What We Can Learn From Stephanie Teteak's Best Grocery Bagger Victory At the NGA Show

Stephanie Teteak and Blake Westling wait for the judges' decision at yesterday's NGA 'Best Bagger' competition in Las Vegas. [Photo Credit: Leila Navidi. Courtesy Las Vegas Sun.]

The Insider - Heard On the Street

Until the mid-to-late 1970's it was a rare supermarket chain or independent grocer in America that hired women of any age to bag groceries. I know this for a fact because I was one of the boys who made his spending money as a teenager, and later most of his tuition and living expenses as a college student, bagging groceries and stocking shelves in a supermarket.

But beginning in the mid-to-late 1970's, and accelerating in the 1980's to today, this gender bias changed dramatically. Young, and not so young, women began filling the grocery bagger ranks in America's supermarkets, working side-by-side at the checkout stands with the boys.

And a funny thing happened when that big change came - most of the girls (sorry guys) were far better at bagging groceries then us boys were - more careful in how they packed Mrs. Roger's eggs, better at segregating the frozen foods and perishables together so they would stay colder for Mrs. Roger's trip home, much better when it came to chatting with the customer while bagging (women are superior to us men when it comes to multi-tasking), and so on. To sum it up, they were, generally speaking, more courteous courtesy clerks than the guys were. Sorry again, guys.

Another funny thing happened when the big change came, those of us boys who worked in the stores bagging groceries and stocking shelves were pleased as punch to have young, and not so young, women working side-by-side with us, as is the case today in America's food and grocery retailing industry.

I thought about this history and experience yesterday - despite the fact my memory isn't as good as it was when I was bagging groceries four decades ago - when I heard the news the judges at the National Grocer's Association (NGA) convention and show in Las Vegas, Nevada honored Stephanie Teteak, 30, with the first place award at its annual "Best Bagger" championship contest, which was held during the show on Monday.

Stephanie Teteak, who works for the Larry's Piggy Wiggly supermarket in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, was one of two finalists in the annual "Best Bagger" competition, which was held yesterday during the show, which began Sunday and ends Wednesday.

The other finalist was Blake Westling, a 20-year-old college student and grocery bagger who works for a Byerly's supermarket in Eagan, Minnesota.

There were 24 competitors (see the photo below) in the competition, representing 24 U.S. states. Each of the competitors had to win state competitions in order to make it to the national finals in Las Vegas.

The contestants were judged on a number of criteria, including: speed, accuracy, distribution of product weight in the bags, bag building techniques, appearance (theirs' personally as well as that of the full bag) and attitude. The NGA also had the contestants use reusable canvas bags, providing a green reminder to all who watched the contest.

The items used to fill the bags were just like those grocery products bagged on the job - boxed breakfast cereal, a container of Folgers Coffee, a package of cookies, a can of Campbell's soup, a carton of eggs, and the like.

There were five preliminary rounds in the competition yesterday. Stephanie Teteak and Blake Westling were the last two standing when all was said and done.

Waiting for the judges decision, the two "Best Bagger" contestants stood on the stage holding hands (see the photo at top). When the judges announced that Teteak had won, Blake Westling congratulated her. There was no gender bias in his eyes or in his behavior.

For her winning effort Teteak, who in addition to being a grocery bagger is a bookkeeper and has been in the grocery business for 13-years, takes home a check for $10,000, along with the "Golden Grocery Bag" trophy given to the first place winner each year. Her store - Larry's Piggy Wiggly, in Kaukauna, Wisconsin - was awarded a golden colored checkout stand with Ms. Teteak's name on it.

Stephanie Teteak accepts her 'Best Bagger' check at the NGA Show.

Blake Westling takes home $5,000 for his second place efforts, which he says he's going to use in part to help pay his college tuition, putting the rest into a Roth IRA. Not only is he a true champion, he's a wise and prudent young man.

A total of $24,000 was awarded in the competition, which was sponsored by the Kellogg Company, Bunzl Distributors Inc. and Pan-Oston. Rob Mow of Martin’s Super Markets in South Bend, Indiana came in third place, winning $1,000.  Florida-based, employee-owned Publix Supermarkets picked up fourth and fifth place, with Alexis Jeup of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee and Bryan Nowell of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, winning $1,000 each.

Teteak, who competed in the competition last year but didn't place, says she "worked really hard" to achieve her win, practicing regularly and competing in the Wisconsin state bag-off competitions 10 times previously.

America's top bagger said yesterday she plans to use her winnings to "pay off some bills." That's smart, wise and financially prudent, a trait she shares with Blake Westling, when it comes to how they plan to use their winnings.

