With government health initiatives and popular culture bringing home the importance of eating fruit and vegetables, supermarket fresh produce sections have experienced a huge turnaround in the last few years. From a once neglected area, it seems multiple retailers are responding to consumers and the media, and making their in-store fresh produce teams a main point of focus.
Now, many of the chains are taking the idea one step further and over the last few months, a positive shift in fruit and vegetable education has manifested itself in the form of new training schemes for employees working in the aisles across the country.
One of these new initiatives comes from Asda with a scheme aptly named ‘Vegication’. The scheme’s creation followed Adsa’s recent adoption of a ‘roll style’ in fruit and vegetable sections; produce is put straight onto dollies from delivery vehicles and then ‘rolled’ onto the shop floor. Asda says that once the new system was in force, it felt staff needed extra education to accompany it, and Vegication was born.
Vegification involves colleagues tasting products and learning about the journey of the product from grower to store. Liz Butcher, Asda’s Fresh Start project assistant, says the aim of the scheme is to empower staff with a passion for the fresh produce department: “We wanted to raise awareness and check colleagues understanding of how to maintain top quality produce for our customers,’’ she says.
This kind of training could come as good news for many members of the fresh produce industry. Multiple retailers often come under fire for the way they deal with the fruit and vegetables they receive, and arguably, many of the concerns could be resolved with a new approach to staff education. Adrian Barlow, chief executive of the English Apples and Pears Association, has extensive experience of the anxiety experienced by growers and suppliers: “We’ve now moved into a tough era. Buyers used to spend a considerable amount of time working with products before they obtained a level of responsibility - they understood seasons, strengths, and weaknesses and when they [fruit and vegetables] should be sold...that knowledge is no longer perceived as being necessary. Anything that can be done that can increase the level of knowledge of store staff the better, but I’m sympathetic to the problems that this can create. If supermarkets pay staff more then it can disrupt their costs,” he says.
Dominic Burch, spokesman for Asda, agrees: “Historically there has not been enough emphasis on healthier foods being promoted. We now have created a positive effect by increasing the amount of promotions that Asda carries off on fresh produce. Improving the Asda kids range on fruit, including the Garden Gang, helps create positive pester power...Asda also tries to educate customers about nutrition through its ‘Did you know’ markers, which can be seen in store at point of purchase. Seasonality of product is becoming more important to the customer, therefore we are introducing ranges that highlight products that are ‘in season’.”
Barlow says that the emphasis placed on seasonality is a big area for improvement in supermarkets, and the fact that taste is not prioritised over appearance and convenience is frustrating for many growers and suppliers, particularly in the current climate where new technology and importation means many lines can be stocked for 12 months of the year. He says: “Enormous care is taken with apples - things like water flotation, and then you see people in supermarkets just tipping them out of boxes...the multiples always say that they give consumers what they want, but they ought to lead the consumers. Lots of people think Granny Smiths are English apples so it’s terribly important for those of us selling products that aren’t available all year. Let’s make a virtue of the fact that things aren’t available all year round. What actually matters is what the product tastes like... greengrocers understood the seasonality of produce and the service was not just self-select. He’d say, ‘Mrs Jones I’ve got the first Cox of the season here, how many pounds would you like?’” Barlow says.
But Asda isn’t the only supermarket to recognise the benefits of well-trained staff in the fresh produce section. Somerfield launched a similar tasting scheme in June this year, and while its format covers lines across the whole store, it also concentrates heavily on fruit and vegetables. Taste, Tell and Sell (TTS) has so far included some of the more peripheral fresh produce lines including premium vine tomatoes and Ramiro peppers. It says its scheme allows staff to encounter products they might otherwise have never tried, and this experience allows them pass their knowledge on to Somerfield customers.
Last month, TTS focused on apples and staff at Somerfield stores around the country got together to taste Braeburn and employees at Somerfield’s Battersea branch seemed supportive: “I like the scheme because we can explain better to customers about how things taste, and give better feedback - we can help them make the best choice,” says Somerfield employee Ranjan Sivarajah. Another staff member, Pascal Tokunaga, is the TTS scheme’s ‘selling champion’, a title which means he leads each tasting session, asking colleagues questions and overseeing the information they receive. He says he is enthusiastic about the scheme: “I think it’s a very good idea and a completely different initiative. It’s a good way of helping the staff know more about the products and tell customers about what products are more suited to their needs, especially if they’ve never tried things before,” he says.
Tasting notes used in TTS sessions include details of the product itself such as ripening times, variety information and product development information. Barlow says he thinks an emphasis on information that will help the consumer to enjoy the produce more is vital: “It’s valuable if people can be taught background information about products, like, when products are ripe. The fact of the matter is that we are ultimately dependent on people acting in stores,” he says,
Jey Chandra, store manager at Battersea, says Somerfield’s scheme is extremely useful to staff and says he is already seeing results. He adds he even thinks the scheme’s success has translated to sales in the fresh produce section: “Customers are delighted and we’re happy to test new products. Our staff have never had that experience before. If they taste something and they like it, it gives them a better experience with their customers. It’s a new way of training staff and I think it’s one of the reasons our fresh produce section is doing so well,” he explains. Visiting the store during the Braeburn TTS session, acting area manager and manager of Hounslow Somerfield, Eric King says he definitely thinks the new training is positive, giving staff a depth of understanding that wasn’t necessarily present before: “Staff to taste products and get to know them better; improves their knowledge so that they can tell customers about different products. They understand the products better, rather than just see them on the shelf,” he says. “It’s also encouraging a better level of staff and customer interaction.”
Sandra Ziles, innovations director, explains Somerfield’s logic behind the idea: “We introduced the Taste, Tell and Sell scheme because we wanted to encourage a ‘foodie’ culture throughout all levels of the business. By holding the tasting in a team environment, we hope the products will stimulate discussions about food. Staff were dealing with so many products each day, yet did not often have the chance to taste them. Tasting is important as our staff on the shop floor have the best opportunity to communicate a passion for our yummy products with Somerfield customers.” She said.
There is no doubt that a move towards in-store training in fresh produce sections is a commendable move by supermarkets, and if nothing else, will allow a number of people the chance to taste and experience new types of fruit and vegetables. But there’s a chance that it will do more than that. If staff participating really do find themselves with a renewed passion for produce, and can pass it on to customers, then the benefits will be seen by supermarkets, consumers and the rest of the fresh produce industry.
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