Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Shouldn’t supermarket workers LOVE food

by Sean

This weekend I paid one of my quadannual visits to a large supermarket. Although I usually shop locally in small stores, I have to drive to a larger store every now and again to pick up those things that aren’t available in a convenience store. It was probably all of the talk last week of Apple Day and our work with Co-operatives UK on cider co-ops for the workplace that got me wanting to do some preserving.

Having made some very tasty, if unusual, vanilla apple jelly recently, I thought I’d try some different flavourings this weekend.  Which brings me back to my trip to the supermarket. Having perused the aisles for inspiration I bought a number of spices that I thought worth a try.

Piling all the goods on the supermarket conveyor belt, it became obvious that I had bought rather more than just a few spices for apple jelly, but then I give in to the stack end promotions as much as the next man.

As one of the spices was scanned, the checkout operator asked me what it was. I am sure many of us will recognise the situation where you are asked what a particular product is for or worse, ‘is this a nectarine, sir,’ when it is clearly a peach, but I guess it would be hard to know all the varieties and products in a store.

When asked why I love to cook, my answer is always because I am so keen on eating. And because I like eating I like to eat quality food and try new things, rather than consuming the usually bland processed foods on offer.

Being asked what a particular spice tastes of made me wonder whether supermarkets should do more to ensure checkout operators know more about the products they sell, I mean scan.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the power of education not only to make our leisure time more pleasurable but being informed and kept in the loop at work should mean our working lives become more fulfilling too. Maybe food shops could have staff information days where they cook, taste and drink together, all in the name of getting to know the product offering better.

What a ‘super’ market it would be if everyone there really loved their food and were inspired to pass that on to their customers.

Maybe then I’d go more than three or four times a year.

Posted at 11:51am on 24^th October 2011