Stephanie Teteak (far left) with two of her fans at yesterday's bag-off.

Stephanie Teteak also says this about her day job: "Bagging is the most important job in the store. No bag of mine goes out there, that isn’t perfect."

Object lessons come in many forms and from various places in life, including from "Best Bagger" competitions like the one held at the NGA show yesterday.

I think there's two such lessons we can learn from Stephanie Teteak's winning of the "Best Bagger" competition yesterday.

The first lesson is that although change can be difficult - such as the supermarket industry's opening the doors to women as grocery baggers and checkers, and later as shelf stockers, store managers, mid-level managers and executives - if its the right thing to do (like it was), most of us recognize it, and then wonder why it took so long to come about.

Most of us also embrace such change (some earlier than others), because that's also the right thing to do. Case in point: Few if any people would argue against the fact that opening the doors to women has made America's food and grocery retailing industry far superior in every way to what it was back when it was primarily a boys club.

The industry has been a bit slower in opening up its senior executive ranks to women, however. But that too is changing.

For example, Walmart has just named a woman, Rosalind Brewer, as chief executive of Sam's Club, and last week Safeway Stores, Inc. named Lori Raya president of its top-grossing Vons' division, which has 300-plus stores in Southern California, Southern Nevada and California's Central Valley.

Both Brewer and Raya came up through the ranks at Walmart and Safeway respectively. And there are numerous female grocery baggers (and stockers and checkers) out there working in America's grocery stores who welcome the opportunity to advance up through the ranks, if they so desire to do so.

Additionally, an increasing number of women are becoming store managers.

And at the headquarters level women are gaining leadership positions in category management, merchandising, marketing and finance, whereas in the past most grocery chains slotted women senior executives in areas like human resources, public relations and nutrition-consumer affairs. For example, one of the fastest-growing areas in the U.S. food and grocery industry is private or store brand product development and marketing. Many of the most talented executives currently heading up those programs at chains are women.

The second object lesson I suggest we can take from Ms. Teteak's victory comes from her quote about bagging being the most important job in the store.

That lesson is, that we should all remember what she says because it, like all the other store-level positions, are where the action is. If it doesn't happen at retail, it isn't going to happen at all.

Events like the NGA's "Best Bagger" competition serve an important role in drawing attention - both within the industry and to the general public - to the employees who work in the stores.

NGA president and CEO Peter Larkin, who previously was president of the California Grocers Association, said it well in a statement today, noting: "This competition continues to shine a light on the incredible dedication and work ethic of grocery employees, particularly baggers, from all across the country. These competitors are a small sample of the thousands of baggers all across this country who help customers every day with exceptional customer service and demonstrate an enormous amount of pride in what they do."

And it is well deserved attention, as Stephanie Teteak shows us, not because she won first place in the NGA's "Best Bagger" competition, but because she competed - and was able to compete because of those changes that started in the industry back in the 1970's, and continue today.

But regardless of gender or performance, I doubt Teteak would have become America's top grocery bagger yesterday, or entered the competition in the first place, were it not for the attitude she has about her job, which she expressed after receiving her award yesterday, saying: "Bagging is the most important job in the store. No bag of mine goes out there, that isn’t perfect."

That's an attitude all of us need to make sure we have, regardless of what our job is. Thanks for the lessons Stephanie.

(Bottom three photographs courtesy National Grocers Association.)

- The Insider

[Read past columns by our 'The Insider' columnist here.]

Independent Film 'READY, SET, BAG!' Chronicles the Serious, Humerous and Ruthless Life of Competitive Grocery Bagging

To paraphrase the late comedian Rodney Dangerfied - "Grocery baggers don't get enough respect."

Think about it, grocery store baggers, who're often called courtesy clerks these days, have arguably the most face-to-face contact - and are the employees shoppers have the last contact with when leaving the store - with a grocer's customers than any other store employee or company executive. Yet the typical supermarket chain CEO makes more money in just a few hours than a typical bagger makes in a year.

And least you think it's the case, grocery industry CEO's don't have anything on grocery baggers when it comes to being competitive.

Every February grocery baggers from across the country meet in Las Vegas, Nevada to vie for the title of 'National Best Bagger,' in the National Grocer's Association's (NGA) Best Bagger
National Championship competition. (see the 2010 winners here.)

The baggers represent the grocery retailers they work for and come from throughout the U.S. to compete in the competition, which is held in conjunction with the trade associations's annual convention. The NGA is the national trade group for independent grocers in the U.S.

The annual grocery bagging competition receives a fair amount of publicity each year, particularly from media outlets in the winners' hometowns. But a new independent film - 'READY, SET, BAG!' - aims to elevate the annual bag off competition and grocery baggers to iconic status.

