The Produce Retail Podcast

We're delighted to have as our guests this episode Daniel Spivey, national director of fruit for Sprouts Farmers Market, and Reyna Graves, national director of veg and floral. Daniel and Reyna discuss topics including seasonal fruit destinations that drove record sales this summer; switching to more segregated merchandising of organic; riding the wave of the cucumber sandwich trend that started with a TikTok video; how they view private label when it comes to produce; the importance of supplier partnerships and innovation; the implications of more online sales for in-store processes; convenience and floral; what their roles entail and how they collaborate; how Sprouts finds and sources items that shoppers can't get anywhere else; their willingness to test new products at all levels of scale; the transition from fall to holiday season; and more. Enjoy!

For more conversations featuring executive perspective, check out this playlist dedicated to conversations with current and former vice presidents of produce, directors of produce, and other executive roles. 

More Playlists

• Merchandising & Marketing 

• Leadership & Training

• Produce Manager Perspective

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to have as our guests on this episode Schnucks produce manager Aaron Carroll, produce sales merchandiser Meghan Hauck, and vice president of produce Mike Tipton. Aaron has been recognized this year by the International Fresh Produce Association as one of the best in the country. In this conversation, Aaron, Meghan and Mike visit with The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle about Aaron's remarkable creativity in merchandising, how he leads his team, his contributions beyond his own store, how he continues to learn and develop, the attributes that make him an excellent manager, and more. They also discuss career pathing and how the company works to build the bench of produce leadership, along with some leadership best practices they've learned over the years. Hope you enjoy the conversation!

To hear more from Aaron, check out the IFPA's five-part webinar series featuring roundtable conversations with groups of this year's winners. The webinars are co-hosted by IFPA's Joe Watson and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle. If you can't catch a webinar live, the recordings are hosted on this page. https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/retail/retail-produce-manager-award-winners-webinar-series/

For more episodes of The Produce Retail Podcast focused on produce managers, check out this curated playlist. 

More Playlists

• Executive Perspective

• Leadership & Training

• Marketing & Merchandising

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re delighted to have as our guests for this episode Tops Markets produce manager Brad Franklin and produce and floral field specialist Cole Bickal. Brad has been recognized this year as one of the honorees of the International Fresh Produce Association’s Retail Produce Manager Awards Program. In this conversation, Brad discusses his start in the industry, what he finds most engaging about his work, the growth he’s made in floral, the balance of increasing sales and decreasing shrink, and more. Cole talks about the attributes that make Brad a significant asset for the company, including his role as a district trainer and his endless curiosity about ways to improve his department. If you’re headed to the IFPA’s Global Show, look for Brad at the Retail Awards Reception on Friday, Oct. 18!

To hear more from Brad, check out the IFPA's five-part webinar series featuring roundtable conversations with groups of this year's winners. The webinars are co-hosted by IFPA's Joe Watson and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle. If you can't catch a webinar live, the recordings are hosted on this page. https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/retail/retail-produce-manager-award-winners-webinar-series/

For more episodes of The Produce Retail Podcast focused on produce managers, check out this curated playlist. 

More Playlists

• Executive Perspective

• Leadership & Training

• Marketing & Merchandising

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to have as our guests for this week's episode produce manager Bishop Tart, supervisor Josh Smith and vice president of sales and marketing Price Mabry to talk about Bishop's recognition by the International Fresh Produce Association as part of the Retail Produce Manager Awards Program Class of 2024. Bishop talks about his start in the business (working with his dad, a produce manager himself for 40-plus years); where he focuses his time and what he delegates to his team; planning and executing show-stopping seasonal displays; his philosophy on cross-training rather than having team members specialize; the growth of fresh cut; and more. Josh and Price explain what set Bishop apart for the nomination this year and detail how Corner Market has made IFPA recognition a point of pride and competition between stores — and they provide an update on how Corner Market's previous two winners have advanced in their careers since receiving their awards.

To hear more from Bishop, check out the IFPA's five-part webinar series featuring roundtable conversations with groups of this year's winners. The webinars are co-hosted by IFPA's Joe Watson and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle. If you can't catch a webinar live, the recordings are hosted on this page. https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/retail/retail-produce-manager-award-winners-webinar-series/

For more episodes focused on produce managers, check out this curated playlist. 

More Playlists

• Executive Perspective

• Leadership & Training

• Marketing & Merchandising

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to welcome back to The Produce Retail Podcast longtime executive Scott Schuette. Over the last 35-plus years Scott has served in leadership roles with Fresh Thyme, Sprouts and Bashas. He’s been recognized as Produce Retailer of the Year and Specialty Food Retailer of the Year. He’s also been so kind to be a regular on this podcast and share his perspective on all kinds of executive topics, from managing across divisions to developing the annual budget to writing to the ad — and many, many more.

On this week's episode, Scott and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle tackle a topic that also featured prominently in the first-ever State of the Produce Manager report — the topic of how much leeway produce managers have to make decisions for their department. Scott gives examples of successful retailers all along the spectrum, from ones that tightly control presentation from a corporate level to ones that give produce managers significant discretion. He also discusses his views on which decisions should be made at the corporate level and which should be made at the store level. Scott also talks about store segmentation as a way to keep assortment and merchandising relatively consistent while still accounting for differences in customer bases and store layouts.

Scott also notes the role of operational leadership and effective communication about standards. He discusses how produce managers can earn more leeway to make decisions and the importance of letting them experiment and learn from their successes and failures. Scott also brings up the leeway produce managers have in how they develop their team members and the opportunity they have to adjust their style as needed and personalize their approach to the personalities of folks in their department.

