The Produce Retail Podcast

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 respon...

We're delighted to have returning to the podcast as our guest today Josh Padilla, a veteran produce director who most recently led the produce team at Marketplace Bermuda. Josh has also led produce at Citarella in New York and at Gerrity’s in Pennsylvania. His career has also included Krasdale Foods, Whole Foods Market, and Pathmark Supermarkets. In today's episode, Josh provides his perspective o...

Do you ever get frustrated because it seems like certain team members just don't care about the work as much as you do? If you're trying to move people from the "just a job" mentality to a place of pride and ownership, give this conversation a listen. Our guest is Wendy McManus, leadership coach and founder of Connect 2 Potential. Wendy has a long history in the produce industry, including serving...

If you're a regular listener, you might recall we surveyed more than 200 produce managers a while back and recently released the first-ever State of the Produce Manager report based on the findings of that survey. One of our takeaways was on the importance of career pathing for produce managers. In today's episode, we bring in an expert on this topic: consultant, author and keynote speaker Dave Mi...

We're delighted to have as our guest on this episode Scott Horner, owner of EMP, Everything Matters Produce. Scotty has a long history in produce retail, starting with about 20 years as a produce manager for Ahold, Shaw’s, Big Y, and Tri Town Foods. Since then he’s been a merchandiser, supervisor, specialist and broker for fresh foods, and he started his business in 2021. He also shares his knowle...

We talk a lot on this podcast — advocate, quite frankly — about the amazing returns that come from investing in training and education for frontline professionals, particular produce managers. In this week's episode, we bring back Kevin Climie, senior director of produce and floral at Fortinos, to discuss how the banner's 24 stores differentiate themselves with next-level floral departments — incl...

We're delighted to welcome as our guest on this episode Donovan Jackson, manager and buyer for Seed to Table, an independent grocery store in Naples, Fla. Check out Donovan's LinkedIn for a glimpse at the top-notch merchandising that characterizes this unique store. In his conversation with The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle, Donovan covers topics including his career path; his philosop...

We're delighted to have Mike Roberts , vice president of produce operations at Harps Food Stores , as our guest on this episode of The Produce Retail Podcast. Mike, a former produce manager himself and a longtime champion of professionals in that role, joins the show to discuss with The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle the importance of produce managers; how he works to support them at Ha...

This week we're bringing you one more episode to wrap up 2023 and set up 2024. Over the last few weeks, we've been looking back at some of the excellent conversations we've been delighted to host on this podcast. This episode, which features some of the highlights from our Leadership & Training playlist, includes snippets from discussions with Brian Dey , senior merchandiser and natural stores...

As 2023 draws to a close, we're taking a few weeks to look back at some of the excellent conversations we've been delighted to host on this podcast. This episode, which features some of the highlights from our Produce Manager Perspective playlist, includes snippets from discussions with Food City’s Skylar Leonard along with produce supervisor Travis Jones and local grower Tony Slaughter ; Bre Norr...

As 2023 draws to a close, we're taking a few weeks to look back at some of the excellent conversations we've been delighted to host on this podcast. This episode, which features some of the highlights from our Merchandising & Marketing playlist, includes snippets from discussions with Jonna Parker , the fresh foods team lead at Circana ; Diane Scalisi , director of omnichannel marketing for Dr...

As 2023 draws to a close, we're taking the next few weeks to look back at some of the excellent conversations we've been delighted to host on this podcast. This episode, which features some of the highlights from our Executive Perspective playlist, includes snippets from discussions with Caitlin Tierney , then the senior director of produce for local and innovation with Sprouts Farmers Markets ; K...

We're delighted to welcome back to the podcast Jack Sjogren, sales director at Alco Designs, which specializes in fixtures. Jack recently joined Alco after nearly 20 years at Hillphoenix, where he was most recently the design center manager and provided expert perspective for retailers on lighting and refrigeration in various departments of the store, including produce. In this conversation, The P...

We're delighted to bring you a returning guest for this episode: Cody Masters, vice president of culinary and the executive chef for Everson Spice Company. His work includes tracking trends and helping both retailers and grower-shippers develop new flavor profiles for their fresh produce and other offerings. In today's conversation, Cody and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss wh...

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Mike Tipton, vice president of produce and floral at Schnuck Markets. Schnucks recently announced a pilot program called Fresh Produce Now , which allows customers using the grocer's app to receive notifications when favorite local produce items arrive at their store. Mike and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss Foodshed...

It's not every day you get to hear from someone who's been in the business for half a century, but today is one of those days! Strack & Van Til produce manager Mitch Harris was recognized this year as one of IFPA's 2023 Retail Produce Manager Award winners, and he was honored along with the rest of his class on Friday at a special reception at the Global Produce and Floral Show in Anaheim, Cal...

The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle is in Anaheim, Calif., for the Global Produce & Floral Show, and in this short-but-sweet episode she recounts some areas of learning from the event's retail tour, which featured visits to Super King, Gelson's and Grocery Outlet. She also discusses the value of store visits for both retailers and suppliers even when someone's not on hand to answer q...

We're delighted to have as our guest this week longtime produce retail 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...

We're delighted to welcome back to the podcast Anne-Marie Roerink, the principal of 210 Analytics. Anne-Marie is well known to many in the produce world for her insightful reports and presentations in collaboration with Circana and industry associations like the International Fresh Produce Association and the Southeast Produce Council. In this episode, Anne-Marie and The Produce Retail Podcast hos...

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Josh Padilla, director of produce for Marketplace Bermuda. Josh has also led produce at Citarella in New York and at Gerrity’s in Pennsylvania. His career has also included Krasdale Foods, Whole Foods Market and Pathmark Supermarkets. In this conversation, Josh and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss his tenure at Market...

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Josh Alsberg of Rubinette Produce Market. Josh was recognized this year by the International Fresh Produce Association as part of its Retail Produce Manager Awards Program. In this conversation, Josh and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss why Josh started the market; his background in the produce industry; building rela...

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Kevin Climie, senior director of produce and floral at Fortinos. Fortinos operates 23 – soon to be 24 – locations in the Greater Toronto, Hamiliton area. Fortinos is under the Loblaws umbrella but functions as an independent, so all Fortinos stores are franchised and have individual owners. In this conversation, Kevin and The Produce Reta...

We're delighted to welcome back as our guest this week Jonna Parker, the fresh foods team lead at Circana, formerly known as IRI. Jonna specializes in analyzing sales data, consumer trends and other sources of information to find and explore opportunities for fresh foods, including (of course) fresh produce. In this episode, Jonna and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss the conve...

Welcome! This week's episode is not a normal episode for us — but it is the announcement of a project about which we're incredibly excited. We've launched a produce manager survey. It takes about eight minutes to complete. It’s completely anonymous – no individual name or company name required. The goal is to understand what kind of resources and support produce managers are currently getting; wha...

We're delighted to welcome as our guests this week produce manager Laura Marquand and produce sales manager Brent Chambers of Haggen Food & Pharmacy. Laura has been selected as one of the International Fresh Produce Association's 2023 Retail Produce Manager Awards Program honorees, so we talk with her and Brent about some of their 2022 highlights — including a major remodel and the implementat...