The 80-minute film, produced by Justine Jacob and co-directed by Ms. Jacob and Alex D. da Silva, is currently showing at select theaters throughout the U.S. (You can view a list of upcoming screenings here.)

Oren Jacob is the executive producer of 'READY, SET, BAG.' It was his idea to make the film about competitive grocery bagging and the NGA annual bagging competition.

Justin Jacob is a filmmaker and entertainment law attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area and the former president of the Bay Area Women in Film and Media organization. She produced and co-directed, with da Silva, the award winning independent film 'Runners High,' in 2006.

Alex D. da Silva has been working in the film industry since 1989. He received an MA Degree in Film in São Paulo, Brazil and has worked as a producer, cinematographer and director in commercials and non-commercial projects shot in the U.S. and Latin America. He produced and directed the award winning short film 'O Cantor de Samba' and co-directed 'Runners High.'

'READY, SET, BAG!' is a true slice of Americana.

"Americans don't only work hard, they also like to have fun and the world of competitive grocery bagging is often bizarrely entertaining and unexpected," says producer Justin Jacob. "Contestants unveil their competitive side as they train and take the competition - but never themselves - seriously. Spanning the US, they are the heart of the bagging competition, their workplaces and of 'READY, SET, BAG!'"

In the film viewers get to meet Jacob, a once shy and overweight teenager who blossomed and found friends when he got his first job at a grocery store.

Then there's Brenda. She works beside her daughter as a grocery bagger and rides Harley Davidson motorcycles with her hunting-obsessed husband, James, when not working at the store.

Another competitive grocery bagger in the film is Kim, whose posse of 45-80 year-olds gives her a sendoff to the annual grocery bag off in Las Vegas she’ll never forget.

Other competitive grocery baggers featured in 'READY, SET, BAG!' are:

>Roger, a Chinese/Trinidadian immigrant who sees the prize money from the bagging competition as his entry ticket to the American Dream;

>Ryan, an African-American home-schooled farm boy with a grocery bag full of charm;

>Brian, a returning state champion determined to redeem himself after the mistake that cost him the grocery bagging national title the previous year; and

>Jon, a 49-year-old stoic grocery bagger from Minnesotan who has one last chance to prove that he can snag "bagging gold" before he hits fifty.

Here's how (in italics below) the filmakers describe their motivation for making the film about the NGA's annual grocery bagging contest and the competitive grocery baggers who make it happen:

"Our story originated when Oren Jacob, our executive producer, was talking with some friends about their summer jobs back in high school. Someone blurted out “I used to be a grocery bagger, but never made it out to the regionals…

Driving home that night, Oren called and said, 'I know what our next film is about.'

The idea of taking something as mundane and common as bagging to an extreme competitive level intrigued us and we wanted to find out who would participate in such an endeavor. We started researching the competition, the National Grocers Association that runs the competition, and the supermarket industry in general. We found a competition that has been going on for over 20 years, an organization with a purpose to advocate for independent grocers that cater to their communities, and an industry filled with integrity where individuals love their jobs and serving their customers. We knew we had more than a competition film.

We then pitched the story at the Sundance Producers Conference, and won the Best Pitch award. With our first $500 in funding secured, and five months to go before the national competition, we started a tour of 21 states filming regional bagging competitions and meeting state champions. After propane fireballs, a dedicated coach, a winning 4H dairy goat, a victory dance, a harem, a rugby scrum, some dead deer, band camp, a 50th birthday party, drinking moonshine with flamingos, and a whole lot of very well packed groceries, what we discovered was the heart of America.

We had a blast and saw an opportunity to tell intimate, personal stories that would reveal a slice of Americana we all participate in. As we filmed the final round of the National competition in Vegas, we knew we had a compelling story to tell about these individuals who exemplified being the best at what you do, no matter what that is.

After watching our film, we’re confident that you will never go through a checkout aisle the same way again, knowing what it takes to be qualified, at a professional level, to ask the question 'Paper or plastic?'"

The film first debuted at a handful of film festivals in 2008-2009 but is just now getting a widespread national screening.

In 2008, 'READY, SET, BAG!' received the Award of Excellence at the prestigious Indie Fest film festival. In 2009 the Honolulu International Film Festival gave it its Award of Excellence in Filmmaking. The grocery bagger-focused film also is an official selection at this year's 2010 Sonoma (California) International Film Festival.

The filmakers are walking the talk (or video in this case) as well with their award-winning film: They're donating $1 from each ticket sold for 'Ready, Set, Bag!' to a local food bank in the cities where the film is shown during its current national tour.

