advanta- geous from a sustainability standpoint to pur- chase a local product. There have been all kinds of studies questioning the logic — examining all the different issues in relation to carbon footprints and whether it’s actually more sus- tainable to purchase that local product versus the product from Kenya.
Maria Brous: Ironically, local is different to every person we survey. Having said that, I will say that we are always attempting to give customers choice. One of the things we pride ourselves on is that opportunity.
Specifically in our produce department, our produce is well labeled, so customers never have to guess where their produce is coming from. It is product of a specific loca- tion and it’s clearly denoted in the signage. We also have stickers that denote where the prod- uct is from, but signage is very clear.
But when we talk about availability of product, there’s no seasonality in produce anymore. As a culture, Americans have become very accustomed to selection of prod- uct year-round, and because of that desire, local becomes very difficult to do.
Not everything grows every season locally, so there are times of the year where we have to rotate, depending on if Florida might be too hot certain times of the year, and maybe it’s too cold in Georgia. Customers still have the largest voice with us.
Their purchasing power makes our deci- sions, so we continue to sell produce from dif- ferent areas year-round. Again, it’s about edu- cating them and allowing them to make the decision. We don’t get involved in the seman- tics or the argument of what’s local. We let customers make that decision for themselves.
32 PRODUCE BUSINESS • MAY 2009
Whenever possible, we do like to work
Reader Service # 74