2019 Certco, Niemetscheck WEOY

Amy Niemetscheck 2019 National Woman Executive of the Year

The Shelby Report’s National Woman Executive of the Year, Amy Niemetscheck, was named president and CEO of Madison, Wisconsin-based Certco in March 2019. She assumed Certco’s top leadership role upon the retirement of Randall “Randy” Simon from the retailer-owned wholesaler.

In addition, Niemetscheck recently became the first woman elected to the ROFDA board of directors.

When she was 15 years old, Niemetscheck unknowingly took the first step toward a food industry career when she started her first job at a McDonald’s franchise. Her exposure to the customer experience signaled the beginning stage of a growing passion to serve customers. McDonald’s gave her a small college scholarship that laid the groundwork for the future.

After earning an accounting degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Niemetscheck landed a public accounting job in 1999, working for a mid-sized regional firm in Milwaukee. At that job, she focused on auditing and learning what it takes to run a business. Certco was one of her clients.

“I knew I wanted to work with people, even though my degree was in accounting,” Niemetscheck said.

In 2007, she moved on to a job with a domestic and international hedge fund, where she was involved in financial reporting with outside auditors. Niemetscheck was trusted with increasing responsibilities due to her organizational skills and quick grasp of a wide range of business matters. At that time, she reiterated, “much of my career was relationship-driven.”

On to Certco

Niemetscheck worked at the hedge fund through the challenges of the 2008 market crash, and then in 2010 made the decision to move from Milwaukee back to Madison with her husband and young family.

Soon she received a call from an executive she had worked with on the Certco account in Milwaukee, who called to tell her about a controller position available at Certco. At the time, Niemetscheck was pregnant and close to her due date, but because the job was with Certco she was interested. After discussions with company leaders, she agreed to come on board after 12 weeks of leave following the birth of her child. She started the controller position in January 2011.

“When I came in, Certco was midway through a major system conversion. They had been on a mainframe IBM-based business system for years and were moving to a SQL-based [system]. Microsoft Navision (Dynamics NAV) is the business system now,” Niemetscheck said.

Certco CFO Steve Baus charged Niemetscheck with helping the company get over the hurdle of the conversion process.

“The first step we took was to convert inventory purchasing from the mainframe to Microsoft Navision, literally [allowing us] to close the books with a perpetual inventory every period end. In a wholesale grocery company, [having the ability to] understand your inventory and your profits every four weeks is key. That was done the first 18 months I was here,” Niemetscheck said.

Getting to know you

As a team leader in accounting, Niemetscheck wanted to understand everything about her department. She became acquainted with all the roles of each team member and gained a firm grasp on the people, their jobs and how accounting relates to the overall business.

She began building relationships daily within that department, which helped the system conversion as well as all accounting procedures and projects.

“The year after that, we flipped the sales orders into Microsoft Navision. We were now touching customers, touching IT and trying to understand literally how we get store orders here and how we get it out [through] our business conversion to a new system,” Niemetscheck said. “I was forced to learn a lot.”

During all these events, Niemetscheck felt strong support from employees and the executive team, including Simon. She also came into closer contact with vendors and began making the leap from accounting to executive management at Certco.

CFO responsibilities

At Certco, Niemetscheck had been noticed for her capabilities. At some point,

Baus—who had retirement on the close horizon—switched roles with her, taking over her controller duties while she began handling the CFO responsibilities and building relationships with the broker community.

Niemetscheck took on the new role with enthusiasm, always seeking to learn more. She delved into Certco’s purchasing and vendor relationships, promotions and ad programs.

She credits her opportunities to work with the different departments, her natural curiosity and having a team that was open to sharing as important factors for getting her where she is today.

She challenged herself and the staff to try new ideas and go the extra mile. Much of this entailed increasing cost efficiencies.

“Bringing that financial side into other parts of the business was critical,” she said. By the time Baus stopped working as the CFO and Niemetscheck was on her own in that position, she was seeing a larger vision for Certco. Looking at the big picture, she became involved with the analysis of a major capital spend decision around building a new cooler.

“We completely switched gears and said let’s focus on the cooler,” Niemetscheck said. “[We were] going through SKU analysis and looking at where our growth was, [whether] it was in the SKU count or in more overhead.”

First woman on ROFDA board

After taking the position of CEO in March 2019, Niemetscheck is proud to be the first woman to sit on the ROFDA board of directors and knows this will help open the door for others.

At the same time, she appreciates the fact that her colleagues have respected the hard work she has put in to get there, the passion she has for her work and the teamwork involved that has helped her along the way, just as the other board members have experienced.

One of the primary challenges Niemetscheck considered when assuming the top executive position was her responsibility for the welfare and retention of Certco’s employees.

“It’s a challenge in making sure those 500 people are the right 500 people and that I can retain those 500 people. The job market here in Madison is very competitive. We have a lot of cutting-edge technology businesses,” she said. “These software companies aren’t just looking for programmers; they’re looking generally for people with open minds and good ideas. That’s the type of people I want to keep here, too.”

Fresh ideas for retailers

The whole effort of the entire Certco team is to provide retailers what they need and support them as they continue to grow. Certco’s mandate is to give members new opportunities and fresh merchandising ideas to increase their sales as more competition moves into the marketplace.

“I foresee our current procurement and advertising teams going through…potential expansion because of the need for our retailers to focus more on merchandising.” Niemetscheck said.

Any future need for additional staff will be considered if it coincides with meeting retailer needs. The benefits will be weighed to ensure additional overhead would not impact retailers’ return or their cost of goods.

“There’s a reason we’re still standing. I want to always be able to say that. That means staying true to what makes those retailers succeed,” she said.

Certco offers a full-service retail accounting department and extends credit and delivery terms to retail members.

Niemetscheck said she hired a “phenomenal” director of accounting, Nanette Strennen, who has sparked new ideas from her previous experience.

“This whole idea of changing dynamics with ongoing feedback—that’s the beauty of sometimes bringing people in from outside organizations.”

Continuing legacy

After more than eight years at Certco, Niemetscheck gives credit to the people who came before her and the groundwork they laid for the company’s continuing success. After working with her predecessors, she has striven to blend their positive traits with her own and to create a bridge to supporting employees. Valuing and retaining employees are high on her list of priorities.

Continuing the legacy of her predecessors, Niemetscheck supports their initiatives, such as Certco’s wellness program. As a matter of fact, she noted, the company gym was named after Randall Simon.

Niemetscheck also is focusing on promoting employee training and continuing education.

“If somebody is striving for more [I want to see] that they’re given the opportunity to learn more,” she said.

Certco always has been a supporter of many charitable organizations. This year, a new program started in May that is “near and dear to my heart,” Niemetscheck said. In this initiative, the company will compensate non-union employees who complete eight hours of volunteer work per year for one of four organizations: Habitat for Humanity (see photos from a recent volunteer day on page 48); Dane County Humane Society; Verona Area School District; and Gilda’s Club, a cancer treatment support center.

Please see page 48

Amy Niemetscheck and Randall Simon.

Amy Niemetscheck

2019 National Woman Executive of the Year

Niemetscheck Makes Volunteering a Priority for Certco

Certco President and CEO Amy Niemetscheck, who took the company’s helm in March, decided that one of her first initiatives would be to start a paid time-off volunteer program.

In July, a group of employees worked on a home for a deserving family as Certco partnered with Habitat for Humanity.

Certco employees learned new skills, made cross-department connections and formed new friendships.

From page 47

Ongoing conversation

Another important internal issue for Niemetscheck is targeting the personnel review process to specific job roles, rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach. The goal is to meet company and employee needs, to motivate people and enhance job contentment. The CEO believes that a happy team translates to happy retail members.

“I’m hoping…to develop a new way of looking at reviews and [making it] an ongoing conversation—an ongoing setting of goals [to determine] what people are doing to achieve their goals, what they need from me to support them and have that feedback go up to a manager. It isn’t always one way, and managers sometimes need help in [tweaking] their soft skills,” Niemetscheck said.

