Find
the right person for the job
- Give
the job of Produce Buyer to someone in your
co-op who loves produce, and have a knowledgeable
back-up person.
- Rotate
the position as infrequently as possible. Buying
produce is a learned skill; experience pays
off.
- Give
your Produce Buyer the power to make some decisions
without consulting everyone. Because prices
and availability may change daily, the Produce
Buyer needs to be empowered to make decisions
at the last moment. Develop some guidelines
for the Produce Buyer to use in making those
decisions. Be supportive and have patience.
Suggestion:
Establish a small slush fund ($20-$25) for
a novelty produce purchase. This allows your produce
buyer to bring in something new for everyone to
see and taste.
Have
the right information available
New
weekly pricing comes out every Friday from Albert's
Organics. It is posted on this website by midday
and you can view or download here:
Produce
Pricelists
Use
our FoodLink
software with its produce listing to make ordering,
price adjustments and invoicing easier.
Educate
yourselves about produce
- Start
by buying 'hardware' items such as oranges,
onions, potatoes, garlic, lemons, etc. rather
than fragile items such as lettuce and strawberries.
Build your produce handling skills gradually.
- Educate
members about normal 'shrinkage' and quality
variations; remember that produce in a retail
store has already been carefully prepared by
the store's staff.
- Order
a good variety of produce and let members know
that availability may change weekly. The Produce
Buyer should feel empowered to make substitutions
at the time of ordering.
- Produce
varies greatly in size, quality, taste and price.
The Produce Buyer and the members need to establish
guidelines of what is acceptable so purchases
are satisfactory.
- Members
will need to be educated about storage and shelf
life. Remember that most produce will not keep
without refrigeration.
- Learn
about new varieties of fruits and vegetables
by visiting the supermarket and reading.
When
placing your order
- The
produce sales staff know the quality of the
produce in the warehouse and the best buys of
the week. Please ask how an item ‘looks’
if you are hesitant.
- Have
possible substitutions ready in case the product
you want is not available.
- Know
the specific product you want. Order: ‘California
Carrots, bunched, full case---how do they look?’,
not ’25 lb of some kind of carrot, what
do you suggest?’
- Ask
for current pricing at the time of ordering
if you would like it.
- Please
restrict your questions to those regarding current
prices, quality, and availability -- not general
information about produce that can be obtained
from other resources. The produce sales staff
wants to be helpful but is also very busy processing
orders.
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