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.]

A Few Thoughts and Words About America's Independent Grocers on Independence Day

Retail excitement: Jim Bonaminio's Jungle Jim's International Market (above) in Fairfield, Ohio offers 150,000 SKUs from over 75 countries in its 300,000 square-feet - plus a whole lot more, which you can see here.

The Insider - Heard on the Street

[Read the full text of the Declaration of Independence here.]

Were it not for a group of independent-minded American colonists, who on July 4, 1776 decided they'd had enough of the monarch's dictates from an ocean away and published the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, we wouldn't be watching parades, grilling hot dogs and burgers, and enjoying firework displays today, on Independence Day in the USA.

In fact, were it not for the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, led by Thomas Jefferson, and the bloody war against the British King's army fought by a rather independent and ragtag band of men from America's 13 colonies, there wouldn't be an America as we've come to know it to celebrate on the 4th of July.

It's impossible to know what the country called America, comprised of 50 states and about 310 million people, would have been without that bold and radical decision to gain independence.

But it's without a doubt to me it wouldn't be the United States of America, which has been shaped and is driven by independent thought and entrepreneurial spirit, even with all the setbacks over the last decade, we've come to know today. And setbacks they are. The independent spirit in America will rise again. It's in the nation's DNA, after all.

And it's worth noting today on Independence Day that there's a direct connection between the America shaped by the Declaration of Independence and the nation's history and tradition of independent grocers.

For example, if you scratch deep enough, most of today's leading food and grocery retailing chains in the United States got there start as independents, founded by individuals or families.

For example, there's Walmart, founded by Sam Walton. Sam didn't start out focusing on selling food and groceries. But it was during his watch were the stage was set for Walmart to become the leading grocer in the U.S., which it is today.

Additionally, most of what comprises Kroger Co. and Supervalu, Inc. - including Ralphs' Supermarkets in Southern California and Fred Meyer in the Pacific Northwest, to name two independent chains Kroger acquired - and Albertsons, which was founded in Idaho by Joe Albertson and today makes-up a major part of Supervalu, Inc., were started by entrepreneurs.

What today is Safeway Stores, can also be traced back to an independent chain. And over the years Safeway's growth has come from buying privately-held regional independent chains rather than via organic growth - Vons in Southern California, Genardi's, Carrs in Alaska, Dominick's and others.

In fact, the three leading supermarket chains in the U.S., Kroger Co, Supervalu, Inc. and Safeway Stores, have all basically become what they are today by cobbling together through acquisitions over the years a bunch of  independently-owned regional grocery chains. The whole today is Kroger, Safeway and Supervalu respectively. But the parts are acquired independent supermarket chains (and in Supervalu's case a wholesaler).

The declaration of independent grocers

The present and future are far more interesting than the past when it comes to independent grocers in America though.

Independent grocers are best defined not by number of stores or annual sales but rather by ownership status, meaning independents are either solely or majority owned by individuals, partnerships, employees or, as most often is the case in the U.S., by families. Chains owned by investment firms generally aren't considered independents, although there can be exceptions to that rule, such as when investors owned a minority interest.

America's most innovative grocers also tend to be independents. Southern, California-based iconic grocer Trader Joe's is an independent, for example, owned by a German trust established for the children of owner Theo Albrecht of Aldi fame.

These innovators and leaders cover the independent grocer universe in the U.S.

For example, there are the big guys, like H-E-B in Texas (about $15 billion in annual sales),Wegmans on the east coast (about $12 billion annually), Save Mart in Northern California (about $5 million) and numerous others.

There are the medium-sized independent chains in the supermarket and natural-organic foods retailing sector. Two fast-growing independents in the latter category that are pushing the one billion-dollar-a-year range, for example, are North Carolina-based Earth Fare and Colorado-based Natural Grocers.

And there are smaller multi and single-store independents of all types of format, from discount to specialty. Stew Leonard's on the east coast (four stores and estimated annual sales of nearly $500 million), Mollie Stones (nine stores) in the San Francisco Bay Area and Fairfield, Ohio's Jungle Jim's Internatonal Market (single store) are three good examples in this class. There are so many in fact, there's no way to even skim the surface f what's out there in this column.

Regardless of their respective annual sales, type of retail format or store-count, America's successful independent grocers all share a few commonalities: they remain anchored in the communities they serve, they continue to learn (continuous improvement, never stop innovating, fear not the mega-publicly-held chains and love what they do.

There are tens of thousands of independent grocery stores in the U.S. The IGA banner alone has nearly 2,000 independent members, for example. And over 1,200 independent grocery retailers are members of the National Grocer's Association (NGA), the trade group representing America's independents of all shapes, sizes and formats.

Along with independent hypermarkets, super stores, supermarkets and smaller-format neighborhood grocery stores, mom and pop grocers continue to flourish in places like New York City and San Francisco, as do independently-owned ethnic grocery stores large and small stores in cities like the two mentioned above, along with Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and others, along with in small town America..

The big, publicly-owned mass merchandisers and supermarket chains have made it difficult for America's independent grocers. But despite what appears to be an overwhelming force - just like declaring independence from Britain appeared to many, but not the drafters, at the time to be overwhelming - the independent grocer sector continues to thrive in the U.S.

Long may they run

And like the drafters of the declaration did when they sought independence from the King and his forces and sources of power, successful independent grocers like those mentioned earlier, along with too many others to name, succeed not by taking on the big public chains head on, but rather by using flanking strategies that differentiate their stores.

Some of these strategies and move include developing and implementing superior customer service - Stew Leonard's famed customer service credo, which the grocer walks as well as talks - and coming up with merchandising innovations - independents were offering ready-to-heat and eat fresh, prepared foods long before the first chain even though about it, for example, and were the first "green" grocers, both in the fresh produce innovations and environmental sustainability definitions of the word.

The United States of America, create by the Declaration of Independence and spilled blood on the battlefield, also led to what has been America's greatest strength - opening the country to the world's immigrants.

This unique aspect of America is also directly responsible for much of what is today's independent grocer segment.

The first wave of post-World War II immigration led to European immigrants from Italy, Greece and elsewhere starting grocery stores in America. Many took that single store and built it into a big chain. For example, Modesto California-based Save Mart Supermarkets was founded as a single store in the 1950's by two Italian Americans, Mike Piccinini and Nick Tocco. Today Save Mart, which is majority owned and run by Mike Piccinini's son Bob, has 240 stores and about $5 billion in annual sales.

Others turned the single store into 50, 30, 20 units, while still others created two, three or five-store operations, while many remained with a single store and did extremely well. Size and dollars generated annually is only one measure of success in the grocery business, as it is in life in general.

Asian immigrants to the U.S. also went (and continue to do so into the grocery business (both post word War II immigration waves and post Vietnam wave) in droves, as have immigrants from the Middle East, and most recently, Latin and Central America.

For example, America's growing Latino and Hispanic population has led to a boom in independent grocery stores and chains being operated by first, second and third generation entrepreneurs of Hispanic decent, in states ranging from California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado in the west; Iowa and Illinois in the Midwest; to the ubiquitous independently-owned Bodegas in New York City and Miami.

America's independent grocers will continue to survive and even thrive as long as they continue to declare their independence from the big, publicly-held chains, instead doing what they do best, feet planted firmly in the communities they serve, always learning and continuing to innovate, be it in format, product offerings or services, or in all the above.

Happy Independence Day.