In other corporate matters, she relies on VP Dave Ryman.

“He’s been critical. We talk the same talk about keeping our stores competitive. He’s

doing absolutely everything I was hoping he would do in his new role,” Niemetscheck said. “He was vice president of sales and marketing, so not a lot has changed other than the retail counselors have their own management group. He’s truly with advertising and merchandising, our buyers and our stores—the constant triangle of communication that’s so necessary for making sure we’re doing the right things for them.”

At home and work

At this point in her life, there is very little downtime for Niemetscheck. She and her husband have quite a busy schedule.

“Outside of work, my hobbies revolve around my family. I have three young kids—a daughter, 10, and two boys, 8 and 6—so when I’m not here I talk about basketball, soccer and baseball; that’s my life. Weekends for us are spent at different fields and different gyms, and I love it.”

In her work life, Niemetscheck appreciates the wisdom and strength her mentors imparted to her.

“Randy [Simon] always said the right words to push me in the right direction, but he always let me get to the decision myself. Not many people can do that. He challenged me and asked the right questions. I think he knew the answers I was going to give but he would make sure I came up with them. That’s how you teach somebody to follow in good leadership footsteps.”

In the end, what’s important to Niemetscheck is being herself and maintaining her values.

“My leadership style will evolve and change, which is great, but as long as I’m true to me I think it means more to myself and to every person inside and outside these four walls,” she said.

She acknowledged that it really is a small world.

“Always be who you are, because the next person around the corner is going to know you, more than likely, and hopefully they’re going to know you for all the right reasons.”

Justin and Amy Niemetscheck

Kayla Riedel, procurements; Chad Martin, warehouse supervisor; Craig Neuens, controller; Dave Ryman, VP; Mei-Lien Converse, designer; Ian Forkash, IT manager; Jose Sanchez; maintenance; and Amy Niemetscheck, president and CEO.

MIDWEST WHOLESALER OF THE YEAR

Certco Delivers for the Real Independent Grocers

Just one year away from its 90th anniversary, Certco has proven itself over time to be one of the most resilient and progressive grocery wholesalers in the nation.

Certco’s ubiquitous mantra, “Be Local. Be Independent,” succinctly sums up a philosophy that encourages local partnerships and a fierce loyalty to independent thinking in support of its members.

Led now by Amy Niemetscheck, who took the helm as president and CEO in March of this year, all of Certco’s efforts center on providing retailers what they need and supporting them as they continue to grow. The company’s mandate is to give members new opportunities and fresh merchandising ideas to increase their sales.

Certco stays true to what makes retailers succeed. But don’t take our word for it. Read what independent grocers Woodman’s Markets, Gooseberries Fresh Food Market, Point Foods, Sendik’s Food Market, Pritzl’s Trading Post and Miller & Sons have to say about Certco in the pages that follow.

Also, get to know some of the people who keep Certco on its steady course to serve the real independent grocers.

The Shelby Report takes great pride in celebrating Certco as our 2019 Midwest Wholesaler of the Year.

Q&A with Certco VP Dave Ryman: ‘We Are Accessible’

The Shelby Report: Let’s begin with your career path. Tell us about where and when you started, the roles you’ve held during your career and how you arrived in the role you are today.

Ryman: I started in high school as a utility clerk and worked through most every department and eventually to a store manager, all with independent operators. I was hired at Certco as director of sales in 2001, promoted to VP-sales and marketing in 2013, and most recently, VP by Amy Niemetscheck, when she took the role of president.

How did previous roles prepare you for your duties and responsibilities today?

I rely a lot on my retail background to relate to what retailers are looking for, assist them with whatever issue they are facing and provide information and contacts when they are looking to expand and innovate. In my new role, I am involved in a little bit of everything but primarily concentrate on sales, marketing, merchandising and customer service.

In your particular area/category of expertise, what does your company offer that is particularly strong or unique?

Service. While others are reducing retail support staff, we have been able to grow our retail support team. We are in our member stores on a frequent basis.

Tell me about the products, people, programs, etc., that have been vital to Certco’s success.

With our diverse member base, we are able to offer an extremely large variety of items, including specialty foods, all here in one central location. As I mentioned earlier—outstanding customer service, starting with the driver that makes the delivery to the store and helps unload the truck.

Please share a real-life success story about a member retailer who has seen great customer response or great sales from a program your company offers that he or she implemented.

While not a specific member, many of our members have benefited and grown from our private label milk and bread program. By aggregating the volume centrally, they are able to buy milk and bread at the right cost and be very competitive with all of the different formats they compete with.

What is the most satisfying part of your job?

Being a part of our independent retail member’s growth and success. It is amazing to see how their hard work and innovation keep them moving forward.

What are you most proud of about your company?

The culture and accessibility to our members. The culture here is similar to family; we work hard together, have fun together. It is a true team mentality. That culture spills over directly to our interaction with many member retailers. We are accessible to our members; no one is screening calls for anyone. Call and talk directly to anyone on staff from the president and CEO on down. The same applies inside Certco.

Dave Ryman, Certco VP

Certco Breaks Ground on New Fleet Maintenance Facility

Certco CEO Amy Niemetscheck, Fitchburg Mayor Aaron Richardson and other local dignitaries were on hand Aug. 15 for the groundbreaking of Certco’s new Fleet Maintenance Facility.

The new building will be 21,000 s.f. and feature seven semi-tractor bays, three trailer bays, and one car repair area. It will feature state-of-the-art equipment in a climate-controlled environment.

Stevens Construction Corp. will be managing the construction, which is scheduled to be completed in February 2020.

Dave Ryman and Amy Niemetscheck, Certco.

Photos: Dan Stout, Certco

Randall Simon, left, former president and CEO of Certco, with Fitchburg Economic Development Director Michael Zimmerman at the groundbreaking ceremony.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Aug. 15.

MIDWEST WHOLESALER OF THE YEAR

Woodman’s Markets and Certco Have Grown Together

Woodman’s Markets is an employee-owned regional supermarket chain based in Janesville, Wisconsin, that serves a territory stretching from Green Bay to the Chicago suburbs.

Starting in 1919 as a produce stand, Woodman’s will grow to 18 stores with the September opening of its new 244,000-s.f. location in Lakemoor, Illinois.

Woodman’s always has been a pacesetter, having brought forward new technologies and developed superstores at a time when it was almost unheard of in Wisconsin. The company was an early adopter of the warehouse and bulk purchasing model. The Kenosha store in Wisconsin was the largest supermarket in the U.S. when it opened in 1997.

The company differentiates its superstores from big-box stores and national supermarket chains with a tremendous variety of groceries and lower prices. Woodman’s, open 24/7, also features huge and well-stocked liquor stores, discount gas stations, oil change centers and car washes. The stores offer online shopping and delivery. Woodman’s is billed as a convenient, one-stop grocery-shopping destination.

Ahead of its time

Woodman’s often has been ahead of its time and sought out innovations that would improve business, further growth and meet customer demand. For instance, in 1975 Woodman’s was the first store in Wisconsin to deploy scanners to read the Universal Product Code (UPC).

“We decided it was more efficient to be able to scan an item and know the price rather than having to label every item. My grandfather and my father were always innovative. We have always wanted to be the first to do certain things when it makes the most sense,” said Clint Woodman, president.

In 1978, Woodman’s implemented an Employee Stock Ownership Trust for employees. In 1998, the company became 100 percent employee-owned.

Marching forward

Woodman’s has come a long way from the original produce stand farmer John D. Woodman established in 1919 in Janesville. Before long, Woodman’s Grocery was formed and in 1921, Woodman and his son, Willard, opened a 580-s.f. grocery store named Woodman’s Super-Service Grocery Store, which was remodeled three times to keep up with the booming business.