Additionally, the filmakers are doing a number of other things to help America's hungry, as part of their philosophy that since the movie is set in the retail grocery business and focuses on bagging groceries, they have a certain obligation to assist those less able to buy bags full of food at the supermarket.

Those activities are:

>Food donations at screenings: In certain locations, individuals get $1 off the ticket price for bringing in at least 3 cans to donate to the local food bank.

>BlipTV Channel: Clips of the film and other related contect are available for viewing at http://www.readysetbag.blip.tv/. All of the advertising revenue from the channel is being donated to Feeding America, the national organization that supports U.S. food banks and pantries. The site is regularly updated with new video.

>Online: The filmakers are giving 10% of all item sales from their online store to Feeding America.

>Groupon.com Deal: The filmakers are offering a deal at http://www.groupon.com/. A donation of $1 from the deal goes to the local food bank when tickets to the film are sold through Groupon.

According to the filmakers, donations from the above activities have so far this year provided over 5,000 meals.

Fresh & Easy Buzz readers who work in the retail food and grocery business, or have worked in the industry, particularly as a grocery bagger at some point, will get caught up in the film.

But 'READY, SET, BAG!' is far more than a film for past and present grocery industry employees. Rather, it's a serious, humerous and even ruthless sociological look at the world of competitive grocery bagging and more. As mentioned earlier - it is a true slice of Americana.

The eight competitive grocery baggers featured in the film 'READY, SET, BAG!"

Minnesota State Champion, Jon Sandell
With a goal to make it to the national competition the year he turned 50, 49-year-old Sandell won the state competition. Tough on the outside but with a generous heart, he represents Chris’ Food Center, a family-owned store run by a previous best bagger champ and proud displayer of numerous State Bagger Champion trophies. Sandell wants the top prize and brings along his “Harem," three female coworkers who knew that Sandell was their ticket to Vegas.

Utah State Champion, Brian Bay
The year before, Bay failed to place at nationals when he missed a pack of lifesavers that had rolled up against the side of the checkout stand. This year, he returned to beat out 38 competitors and became Utah’s reigning State Champion. After a year of practicing and more determined than ever, he, his wife and cheering squad can’t wait to return to Vegas for his chance at redemption.

Alabama State Champion, Roger Chen
Chen is very clear about why he’s participating in the contest – for the money. Describing himself as the “typical American,” he is a 25-year-old Chinese immigrant born in Trinidad, Tobego. He has been in the US for two years studying computer science and needs money to pay for his education. His lively and dedicated coach, Publix store manager Joe Yaeczitis, has found what he believes is the contestant who will finally bring Alabama its first national title.

Pennsylvania State Champion, Kim Weaver
Forty-eight year old Weaver is grounded, works with her teenage kids at the same store and loves to play pinochle. Once a month she gets together with the Flamingals – a hilarious group of eight women from the store (aged 45-80) to eat, play cards, have sleepovers and drink. Surrounded by flamingo paraphernalia, they give Weaver a special Vegas sendoff she’ll never forget.

California State Champion, James Hunter
Competing in the “Thunderdome of bagging competitions,” the driven, highly competitive Hunter had to drown out 400 screaming, dressed up, face-painted bagging fans to emerge the California State Champion. He’s a rugby star at school and off to college this year. Both a team player and a solo dynamo, he feels fully confident to compete against the best of the best in Vegas.

Iowa State Champion, Brenda Wygle
It took Wygle ten years of competition to finally become the Iowa State Champion. Her daughter, 17, who works with her at the store and has stuck by her side through it all, has no doubt her mom can win at the national level. Often taking Harley rides with her husband and son, Wygle is proudly the first woman to represent Fareway Stores over the 20 years of competitions.

Virginia State Champion, Jacob Richardson
At 17, Richardson is the youngest state champion in the competition this year. He’s outgoing, sweet-natured, and can’t stop talking. But, he wasn’t always this way. Once an overweight and solitary videogamer, getting a job at Food City helped him break out of his shell, make great friends and lose weight. Now when he’s not working, he’s at the store hanging out with his friends or talking with them on MySpace. His very supportive dad and sister have dreams Richardson will win in Vegas, but he says he knows he’s “already a winner.”

Ohio State Champion, Ryan Hamilton
“Ryan Hamilton IS Ohio,” as his friends describe. The consummate overachiever, Hamilton grew up and was home-schooled on a farm in Mt. Vernon, OH. He’s the winner of numerous 4H awards, a college swimmer, volunteer for an inner city afterschool program, and studying to become a vet. But what really matters to him is family.