For more conversations featuring executive perspective, check out this playlist dedicated to conversations with current and former vice presidents of produce, directors of produce, and other executive roles. 

More Playlists

• Merchandising & Marketing 

• Leadership & Training

• Produce Manager Perspective

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode of the podcast Anne-Marie Roerink, the principal of 210 Analytics. Anne-Marie is well known in produce and across the broader grocery landscape for her insightful reports and presentations on what's happening in different parts of the store and what's happening in the world of the consumer — how and why they say they're shopping the way they are. In this conversation, Anne-Marie shares the trends she's seeing in deli and prepared foods and what produce can learn from the growth happening in that department, including the opportunity retailers have to capture what would be restaurant trips; the willingness of shoppers to make a separate trip to a different retailer for a specific foodservice offering; how retailers can build the basket during those replacing-a-restaurant-meal occasions; the different ways retailers are delivering convenience through the deli and how departments like produce and meat need to be proactive to collaborate so they don't get skipped when convenience is the priority; why grab-and-go meals like pizza often don't include mushrooms and how creative retailers are making pizzas customizable — and including more produce; how operational realities (and sometimes department silos) present challenges for some of the most aspirational cross-merchandising opportunities; and much more. Enjoy!

For more episodes featuring marketing and merchandising perspective, check out this curated playlist for plenty of thought-provoking discussion. 

More Playlists

• Executive Perspective

• Leadership & Training

• Produce Manager Perspective

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to welcome as our guest on this episode of the podcast Brendan Haslam, director of strategy and category management for Bolthouse Fresh Foods, which is best known for carrots. Brendan takes us behind the scenes of his work digging into sales data to identify opportunities for the retailers his company serves. He discusses the importance of earning the trust of customers by making recommendations that take into account their whole category, not just what they do with Bolthouse. He talks about assessing assortment, pricing and promotion by comparing the sales results of a given retailer with others in their market and beyond. He provides a window into the cadence and process of category management conversations. Brendan also covers his background in the profession and in produce, the characteristics that he has seen dovetail with success in category management, recommendations for people who want to explore careers in this area, and much more. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to welcome three guests for this week's episode: produce manager Alicia Lewis, produce merchandiser Mike Harrington, and vice president of produce operations Mike Roberts, all of Harps Food Stores. Alicia has been recognized by the International Fresh Produce Association this year as one of the best in the business as an honoree of the Retail Produce Manager Awards program, and so we talk with Alicia about when she knew produce could be a career for her; how she developed her understanding of the numbers side of the role; how she approaches training her team; how she balances running the department at her store and helping with training and remerchandising at other stores as well; and much more. Mike and Mike discuss what led to Alicia's nomination for this award; the attributes that make her stellar in her role; the importance of utilizing top-notch produce managers beyond their stores to make the whole company better; setting produce managers up with opportunities to continue to grow in their roles; and more. Hope you enjoy the conversation!

For more episodes focused on produce managers, check out this curated playlist. 

More Playlists

• Executive Perspective

• Leadership & Training

• Marketing & Merchandising

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to welcome as our guest for this week's episode Leigh Vaughn, director of produce and floral for Associated Food Stores. Leigh has been with AFS for 16 years now and was with Lee’s Marketplace for 13 years before that. In this week's conversation, he and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss how Leigh got started on the retail side of the business, including how he would assess employees' potential for the produce department; how he made the transition to wholesale and works with produce supervisors and managers for the stores AFS serves; the resources that AFS provides those stores, including a traveling regional produce seminar and a learning management system, and how those have been/are being developed; the opportunities AFS is creating for produce department employees to earn certificates and explore the career paths available to them; how AFS sets up for success its remodels and new store openings; the incorporation of more innovation refrigeration, including the ROI on that equipment; the increase in cross-merchandising between departments and the breaking down of silos that's needed for more of that meal solutions presentation to occur; the growth of fresh-cut produce, the labor required for it, and the decision-making process on what to do in-house and what to do at a commissary; and more. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

For more episodes featuring executive perspective, check out this curated playlist dedicated to conversations with current and former vice presidents of produce, directors of produce, and other executive roles. 

More Playlists

• Merchandising & Marketing 

• Leadership & Training

• Produce Manager Perspective

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to welcome as our guest this week longtime produce executive Dorn Wenninger. His most recent role was senior vice president of produce for UNFI, and before that he was vice president of produce and floral for Walmart. Before he moved to the buy side of the business, he worked for renowned suppliers Driscoll's and Chiquita. He was also a member of the inaugural board of directors for the International Fresh Produce Association. Over his time in the industry, Dorn has developed a keen interest in indoor agriculture, and he's also passionate about digging into industry data and finding opportunities for action – so those will be the two major buckets for today's conversation.

Dorn and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss why Dorn has been a student of indoor ag for 14 years now; how the vertical and glass segments are different and the opportunities he sees for them; the factors that will influence investment in CEA in the near term; the growth that greenhouse SKUs have seen within the packaged salad category, which has otherwise been down; the significant market share of CEA in packaged salads in certain regions; the few non-CEA SKUs within packaged salads that are growing; opportunities that the data shows in specialty and organic; how to use your center-store assortment to identify potential gaps in your produce assortment; the importance of combining data deep dives with walking stores and having conversations with associates; how up-and-coming produce leaders can become more comfortable with data and learn how to leverage it better; why he's been exploring floral as a key area for growth; and much more.

For more episodes featuring executive perspective, check out this curated playlist dedicated to conversations with current and former vice presidents of produce, directors of produce, and other executive roles. 

More Playlists

• Merchandising & Marketing 

• Leadership & Training

• Produce Manager Perspective

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

Get Involved

The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.