Willard became sole proprietor and in 1956 built a new 11,000-s.f. store nearby. In 1966, his son Phil Woodman graduated from the University of Wisconsin and went into management at Woodman’s. In 1971, Woodman’s expanded to Beloit, Wisconsin, and in 1973, Woodman’s moved its Janesville store to a larger building.

More construction

The company went big in 1979 when Phil Woodman expanded the business to Madison and opened the first Woodman’s superstore. It measured 90,000 s.f.

Five years later, Woodman’s came on even stronger with a 210,000-s.f. superstore on the west side of Madison. The two-level facility incorporates a warehouse on the first level.

The opening of that store in 1984 put Woodman’s over the $100 million-a-year mark. Today’s annual revenue is estimated to be about $2 billion.

In 2001, Woodman’s opened its first store outside Wisconsin in Rockford, Illinois. Due to that store’s success, the company broke ground for two more stores in Illinois, in 2004 and 2006.

In 2008, Woodman’s began expanding into the Milwaukee area, followed by openings in a number of cities through 2015. In 2018, Woodman’s opened its first store outside of Wisconsin in more than a decade in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.

In 2009, Woodman’s built a new corporate office building in Janesville.

Through the ranks

Clint Woodman and the rest of the family have had the rare experience of seeing the tangible results—in its 18 stores—of four generations of dedication that has gone into making Woodman’s what it is today.

As a youth, Woodman worked at a store near his home and occasionally at other stores when they needed help.

“I started when I was around 10. I would go to the stores with my dad to work in the summers and after school,” Woodman said. “I started in the produce department, then worked in the meat department and eventually, every department of the store. I worked throughout high school. I learned every department, checked out customers, bagged groceries. I pretty much did everything.

“I went off to college at the University of Colorado, graduated with a finance degree and then came back to work with the company. I’ve helped on special projects and worked my way up in the company. I was vice president in the mid-2000s and became president a couple of years ago.”

Woodman’s father, Phil, chairman of the company, is still “100 percent involved” in the business when he is not traveling. It’s just in his blood, Woodman said.

Go-getters

The company always has been led by go-getters in the Woodman family.

“We started as a small operator in Janesville by my great-grandfather and grandfather. My great-grandfather was only in it for a year or so, and then my grandfather, Willard, took it over. Eventually, when my father, Phil, graduated from college, he took it to the superstore level in Janesville and expanded to Beloit and then built a superstore in Madison in 1984.

Like other independent grocers, Woodman’s has paved the way for its success, doing it in its own way.

“[My father] had this vision for buying a lot of product direct so we could sell products for the lowest prices,” Woodman stated. “We’re a superstore that carries every variety and every flavor product that people want to buy at the lowest prices.”

Woodman’s became an employee-owned company in the mid-1970s, around the time the company opened its first store in Madison. Becoming employee-owned has worked very well for Woodman’s.

“We became partially employee-owned. A full-time employee who works 1,000 hours becomes a part-owner of the company after three years,” Woodman said. “Our employees are the foundation of our success.”

Paced growth

The greatest challenge for retailers is finding and retaining the right people.

“In this day and age, keeping people is the hardest part of being in business,” Woodman said.

Being employee-owned “does have an effect on your longerterm employees but it’s still a challenge filling entry-level positions.”

Woodman’s growth strategy always has been deliberately paced, as it is strongly related to the focus on employee advancement.

“We build a store about every year-and-a-half to two years, when we have enough managers because we don’t hire from outside the company. We only promote from within, when we have enough managers to open a full store. At the same time, we’re constantly working on sites that fit what we’re looking for,” Woodman said.

Phil Woodman in an undated photo.

Gooseberries’ Spiegelhoff Appreciates Certco’s Invaluable Support

Gooseberries Fresh Food Market in Burlington, Wisconsin, is a whole new food experience rooted in the old-fashioned notion of serving the customer with a personal touch and flair. It’s a place that harks back to the neighborhood store, with a baker and butcher who greet customers by name and staff who welcome special requests on any item.

The full-service market greets shoppers with a produce display outside the door, and inside an open-air layout, a flower shop, cafe and wide selection of locally-grown, organic fruits and vegetables.

Besides the standard grocery products, there are gourmet meats and cheeses, fresh seafood, a salad bar, fresh-pressed orange juice and spirits— with tables and seating for sit-down meals from the deli and sandwich shop. The bakery provides a selection of elegant cakes and pastries.

There always is something new happening at Gooseberries, whether unique weekly specials or hard-to-find products on the shelves. Gooseberries is owned by the Spiegelhoff family. They have been in the grocery business in Burlington for more than 100 years. In 2006, the family developed a market niche that is a reflection of its personal and business history. It takes a special talent to orchestrate the ongoing celebration that is Gooseberries.

Born for the business

“I’ve been in the grocery business almost all my life, since about second grade. My family has been in business in Burlington since 1914,” said owner David Spiegelhoff. “I used to get up and do bread in the morning before I went to my grade school two blocks away. Afterward, I’d go down, sort bottles and help the milkman and the soda guys.”

lot of organic produce. We do cooking classes and we focus on a lot of gluten-free,” Spiegelhoff said. Going heavily into gluten-free has proven to be a wise move.

“Both my wife and my daughter have celiac disease, and we knew that this was a wave that was coming for people who are going to get diagnosed. Hospitals send families that are diagnosed with celiac to us to do a consultation with my wife,” he said. “She walks the store, giving them the good, the bad and the ugly of all the gluten-free foods out there that have come such a long way. She’s our floral manager right now, but her background is in nursing.

“Because of our gluten-free background, we convert almost everything to glutenfree when we can,” Spiegelhoff said. “My daughter, Abby, does demos on the weekend and converts all the recipes into gluten-free recipes. We can do gluten-free weddings, [although] we tell them we are not a licensed gluten-free kitchen. Abby tweaked all the gluten-free cake mixes, so we’re able to now do gluten-free cupcakes and wedding cakes, and we do a lot of that as well.”

Never-ending flow of ideas

The restaurant portion of the store has seating for up to 42 people.

“We’re working our way into servers but right now, we have a hot food case. We always do a burger with different toppings, not just lettuce and tomato. We have specialty sausages,” he said. “We smoke all of our pork. We’ve got smokers out back and we have a meat cutter that’s been with us 48 years.”

By the time Gooseberries’ chef retired after 22 years, the remaining crew had acquired so much expertise they formed a team of amateur chefs on their own. “The ideas they come up with are unbelievable,” Spiegelhoff said.

New concepts for special meals, drinks and themed promotions seem never-ending at Gooseberries.

“We’re going to do a supper club night at Gooseberries, based on the Old Wisconsin supper clubs. There could be prime rib, salads, breadsticks and Merkts cheese on the table,” he said.

There are special evenings planned featuring Brandy Old Fashioneds, Brandy Alexanders and Grasshoppers. Every Friday night from 4-7 p.m. is a drive-up, allyou-can-eat fish-fry, including beer. There’s a special Saint Patrick’s Day event and all kinds of other celebrations of food and drink filling the calendar at Gooseberries.

Advertising and promotion

Because of its unique approach and a roster of ever-changing seasonal and weekly events, Gooseberries does its in-house advertising through the company website, social media and 12 newspaper ads a year. Even without promotions, people in the area know Gooseberries is always cooking up something in the kitchen.

“Word-of-mouth in Burlington spreads pretty quickly,” Spiegelhoff said.

Gooseberries is big on themed promotions and has a new one every week of the year.

“Every week we put in a bag stuffer [promo] two to three weeks out. We’re not afraid of competitors,” he said. “We’ve got a meat sale coming up in three weeks.”

Online shopping is available for home delivery or in-store pickup. Customers can go on the website and click on the picture of one of several grocery staff members to pick out and deliver their groceries. One of the choices is the past mayor of Burlington.

“He’s a retired K9 police officer and he’s one of our delivery people,” Spiegelhoff said.

