The Produce Retail Podcast The Produce Retail Podcast

We're delighted to bring out of the archives today a conversation from a couple years back with Alex Jackson, vice president of procurement and sales for Frieda's Branded Produce, about the origin of Love Your Produce Manager Day, a holiday that Frieda's created back in 2012. Before that discussion, The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle also shares a few words about her appreciation for the many talented, dedicated, zealous produce managers she's observed and visited with over the years. We hope you enjoy the conversation, and we wish you a belated Happy Love Your Produce Manager Day!

For episodes featuring produce manager perspective, check out this curated playlist for plenty of thought-provoking discussion. 

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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’ve got a special treat for you today – a roundtable discussion with three retail dietitians who, along with being nutrition experts, have excellent insight into the consumer and are incredibly plugged into marketing at their companies. Our panelists are Harmons registered dietitian nutritionist Melanie Taylor, MS, RDN, CD; Raley’s nutrition strategist and corporate dietitian Yvette Waters, MS, RDN, CISSN, RYT; and Kroger director of nutrition Laura Brown, MS, RDN, LDN. Moderated by The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle, this group discusses topics including how consumer purchasing behavior has been influenced by lingering inflation; how RDs are using — or considering using — AI in their work; how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are showing up in their conversations with consumers and the challenges their use can pose to increasing produce consumption; which topics they see resonating with shoppers and the platforms they're using to connect with them; how they work to get their vision executed in stores; what dietitians can do for consumers that many people may not realize; what they're most looking forward to at the International Fresh Produce Association's upcoming Consumer Connection event, and much more. Last but not least, speaking of IFPA — a big shout-out to director of marketing and communications Katie Calligaro for bringing this group of RDs together for today's conversation. Melanie, Yvette and Laura are part of IFPA's retail dietitian network, a unique and important way IFPA engages the industry. Hope you enjoy the conversation!

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.

Hello and welcome to The Produce Retail Podcast! Our esteemed guest for this week's episode is Anne-Marie Roerink, the principal of 210 Analytics. Anne-Marie is well known to many folks in the produce world for her insightful reports and presentations in collaboration with Circana and associations like the International Fresh Produce Association and the Southeast Produce Council. Speaking of SEPC, Southern Exposure just happened, one of the first major shows of the year, and Anne-Marie presented FMI's Power of Produce report, the go-to source each year on current consumer and sales trends in the industry. In today's conversation, Anne-Marie and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss topics including how inflation influenced consumption in 2023 and continues to do so in 2024; how sales of fixed-weight produce are growing despite consumer concern about plastic; innovation in produce, from product attributes to merchandising; how different generations are finding recipes and meal planning; why traditional grocery is losing share of spend to channels like discount, mass merchandisers and club and how that could change in the future; 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 today Dan Weis, a longtime produce retail veteran who's been working in grocery stores for most of his life — including as a young kid tagging along with his dad on Saturdays! Dan has spent the majority of his career, more than 30 years, at King Kullen, a family grocer serving Long Island, New York. Dan was a produce manager there for 17 years and then a produce and floral supervisor there for 15 years. More recently, after he and his wife moved to Florida to be closer to their daughters, Dan also worked for Publix. The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle wanted to visit with Dan because he’s someone who really loves the business and is zealous about creating an excellent experience for the customer. In this episode, Ashley and Dan discuss leadership, department resets, the importance of communication and education, merchandising philosophy, career transitions, a few of Dan's highlights over the years, and his recent attendance at the Southeast Produce Council's Southern Exposure. Enjoy! 
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Claudia St. John, the founder and CEO of consulting, recruiting and training firm The Workplace Advisors. As regular listeners might recall, The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle recently published the first-ever State of the Produce Manager report, and career pathing was one of the topics covered. To learn more about what career pathing entails, how different companies are approaching it, and the value it brings an organization, Ashley reached out to Claudia, whom she saw present back in 2021 at the Southeast Produce Council's Southern Innovations event. In this episode, Claudia also discusses the what the status of the labor market means for how companies need to approach their workforces; what employees today want; what career pathing looks like in practice; why training and other investment in employees in supervisory roles is so critical; the importance of developing "soft" skills; the ROI equation for investment in people; the correlation between happy employees and happy customers; the factors that play into job satisfaction for Gen Z; voluntary sabbatical programs; and more. Enjoy! 

For inquiries about the full State of the Produce Manager report, please reach out to Ashley Nickle at ashley@nicklegrowthstrategies.com or on LinkedIn.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've got an extra-special guest on this week's episode of The Produce Retail Podcast — longtime sales director and manager Dave Dunkak, who also happens to be the dad of host Ashley Nickle! Dave is in a different industry, but he has extensive experience navigating some of the key challenges that many in produce retail face: Along with developing people, Dave has for many years had P&L responsibility, so he’s very well-versed in balancing the long-term goals of building a team and a business with the short-term goals of beating last year’s sales numbers. As regular listeners will know by now, Ashley recently surveyed 200 produce managers for the new State of the Produce Manager report, and one of the areas of interest among that group was more training in people management and leadership. With those topics in mind, in this episode Ashley and Dave discuss attributes of strong managers; the critical discipline of holding team members accountable; how to maximize your time developing the team and prioritize with whom you spend that time; how to lead career path discussions with your team members; balancing work time and family time; empowering team members and how important that is to retention; making the difficult decision to transition people off the team when necessary; and value of a good old-fashioned phone call. Enjoy!

For inquiries about the full State of the Produce Manager report, please reach out to Ashley Nickle at ashley@nicklegrowthstrategies.com or on LinkedIn.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.