Ed Carroll has been in the grocery business for 30 years. He started working
for a grocery store when he was just 16 and continued to work there for 12
years.
He now works for a very unusual grocery store and international farmer's
market in Fairfield, Ohio.
"When I first came here...[the store] only sold produce at that time. I
worked for a specialty food company out of Chicago and my line was international
foods."
As a salesman, he saw a lot of potential in a produce store. He tried to
sell his entire line of products to the owner.
As he and the owner talked over the next couple of years, they decided
that the best way to give the competition a run for their money would be to
turn the store into an international market format.
"That is what we did....We have built this company to the point that we
are today, a giant among the giants in the chain store formats," he says.
"We constantly get television coverage, as well as marketing magazine articles.
Companies come from overseas to see our store, and we are considered pioneers
in our field.
"That, to me, is the most rewarding experience that I have had the pleasure
of experiencing in all the years that I have been in this business. My friends
tell me that I have not done too bad for a kid from the projects!"
Mary Courteau has been in the grocery business since 1984. She began working
in a neighborhood co-op grocery store when her four children were very small.
"I had been a schoolteacher, but quit to raise my kids. My husband died
in 1980 and I needed income, but couldn't afford to be gone too long
or too far from my home."
She started as a cashier. Over the next six years, she learned most of
the functions of running a small grocery store.
"I became the general manager in 1989 and restructured, reorganized and
built up enough profit and retained equity to allow the business to expand
into a new, larger location," she says.
Courteau realized that she loved learning business stuff.
"I was a good supervisor, planner and leader. The tasks, such as ordering,
stocking, cleaning and such were a challenge to learn, but didn't have
as much long-term satisfaction as growing the business."
Courteau says that there is a high turnover rate in this field. It's
hard to find full-time people except at the management level.
"And, frankly, there is little glamour being a grocery store manager, owner
or staff person. If that sort of thing bothers you, go to college and become
a doctor."
On the other hand, Courteau finds working with people, from the customers
to the staff, to be very rewarding. She says she also enjoys all the details
that go into running a business.
One of her most rewarding experiences in this field was taking over an
"adequate" business and turning it into the largest natural food co-op in
her state.
"By the time I left, we turned back over $110,000 in profit to our membership
in one year and had amassed enough retained earnings to finance the next badly
needed expansion project."
Her advice is to work in a grocery store for a number of years before you
decide if you want this as a career.
"Learn to love produce, and learn to set a shelf. Come up with some great
ideas for dealing with back stock [and] deliveries and wait on lots of customers.
Learn how to make the crabbiest ones smile, and learn how to apprehend a shoplifter."
Courtney Lawrence is the marketing coordinator for a produce store. She
says that this is typically a 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday job for employees at
chain stores.
"For an independent grocer, they are usually required to work six-day,
12-hour shifts. Some travel is involved to see your suppliers or to purchase
fresh meats or produce."
E.J. Geyer says his family has been in the grocery business since the 1950s.
"My grandfather started out with small fruit stands, eventually opening a
grocery store. Now we have six stores that my father, cousin and I run."
Geyer's market is located in Ohio.
Geyer says that one of the challenges of this field is "trying to explain
to a unhappy customer why you don't have a product and trying to satisfy
their needs."
On the other hand, Geyer states that rewarding part of this
job is "the people you meet through vendors and manufacturers, [and] also
other grocers."