Throughout school, Spiegelhoff continued gaining experience in the grocery business. When he was a high school senior, he planned to leave for college to become an accountant, but fate seemed to step in to push him back to the grocery business.

“I was a basketball player and I collapsed on the basketball court. I missed all my tests and wound up staying back home,” he said. “My dad had just moved to a bigger store and [when] I graduated in 1977, I [stayed] to help him.”

The rest is history. In 1986, the Spiegelhoffs opened their first Pick ‘n Save, which expanded to five stores in Wisconsin, and they had a Supervalu store in Kenosha until 2006. “Then Roundy’s bought out all the independents, but we had started this brand called Gooseberries Fresh Food Market in Burlington,” Spiegelhoff said.

Seeds planted

The seeds for Gooseberries were planted after Spiegelhoff paid visits to Italian markets and out-of-state specialty stores. To survive in the competitive market, Spiegelhoff and his brother—they were in business together at the time—decided to carve a special niche for a new store concept.

“The way the industry is changing, either you become very good and unique at what you do, or the big guys or online [providers] are going to gobble you up,” he said.

They launched Gooseberries in 2006 and tweaked it several times.

“We quickly changed the concept of what we started with Gooseberries, which turned out to be a big mistake, but we weathered the storm,” Spiegelhoff said. “Had we stuck to our guns, we probably would be a lot further along than we are today. We’ve gone full circle and we’re right back to the concept we wanted for Gooseberries in 2006.”

It would be hard to duplicate Gooseberries without having the varied background in food Spiegelhoff can claim. It’s very hands-on and not a cookie-cutter kind of place. Spiegelhoff, his wife and son share responsibilities for running the business.

Food experience

The Gooseberries brand is more about delivering a food experience than a shopping experience.

“It’s a high-end, full-service meat department. Everything’s made from scratch in the deli and in the bakery. We’re high-end catering, high-end wine selection, with a

Increasing specialty items

The store is 30,000-s.f. filled with selected items targeted to local customers. Spiegelhoff’s strategy is to focus increasingly on the products people want or may not be able to find elsewhere. He is moving in the direction of stocking the store with 60 percent to 70 percent of specialty types of items in each category rather than offering mass consumer products.

“We’re continually shrinking our grocery department because people are always going to want ketchup at their convenience, [but] ketchup is ketchup, Charmin is Charmin and Cheerios are Cheerios,” he said. “You can order them today and have them at your door tomorrow. We’re not trying to compete with that. We’re focusing more on the specialty items.”

Gooseberries offers competitive prices but is not a low-cost brand. Much of the store’s return on investment is in areas such as catering, wedding cakes, deli and fresh products.

“We struggled in finding that fine line before we remodeled because we were trying to be too much to too many people. You can’t do it. It’s crazy what people migrate to in this food store,” Spiegelhoff said. “In grocery wisdom, it makes absolutely no sense to me, but that’s what they want. We can sell pallets and pallets of this Bai drink. It’s a healthier drink at a good price. They don’t come to this store looking to load up [on soda]. It took us a while to learn that curve. I can sell tons of Arizona Tea, LaCroix Water.”

Ideal job for the right person

Hiring employees is the biggest challenge, especially for Gooseberries, which relies on its employees to know the products and serve customers in the family atmosphere. But it’s the ideal job for the right person.

“We changed the rules a little bit. It’s helped some. It’s not a silver bullet, but if you come to work for us and you say you love to cook, you love food and you want to share your passion, I would hire you in a heartbeat,” Spiegelhoff said. “If you have a recipe [or] an idea to make something better, or if you have a special spin on your own potato salad, you [can] share it. If it’s awesome and everybody loves it, we will have a potato salad [with your name on it] that hits our deli.”

Please see page 67

David Spiegelhoff

Tom, Ralph and Paul Spiegelhoff. The family behind Gooseberries has been in business in Burlington, Wisconsin, since 1914.

Point Foods Owner Basting Says Certco ‘Was Best Move I Ever Made’

Point Foods in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, has been in the Basting family since 1987. Over the years, owner Jeff Basting has expanded and moved the store from downtown on Main Street to its current location on Dodge Street in the small community of 2,500. In 1985, after working from the age of 14 through the ranks of a small local grocery store, Basting bought the store in his hometown of Mineral Point.

Two years later, Point Foods was established when Basting decided to purchase another store, expand that facility and move his operation to the nearby highway location. Point Foods has remained at this location ever since.

Points Foods—known as the local and convenient brand—offers a full line of products in produce, dairy, frozen, grocery, deli and bakery. The store also provides a popular catering service.

“Basically, we’re a small, 15,000 s.f., everyday mom and pop store,” Basting said.

Customer service niche

The store has a strong local presence and customer loyalty. For so long there was very little competition but in recent years competitors have begun closing in.

“We’re the only grocery store in our small community, but seven miles away we have a Walmart Supercenter. Another 18 miles away, we’ve got a second supercenter,” Basting said.

Basting feels his biggest challenge today is

competition, specifically from Walmart, which has changed direction and strategies in the past 10 years. But Point Foods has grabbed the service niche.

“They weren’t as big of a competitor as they are now, because they learned fast. And they stole a lot of people from the grocery industry to bring themselves into the 21st century,” he said. “They do a great job, unfortunately.”

The new competitors bring in new challenges, but Point Foods already has carved its own niche and cornered the market on service.

Basting and the staff do everything they can for their customers. They sometimes sit and chat with customers when they deliver their groceries.

“We still carry the groceries out to their cars,” he said. “We do a delivery service on Tuesday for shut-ins and frankly for anybody that wants it. We even put the groceries away for a couple of customers.”

‘Best move I ever made’

To maintain Point Foods’ strength in the market, Basting ensures customers’ needs are met and product quality is consistent.

“We offer a lot more local. We carry local meat and we buy all local produce when we can. Unfortunately, that’s something Walmarts are starting to get into somewhat, but they never used to,” Basting said. “Luckily for us, Certco has a large specialty food department, so we carry just about anything anybody could want. We put the message out there that if we don’t have something you want, just let us know and we’ll get it for you.”

After going through a series of wholesale providers for a variety of reasons, Basting chose Certco as the food distributor for Point Foods almost nine years ago.

He has never looked back.

“Certco was the best move I ever made,” he said. “I wish I had done it sooner because I always tell the Certco people that they are like the old Gateway Foods from La Crosse 35 years ago.”

The full benefits of membership are far-reaching. Certco is a great fit for Point Foods because both companies live and breathe customer service.

“They still have so many people they can send out

to help us with resets and other things when we need it. Nobody else does that,” Basting said. “I have been approached from other warehouses, and I’m always polite, but [I tell them], ‘Sorry, I’m with the best wholesaler out there; they still know what customer service is.’”

Always there

Basting feels he made a mistake when he had the chance and failed to sign up with Certco 18 years ago. At the time he believed they wouldn’t carry the variety he wanted. However, he found he could get 2,000 SKUs from another company compared to the 20,000 SKUs Certco provides for his store.

Certco is dependable, reliable and service-oriented. Basting sees his retail counselor monthly, but the counselor also is available any time he needs help with anything. Other distributors told him that they don’t send people out to do resets—“or you won’t see your retail counselor [more than] once or twice a year,” he said. “If I don’t have enough people to do something myself, I call Certco and they always send somebody out.”

Certco’s support system is flexible and personalized, giving Basting access to a variety of resources and industry experts when he needs them.

“It’s in every category. They have somebody in every department, so if I have an issue in bakery, meat, dairy, I know who to call. If they don’t have the answer, they get it; I usually have it within an hour. They treat us all the same, whether we’re small, medium or large. That’s what I really respect.”

Mind-boggling

More surprises were in store for Basting after he originally signed up with Certco.

