Assistant Produce Manager

Assistant Produce Manager

Why choose us? Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join us for an exciting opportunity at Albertsons Companies, where innovation and customer service go hand-in-hand!

At Albertsons Companies, we are looking for someone who's not just seeking a job, but someone who wants to make an impact. In this role, you'll have the opportunity to lead, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a company that values great service and lasting customer relationships. This position offers the chance to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that's constantly evolving.

Position Summary: The Assistant Produce Manager supports the Produce Manager in overseeing daily produce department operations, maintaining product freshness and quality, providing excellent customer service, and ensuring food safety and sanitation standards are consistently followed. This position assists with leading produce associates, coordinating stocking and merchandising, managing inventory, controlling shrink, and ensuring the department remains fresh, full, clean, organized, and customer-ready.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist with overseeing daily produce department operations and workflow.
• Help coordinate stocking, replenishment, rotation, trimming, preparation, and merchandising activities.
• Monitor product freshness, quality, appearance, and availability throughout the day.
• Ensure produce tables, wet racks, refrigerated cases, displays, and promotional areas are properly stocked and maintained.
• Inspect products regularly and remove damaged, spoiled, outdated, or otherwise unsellable merchandise.
• Provide friendly, courteous, and professional customer service.
• Assist customers with locating products, product questions, selections, and special requests.
• Help coordinate associate assignments, breaks, stocking responsibilities, and department coverage.
• Monitor inventory levels and assist with ordering merchandise based on sales, promotions, seasonal demand, and anticipated customer needs.
• Receive, inspect, organize, rotate, and properly store produce merchandise.
• Maintain organized coolers, storage areas, and back-stock to support efficient replenishment.
• Follow proper product rotation, freshness, and date-control procedures.
• Help minimize shrink through proper ordering, handling, rotation, preparation, and inventory management.
• Ensure merchandise is accurately priced, signed, labeled, and displayed.
• Assist with building and maintaining promotional, seasonal, and advertised displays.
• Maintain required inventory, temperature, sanitation, and other department records.
• Ensure produce preparation areas, coolers, cases, tables, equipment, and workspaces remain clean and sanitary.
• Assist with department opening and closing procedures as assigned.
• Identify product, equipment, staffing, inventory, or operational concerns and communicate them to the Produce Manager or store leadership.
• Follow and reinforce company policies regarding food safety, sanitation, workplace safety, and loss prevention.
• Perform additional department responsibilities as assigned based on business needs.

Leadership Responsibilities:

• Provide daily direction and support to produce associates.
• Assist with training new associates on product handling, stocking, rotation, merchandising, sanitation, and customer service.
• Coach associates on productivity, product quality, freshness, presentation, cleanliness, and department standards.
• Help establish daily priorities and assign responsibilities based on workload and department needs.
• Monitor completed work to ensure stocking, rotation, trimming, merchandising, and sanitation expectations are met.
• Lead by example by demonstrating excellent customer service, teamwork, urgency, professionalism, and attention to detail.
• Help maintain a positive, respectful, and productive work environment.
• Communicate department priorities and expectations clearly to associates.
• Support the Produce Manager with department planning and daily operational decisions.
• Take an active leadership role in department operations when the Produce Manager is unavailable.

Freshness & Quality Responsibilities:

• Regularly inspect produce for freshness, quality, color, texture, and overall condition.
• Ensure damaged, spoiled, or poor-quality products are promptly removed from sale.
• Follow proper procedures for trimming, crisping, misting, rotating, and maintaining applicable products.
• Monitor wet racks, refrigerated cases, tables, and displays throughout the day.
• Maintain proper product rotation to protect freshness and reduce waste.
• Ensure products are handled carefully to prevent unnecessary bruising or damage.
• Monitor department conditions and respond quickly when product quality begins to decline.
• Maintain high standards for department freshness and presentation.

Stocking & Merchandising Responsibilities:

• Maintain full, fresh, organized, and visually appealing produce displays.
• Replenish merchandise from coolers and back-stock throughout the day.
• Ensure products are stocked in the appropriate locations and presented according to department standards.
• Build and maintain promotional and seasonal displays.
• Ensure advertised products are available, properly stocked, and correctly signed.
• Maintain accurate pricing, shelf tags, signs, and product identification.
• Rotate merchandise during stocking to maintain freshness and product quality.
• Adjust displays based on product availability, condition, sales, and customer demand.
• Help maintain an inviting department presentation that encourages customer engagement and sales.

Inventory & Shrink Control:

• Assist with maintaining appropriate inventory levels based on sales, promotions, seasonal demand, and product movement.
• Monitor low-stock, out-of-stock, overstock, and excessive back-stock conditions.
• Assist with ordering produce and department supplies.
• Inspect incoming merchandise for quality and condition.
• Ensure incoming products are properly received, stored, and rotated.
• Monitor product movement and adjust stocking and preparation priorities as necessary.
• Help reduce shrink through accurate ordering, proper handling, effective rotation, and timely removal of unsellable products.
• Assist with inventory counts and other product-control activities.
• Identify unusual inventory discrepancies or excessive product loss and communicate concerns to department leadership.
• Maintain organized coolers and storage areas to improve product rotation and inventory control.

Food Safety & Sanitation:

• Follow established food safety, sanitation, and product-handling procedures.
• Maintain proper refrigeration and temperature-control requirements for applicable products.
• Ensure preparation surfaces, sinks, utensils, equipment, wet racks, cases, and work areas are properly cleaned and sanitized.
• Follow proper procedures for washing, trimming, cutting, packaging, storing, and displaying applicable produce items.
• Maintain appropriate personal hygiene and safe food-handling practices.
• Ensure associates follow established department cleaning and sanitation procedures.
• Maintain clean floors, drains, cooler areas, storage areas, and department workspaces.
• Immediately address or communicate food safety, sanitation, temperature, or equipment concerns to appropriate leadership.

Customer Service Responsibilities:

• Create a friendly, fresh, and customer-focused environment throughout the produce department.
• Greet and acknowledge customers and offer assistance when needed.
• Help customers locate products and answer produce-related questions.
• Assist customers with product selections and special requests when possible.
• Respond professionally to customer questions and concerns.
• Ensure associates remain attentive to customers while completing stocking and merchandising responsibilities.
• Maintain clean, organized, accessible, and attractive displays that provide a positive shopping experience.

Qualifications:

• Strong customer service and leadership skills.
• Effective communication, coaching, organization, and problem-solving abilities.
• Strong attention to product freshness, quality, presentation, and sanitation.
• Ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities in a fast-paced retail environment.
• Ability to work independently while providing direction and support to others.
• Ability to learn produce ordering, inventory, receiving, rotation, preparation, and merchandising procedures.
• Ability to recognize product quality concerns and take appropriate action.
• Ability to safely operate approved department and material-handling equipment after proper training