“It boggled my mind. When I came over to Certco and got my first statement, I called and said, ‘Where’s my expense page?’ And they said it was on the last page. I said there were only three lines, and they told me that’s all there is; it’s costplus. Before, I had a whole page of single-line [items]. There must have been 40 different [charges]. I said, ‘Really, these are all the charges I’m going to have?’”

It was almost too simple. And the system is fair to all, Basting said.

“This is the way I started in business 35 years ago with Gateway Foods. It was a costplus program. Everybody gets the same cost on their products. As a smaller guy, I pay a slightly higher percent than [the large retailers] because they have much bigger stores. I have no problem with that… that’s the way it should be. For

The Wisconsin Grocers Association (WGA) honored Jeff Basting for community service in 2015.

MIDWEST WHOLESALER OF THE YEAR

Certco Played a Big Role in Sendik’s Growth

Sendik’s Food Market is an upscale supermarket chain in the Greater Milwaukee area known as a trusted, local grocer that offers a unique variety of products and services to customers. The company’s promise is to provide customers with the best grocery shopping experience. Sendik’s has been named to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Top Workplaces every year since 2012.

Sendik’s was founded in 1926 by the Balistreri family, Sicilian immigrants who began their success story by selling produce from a horse-drawn wagon. The business always had a reputation for quality and was in great demand from its earliest history. Since 2004, Sendik’s has pursued a growth strategy, expanding from one to 17 stores in the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

At the same time, in 2015 Sendik’s introduced its first small store format under the Fresh2Go banner, which has four locations. The Fresh2GO stores offer homemade meals, grab-and-go snacks and gas for busy people looking for Sendik’s fresh, quality products with an added dash of convenience.

Third-generation owners

Co-owner of Sendik’s, Ted Balistreri, is a third-generation family member of the business started by his grandfather and his grandfather’s brothers in the 1920s. Balistreri graduated from the University of Wisconsin and earned his law degree from Marquette University Law School.

In 1975, Sendik’s expanded its product offering to include groceries, meat, deli, dairy, bakery and wine and spirits. In 2001, the third generation of family owners began building on the 75-year history Sendik’s had established in the community.

The business was handed down over the generations and now is in the hands of siblings Ted, Patrick, Nick and Margaret Balistreri, who own and operate Sendik’s. They have chosen to expand the company while maintaining Sendik’s brand of high quality and service.

“I’ve got two brothers and a sister who are all actively involved in the business,” Balistreri said.

Certco is a great partner

In the early 2000s, Sendik’s switched from another wholesale provider to Certco.

“They’ve been wonderful to deal with. Their in-stock position is excellent. Their deliveries are on time. They’re accommodating to our special needs and requests. They’ve been a really good partner,” Balistreri said.

Sendik’s is generally known as a community store and its fresh departments are popular with shoppers.

“In a market of consolidation, we tend to stand out for being that family-run, personalized organization that caters to customers and their needs,” Balistreri said. “We tend to excel in the perishable areas, particularly produce, floral, meat, seafood, deli and bakery. Certco helps us keep our cost of goods in line so that we can be competitive in the marketplace—particularly in center store where, as a company, we don’t always focus as much on, but we’ve got a great partner that helps us with

that in Certco.

“We’ve had a lot of growth and Certco has been a big part of that growth from the get-go. We’re very independent as grocers; we have a very independent streak in our family. We like to do things the way we like to do them. Certco is a perfect match for us because they help us source product, and they are very efficient and economical. They’ve been a great partner for us,” Balistreri added.

Forward-thinking

Sendik’s brand and business strategy are fully supported in its alliance with Certco. Periods of growth can be challenging, but in this case, Sendik’s has been moving forward smoothly.

“We’ve been growing over the last 15 years. I love the business, love being part of the community,” Balistreri said.

The wholesaler ensures that the retailer has far fewer worries when opening new facilities. Sendik’s has come to expect that new stores can count on on-time deliveries and the many details Certco covers as a matter of course.

Certco has been growing along with its members.

“They’ve been forward-thinking,” noted Balistreri. “They’ve been anticipating the growth. They’ve got the warehouse systems to be able to handle it and they’ve kept up without missing a beat.”

Certco puts its members first, just as Sendik’s puts its customers first.

“Given the breadth of product line that Certco has, their in-stock condition and their delivery, their operational success is excellent. They’re great,” Balistreri stated. “They’ve been supportive in making sure that we’re competitive in the marketplace and as a co-op, they deliver great value to the customers.”

Seamless transition

The Shelby Report’s National Woman Executive of the Year Amy Niemetscheck, Certco president and CEO, is “well-deserving,” Balistreri said. “A testimony to their thoughtfulness is the transition in leadership from Randy Simon to Amy Niemetscheck. It was very seamless. That’s a credit to them and the way they go about planning these things. Their succession planning has been very good; they haven’t missed a beat.”

The Certco team understands where members are coming from, both individually and from a wider view as an industry association. The members are all unique, but they also have common goals, issues and interests. The power in numbers they hold is a formidable force.

“A key point is that the membership is very diverse and yet our commonality is that we all like to operate independently. It works with Certco, so we can have a lowprice operator and an upscale operator as we are, and both benefit from the relationship,” Balistreri said.

Fantastic culture

Employment issues are at the forefront of the industry’s challenges.

“Just like anybody, we are continuing to develop our team. Attracting and retaining high quality people is always a concern. That’s probably the biggest challenge,” Balistreri said. “We’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve got a great team. Attracting and retaining people is [the challenge], but that’s something we’re intentional about and keep working at.

The company’s greatest success is its likability within the community. Some of that success is due to a feeling the store conjures up for anyone walking through the door.

“I think our culture is fantastic. Both our employees and our customers are big fans. The family culture is really an asset to us and a key differential in our market,” Balistreri. “We live in the community; customers know us. They know our employees because our employees live in the community. We’re providing good jobs and creating fun careers for people.

“All of that makes for a really good recipe for us. Our culture is probably something I’m most

Please see page 67

Nick Balistreri, Margaret Harris, Ted Balistreri and Patrick Balistreri.

Pritzl’s Owner: Certco ‘Is Like a Big Family at Your Side’

Pritzl’s Trading Post has something for everyone—travelers and residents alike.

The warm and inviting store is a magnet for people who stop by regularly or travelers who make it a point to stock up on goods every time they’re vacationing in the area. Pritzl’s is a big part of the community, a central hub in all seasons and is known as a one-stop shop for customers.

The store format hasn’t changed a lot over time, but Pritizl’s has expanded considerably since it first was opened by the Pritzl family in 1976. Shoppers can find a myriad of items at the trading post: full grocery, fresh deli and bakery, butcher and fresh-cut meat, unique gifts, local artwork, hardware and sporting goods. There’s even a service counter with a post office as well as ATV, snowmobile and boat registrations.

Pritzl’s Trading Post is a combination of easy shopping and convenience, featuring money-saving daily specials. Part of Pritizl’s appeal is its top-of-the-line customer service. Also appealing is the smell of freshly baked bread, rolls, cinnamon buns, cookies, pies, muffins, turnovers, kringles and cakes wafting through the store.

Pritzl’s is set in the vacation-friendly town of Rome, Wisconsin, a business and recreational area located an hour and a half from Madison and 45 minutes from the scenic Wisconsin Dells area. Rome is a popular recreation spot in the summer and Prtizl’s always has served as the go-to place for locals and out-of-towners.

“The town changes from about 3,500 in the winter to 35,000 to 40,000 in the summer,” owner Lori Pritzl-O’Keefe said.

“We’re in an area that has three man-made lakes. Our busiest time is in the summer. That’s when we get people coming from Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago. These are people that own property here. They may have a cottage or lake home and they come up here for the weekend,” she said. “Customers bring their weekend visitors into the store to give them the tour and point out everything in the store.”

Pritzl’s Trading Post, like the area, is a fun, interesting place to work and visit, Pritzl-O’Keefe said.

In 1976, Pritzl-O’Keefe’s parents sold their previous business and purchased a tiny corner store where Pritizl’s Trading Post now stands. They expanded that store three times. Pritzl-O’Keefe took over the business with her brother, John, whom she bought out to become the sole proprietor.

After Pritzl-O’Keefe took the reins, she made her vision a reality by building the store as it is today. In 2006, Pritzl-O’Keefe immersed herself in the project to rebuild the store. She retained its variety of merchandise, but redesigned Pritzl’s and greatly expanded the floor space.

“We went with what our customers were looking for. We wanted a little bit of everything because we’re in between two cities, Wisconsin Rapids and Adam’s Friendship.

We have a little bit of everything so they can get everything they need here,” she said.

The first thought that comes to Pritzl-O’Keefe’s mind when considering the hurdles of running a grocery business is finding and retaining employees. It’s the ongoing challenge of retailers today.

“The younger generation likes to job-hop a lot. We also employ a lot of older people or seniors,” she said.

Pritzl’s employees maintain the store’s reputation for excellence in customer service. It’s more than a trading post; it’s information central.

“We encourage them all to meet and greet customers, to go out of their way to do that. They always show the customers where to go to find things,” she said. “They’re knowledgeable of the products and the local area [because customers] call here for everything. They want to know all kinds of things: ‘Where are the fireworks tonight? When is the dump open?’”

Pritzl-O’Keefe feels the store’s greatest success lies with its people.

“We do our best every day, just being who we are and what our team is made of. It’s all about who we have working for us,” she said. “They are a huge part of who we are.”

Pritzl has full grocery with a wide selection.

“We have produce, frozen, dairy. We have a full deli, full bakery and a meat department. We get all of that through Certco. With other vendors, we also delve into sporting goods, hardware, marine, live baits and tackle. We do a lot of gifts and seasonal things, some of which we get from Certco,” Pritzl-O’Keefe said. “We also have a big service counter where we issue hunting and fishing licenses.”

Certco has served Pritzl’s since 2003. The ability to deliver the variety of products Pritzl’s needs is one thing, but having the chance to work with and support other retailers takes the partnership to a whole new level.

“I love Certco,” Pritzl -O’Keefe said. “I’ve been on the board of directors for the last two years. You learn a lot from the other store owners, that’s for sure.”

Certco lent its time and expertise when Pritzl-O’Keefe accomplished the total store rebuild in 2006.

“Certco was a huge part of that because they had a team of people that came down here and helped with the building of the store, from the time it was just a dream to when we were starting to stock the shelves,” she said. “They were here.”

Certco’s contribution was invaluable.

“They helped with the planning of the building. They helped with the equipment, the shelving arrangements, how to set things up and which products to have here,” said Pritzl-O’Keefe.

Certco respects the retailer’s independence, while always providing high levels of service.

Whatever the need, members can contact Certco, and Pritzl’s has used numerous Certco services over the years. For example, Certco designed and supports Pritzl’s website and Facebook page.

“They do it all, and they do a very good job,” Pritzl-O’Keefe said.

Pritzl’s participates in Certco’s accounting services.

“They help us with preparing our financials and help with a lot of the bookkeeping aspects. It’s been a big help for me to get that off my plate,” she said.

In the area of advertising, Certco provides the store’s weekly ads to help drive sales.

“They’ve got great opportunities for pricing and ways to get people in our door. We went through a time when we were working on getting a new meat cutter here and we had to tweak our ad, because meat is a huge part of the ad,” she said. “They’re very willing to tweak our ad, so until we get this person trained, we can take things out of the ad that we can’t possibly do right now. They’re very willing to help you no matter what situation you’re in.”

Certco membership provides a level of comfort to Pritzl-O’Keefe.

“They know the situation I’m in, and they’re always calling me and asking me if they can

Lori Pritzl-O’Keefe

Miller & Sons: Certco Lets Us Be Independent

For more than 100 years, Miller & Sons has been a fixture in Verona, Wisconsin. It has been continually expanded and enhanced to keep pace with local needs. In 2009, a second store opened in Mount Horeb offering the same quality and service.

Miller & Sons Owner and President Carl Miller is the fourth generation of his family to operate the company. His daughter, Andrea, and nephew, Bill, represent the fifth generation of the Miller family involved in the business.

Miller has been at the helm of the corporation for the past 15 years and always has been a very hands-on owner. Miller’s two brothers were involved with the company before one retired and one died. His father worked daily at the store up until his death 10 years ago.

“He was here every day making sure I did it right,” Miller said.

The store was established in the early 1900s as a general store and gradually became exclusively a supermarket. The business still is located on the same site in Verona, and there have been multiple store expansions over time.

In 2009, Miller bought Kalscheur’s Fine Foods in Mt. Horeb and recently built a new Miller & Sons store down the street from that location. The new 44,000-s.f. store is 18,000 s.f. larger than the former market.

High service brand

Miller & Sons dominated the grocery space for many years, but competition in the past 10 years has increased in Verona, Miller said, with a new Festival Foods set to open nearby in the fall as well as the presence of Hy-Vee and Pick ’n Save.

Competitors keep on coming, but a large part of Miller’s brand differentiation is its reputation for customer service.

“We kind of run our market differently from the bigger guys,” Miller said. “First of all, service is something we do. We still carry groceries to the car. We still unload the groceries out of the carts for the customers.”

Miller’s daughter, Cheryl and Amber operate the company website, which is another service to customers. The site displays a large selection of groceries that customers can order online for pickup. Keeping up with grocery products is intense.

“We didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal, and it is ending up being a big deal,” Miller said.

Customers are using the site.

“We’ve always delivered to seniors and shut-ins (who ordered) over the phone, but now we’re trying to convert them to computers,” he said. “A lot of the older people don’t have them so we still do that over the telephone.”

Community involvement

“It started as a general store. We had everything. We had clothing and even sold Harley motorcycles, but it evolved over the years into just grocery and we’re now a full-service grocery store with all departments,” Miller said.

Verona has experienced dramatic changes in the last 10 years due to a large company moving its corporate headquarters to the town. Epic, a healthcare software company, employs more than 10,000 people. This sudden increase in the population has impacted Miller & Sons and other grocery retailers in the area.

Blend of old and new

In 1992, Carl and his wife, Barb, expanded the Verona building to cover an entire block of South Main Street. A liquor store was added in November 2004. The employee parking lot across the street was purchased in 2005 and expanded in 2011.

“My great-grandfather started 117 years ago,” Miller said. “We’ve always been on the same piece of property [but] we own the whole block now.”

The store’s name was changed to Miller & Sons in 1958.

“My dad took over in 1958, and that’s when it became a full-service grocery store. At that time, it was an 8,000-square foot store, and everybody said it was crazy because it was too big,” Miller said. “The building he built at that time is still part of the structure. We just keep adding onto it, and now we’re at 52,000 square feet.”

The Miller & Sons brand also is known for its community involvement, local traditions and values.

“Grandpa and Dad were both firefighters and mayors of Verona, and we’ve always been a big part of Verona,” said Miller.

As most retailers acknowledge, hiring the right employees is a long-term challenge. Miller & Sons is no exception.

“I don’t care who we talk to—gas stations, manufacturing—everybody’s having trouble getting help. There are just not enough to go around,” Miller stated. “I don’t know how we can fix that. They keep talking about automation, but I don’t know. They’re going to have to improve upon it before it would be [worth our while].”

The biggest success story of Miller & Sons is “definitely our service and our personality,” Miller said.

“Like most owners, I tell my people I want them to talk to the customer. If a customer wants to stand and talk to you, stand and talk to them,” he said. “My people all say hello to everybody, and we’re a very friendly, service-oriented store. That’s what we’re known for and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Original Certco member

Miller’s father and grandfather were part of the original Certco co-op in the 1940s. “There are very few of them left, but Miller’s is one of them, and we’ve never really ever left Certco,” Miller said.

What does Certco bring to the table?

“They let us be independent. If I need something, I make a phone call and they’re here for me,” he said. “Certco does do part of my accounting, so I have contact [in that area] quite often.

“They are so supportive if you need something. If you don’t, they’re not [saying] ‘you need to do this and you need to do that.’ If you have a question, their phones are always available. If I have a question about advertising, I’ll call Terry [Everett]; I

The Wisconsin Grocers Association (WGA) honored Miller & Sons with its 2014 Community Service Award. Pictured with Carl Miller (left) is WGA President and CEO Brandon Scholz.

Miller & Sons has been in business for more than 100 years.

Hernandez: Certco Culture Promotes Strong Relationships

Antonio Hernandez, director of warehouse and transportation, joined Certco after serving in the U.S. Navy from June 1996-May 2003. He worked in aviation fuels, part of the logistics department onboard the USS Nassau. His duties included operations on the flight deck and in the fuels pump room and quality assurance lab.

During his stay at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, he worked in the logistics department helping visiting air wings. He also was part of the Military Police for two years of his service.

He began his Certco career in May 2003 as an order selector on second shift. In October of that year, he was promoted to a position in management as a third shift supervisor. The third shift became the primary receiving shift, and Hernandez got a new crew of receivers and forklift operators.

“Certco was fortunate to have some higher-tenure crew members come onto third shift to help train and lead the way,” Hernandez said. “At that time Certco had all of the grocery, perishable and GM/HBC under one roof. It was a tight fit in the 465,000-sq.ft. warehouse.”

In September 2004, the director of warehouse and transportation position became open at Certco. Hernandez thought the position was out of his reach since he had only 17 months with the company, but he did get the job and in May 2005 was named to his current position.

Just as with his role in the U.S. Navy, he started at the bottom and climbed his way up as he was given ever-increasing responsibilities. Hernandez said that experience prepared him to guide employees.

“On a daily basis, we find ways for them to be successful,” he said. “A successful day is one when an employee understands the commitment to excellence and teamwork,” he said.

Ready to deliver

Orders that are submitted to the warehouse by 5:30 a.m. start hitting the road by 9 a.m. the same day. Hernandez said, “the staff in the warehouse and transportation departments are ready to deliver whatever a customer may need.”

“They can order a truckload to a pallet and the response is the same: ‘We are here for you,’” Hernandez said. “Their needs will be met.”

Drivers take care of the customer and bring any member concerns to management “to make sure stores are heard,” he said.

“Our drivers will help unload trucks, and they go as far as wheeling product out to the sales floor if asked,” he said. “The transportation team listens to the drivers’ feedback for better routes and times that work best out on the road to better serve

instance, I might pay half of a percentage point more. It’s [negligible]. I think it’s such a bargain, and I ask myself, why didn’t I do this sooner?”

Unbeatable costs

the customer.”

Certco offers more than 50,000 SKUs—a selection, Hernandez said, that is “second to none.” All store programs are designed to help grocers be successful every day.

“We have cross-dock programs with vendors for those special products the customers need to help in the success of the retailer,” Hernandez said. “Our partnerships with vendors make our ability to offer strong ads and great deals at ‘low lockdown pricing.’”

Retail counselors are available for every store and work hand-in-hand with retailers to improve sales. The IT department uses customer POS data to build on success and offers website and social media innovations as well as a 24-hour customer support help desk.

The purchasing group is available to find vendors’ “hot” sale items to meet Certco’s customer needs.

“The buyers are always looking through new items and vendors to stay ahead of the curve,” Hernandez said. “Our meat department is always on the phone with retailers, keeping the fresh meats and specials rolling out the door. These programs and services are vital to our success and the longevity of our customers’ success.”

Certco shines in bad weather and beyond

Hernandez knows logistics and how important it is to get a store restocked if it has been out of commission.

“It happens so many times—helping a customer get through a power outage at the store or a natural disaster in a community,” he said. “Those special moments that customers reach past their front door and out to the community make it special. If I’m part of that, those are my success stories.”

Hernandez said Certco has a family atmosphere. He finds it rewarding to come to work. He said the most satisfying part of his days is interactions with his crew and the relationships that come with it.

“Our employees have grown professionally before our eyes. Their success stories include starting as a warehouse office clerk and becoming a purchasing buyer. Others start as an order selector and are promoted through hard work and leadership to shift supervisors,” he said.

Certco also facilitates relationships with the community, retailers and vendors.

“We want to leave a mark of excellence on the community in Dane County or at store level, helping people and feeling the impact of changing lives,” Hernandez said. “The company is involved with El Centro Hispano community services, Second Harvest and Middleton Outreach Ministry, to mention a few. We have helped stores with special deliveries or special items for their community outreach projects.”

“Knowing that so many people get involved in different ways, that it’s not just the cases or dollars we make but the change we help with that matters in our communities,” he added.

give the smaller stores a leg up in variety and price.

Basting appreciates how the larger co-op members

“We small guys are piggybacking off the large stores because there are so many of those that are highvolume, and we get the turns,” he said. “It’s why our variety is so great.”

The cost of goods is unbeatable, but Point Foods’ savings go further, he said. Unlike other suppliers he used in the past, Certco measures the amount of product according to the retailer’s need. Previously, he had to buy everything by the pallet.

“If you’re a small store, you can’t buy a pallet of something,” Basting said. “With Certco, if they have a really good price on something, it doesn’t matter if you buy one case, 10 cases or 500 cases. You’re still going to get that quality.”

Basting takes advantage of various Certco product savings programs.

“I’ve looked at other wholesalers and Certco definitely has the lowest cost of goods,” he added.

Point Foods and Certco are on the same page in all areas of the business. Basting approaches his customers just as Certco approaches theirs, he said.

The future is looking great, Basting added.

“We’ve got a new Certco president with Amy Niemetscheck. She’s fantastic. She’s going to take that company and really, really grow it,” he said.

Antonio Hernandez, director of warehouse and transportation.

Point

Gooseberries From page 54

Certco’s invaluable support

Spiegelhoff used Certco as a secondary supplier when he was with Supervalu in Kenosha, and then chose Certco when he opened his Burlington store. He has been solely with Certco since he started Gooseberries in 2006.

“They’re a great company. They do a great job on costs of all the basics for a retailer,” he said. “They’re great on cost of goods. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them. Their support for a store like Gooseberries is invaluable. They have programs for you to start a core ad program and things like that. They have the ability to serve the independent, based upon that independent’s needs and vision. They walk in and say, ‘We understand what you want to do; how can we help you get there?’”

In his quest to become 60 percent or 70 percent specialty products, Spiegelhoff said, “They have spent hours helping me tweak, reset and get this store where it needs to be. Not all the groceries are coming from them, because some of the things [are local specialty items]. Eventually, they go out and get them. I have met some other good wholesalers, but Certco is truly here to service the independents’ needs.”

Focused on retailer success

The span of retailers Certco serves—from large supermarket chains to standard grocery stores to niche or specialty stores—is positive for all involved.

“They have programs that are able to support and help them. Their ability to take all those formats and help make them all successful is very unique for a wholesaler. Of all the wholesalers I’ve dealt with, they truly are focused on the idea that if the retailer is successful, Certco is successful,” Spiegelhoff said.

They offer any service needed, including IT, accounting, social media and advertising.

“We use their accounting services, which provides monthly P&L’s, and they do our payroll for us. It’s very [helpful], especially for a single-store operator. They do all of it at a very good cost. They’re very fair to their retailers,” he added.

Sendik’s From page 58 proud of and it’s something that we continually work on and develop. We don’t take it for granted. I’m continually amazed every day by the talent of the people that we have working with us, and how great they are,” he said.

Sendik’s can choose to sign up for any items on Certco’s long menu of services for retailers, on an as-needed basis. As the retailer has grown, so have its internal resources.

“As an independent…one of the nice things about them is the ‘a la carte’ service,” Balistreri said. “We take advantage of those things we need help on. There’s no pressure or added cost to us for not taking advantage of those [services] that we don’t need.”

Although he isn’t ready to give up any secrets related to the company’s future plans, Balistreri said the growth will continue.

“We want to continue to bring great groceries to the communities in which we operate,” he said. “We think there is still opportunity to continue to do so in the metro Milwaukee area as well as surrounding communities.”

The Certco partnership is an integral part of Sendik’s business plans, Balistreri said.

“As a co-op, Certco is there to serve the independent grocery sector and has been a great partner for us during our growth,” he said.

“Certco has a whole merchandising team that will come in when you do store resets. We have a store counselor who’s wonderful. She understands our vision. She understands specialty. She understands organic. She’s here once every three weeks at a minimum. She’s looking at our sections, telling us when we’re missing something or have a need in some area. She’s awesome. They move [in] the direction we want to go,” Spiegelhoff said.

All about the experience

“We are more about an experience. I don’t care how many groceries or how much food you sell. We win when the customer walks out of here and says, ‘You know, this is the best food experience I’ve had,’” Spiegelhoff said. “When they start talking that way, we are headed in the right direction and we can grow this market very quickly. It’s been very painful to get there but we have gotten there.”

Certco has strongly contributed to this success and has helped make many of Gooseberries’ ideas come to fruition.

“I can go to sleep at night knowing when I wake up tomorrow or my son comes up with a crazy idea we want to try, we can pick up the phone and the Certco team will come in,” he said. “They will listen and say, ‘Here are our concerns, but yes, absolutely, we can do that.’ And we’ve come up with some pretty crazy ideas at times.

“That’s very rare these days when everybody’s so focused on warehouse programs,” he added. “It’s good having a partner that has so much experience. We have learned along the way.”

The Magic of Teamwork Is the Best Part of van Dorsten’s Job

John E. van Dorsten Jr. began his warehousing career at 16 in the quality control department of a media distributor.

That was before he worked in munitions storage for the U.S. Air Force. His service included training in leadership as well as operating various types of heavy equipment and best storage practices for munitions and separating munitions based on compatibility.

“After the Air Force I was determined to find a good job, and I found just that with Certco,” van Dorsten said. “I started as a second shift warehouse supervisor. I was later promoted to lead operations supervisor at our Verona Road facility. After 11 years working at Certco as a supervisor, I was promoted to operations director of our Daniels Street facility (in Madison).”

As operations director, he is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the facility, which includes staff management, productivity, storage requirements and business procedures and processes.

“Working with people of all backgrounds in the Air Force and as a Certco supervisor has helped me prepare for my responsibilities today,” van Dorsten said. “Our employees are our greatest asset and they go above and beyond to service our customers.”

He is proud of Certco’s selflessness. Certco treats its smallest customer just as well as its biggest customer, he said. He also is proud that Certco offers excellent pay and benefits, including health and wellness programs for employees. The company also gives employees paid time off to volunteer in the community.

He believes that one of the best benefits Certco provides its customers is sameday service. Customers submit their orders in the morning and many deliveries are completed by noon.

“I give much of the credit for our success to our warehouse workers who work long hours when needed and work through most holidays,” he said. “Our employees understand the demand for our services around the holidays and always rise to the challenge to provide our customers with excellent on-time service.”

His favorite part of the job is “watching the magic happen.” The magic is the “teamwork of my team and watching them attack this huge amount of work we have every day and them getting it done on time with very few errors,” van Dorsten said.

Certco Exists for Just One Reason

Mike Baumgartner is the director of procurement at Certco. His background leading up to the role he took on in 2015 spanned more than 20 years.

His career in the grocery industry began when he was a buyer trainee at Nash Finch Co. in Rapid City, South Dakota. He was with the company for five years as a

buyer and an assistant manager in retail stores.

In 1985, Supervalu hired Baumgartner as a buyer for its Bismarck, North Dakota, warehouse and he stayed with that company for five years.

It was 1994 when Baumgartner took a job as a frozen buyer and also purchased grocery products at Certco’s Madison, Wisconsin, facility.

His current role as director of purchasing has him overseeing the procurement process for grocery, dairy, frozen, general merchandise, specialty and HBC departments. He also oversees the Certco buying team of 13 buyers and five buyer assistants.

“Thirty-one years in the grocery industry with experience in wholesale and retail prepared me to lead by example,” Baumgartner said.

He said Certco offers the independent grocer the best in product variety and customer service. The company accomplishes that by hiring the best people.

“Certco employees are the success of Certco,” Baumgartner said.

It is satisfying to see buyers and buyer assistants follow rewarding and successful career paths at the company, he said.

The company exists for one reason, according to Baumgartner: “The growth and success of Certco and our independent retailers.”

have his cell number. These people are available to me 24/7,” Miller said. “A couple of months ago, a situation came up that I was upset about on a Sunday afternoon. I called Amy [Niemetscheck], the president of Certco, and talked to her. You just don’t do that with other companies.

“If we have a problem, they’ll take care of us, and they don’t ask questions. They’re not nosy, but if you need help, they’re there when you need them,” he added. “We are very independent. We had a Certco board meeting yesterday, and the stores in the board meeting are mom-and-pop stores to big-time stores—and they take care of everybody.”

Variety and price

Miller said both his stores still cut meat and have four full-time butchers on staff. Smaller stores have access to pre-cut, prewrapped meat from the warehouse so they also can offer fresh meat in their stores.

Stores of any size can compete with bigger ones because they have the same products available to them through Certco.

“They cater to quite the variety of stores,” Miller said. “Certco is probably the most reasonably-priced grocery warehouse in the Midwest.”

He said Certco has two advertising groups, one for the larger retailers and the second for the smaller stores.

“One of the growing points we’re having now is how to distribute our ads. It used to be by newspaper and flyers, and it’s changing. We’re still doing that but [our] ads show up on the website. We’re in the process now of trying to get people’s phone numbers so we can text [the ads] to people.”

Merchandising is another area in which the wholesaler recognizes the retailer’s independence. Certco steps in when needed, according to circumstances. Miller’s may choose its own placement for a new product, call Certco for advice or ask Certco to send someone to come to the store for a reset.

“They’re here when we need them and when we want them, and that’s [how I like it] because I’m very independent,” Miller said.

John E. van Dorsten Jr., director, Daniels Warehouse.

Mike Baumgartner, director of procurement.

Miller & Sons in Verona, Wisconsin. Samantha Hass/Mad City Dream Homes Photo

Miller & Sons From page 64

Strennen: Proud of How Customer Service-Oriented Certco Is

Nanette Strennen is a relative newcomer to Certco. She became director of accounting for the company in 2018. She is responsible for all aspects of accounting and financial reporting, including financial statements, accounts receivable, accounts payable, financial controls, budgets, taxes and managing the accounting team, among other duties.

She became a CPA after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She worked in a public accounting firm as an auditor.

“While working as a public accountant, not only did I enhance my overall accounting and auditing knowledge, but I also developed essential skills such as professional skepticism, good communication, risk analysis, problem solving and analytical thinking, that have helped prepare me for my current role.”

She also worked for a large insurance company where she had several growth opportunities. She held roles with that company that included senior manager in the internal audit department and director of accounting.

The senior internal audit manager position gave her experience in understanding processes and assessing controls. She also was asked to take part in special projects and committees such as the business acquisition team.

As director of accounting at the insurance firm, she oversaw accounting and financial reporting for several different entities.

“In addition, because I have a passion for people leadership, I was asked to lead an initiative to improve the people leader skills for the accounting and finance departments, which included more than 200 employees,” Strennen said.

Her next job, director of financial reporting for the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds, furthered her accounting, reporting and people leadership skills, and she gained knowledge about employee benefits.

Certco has a dedicated team within the accounting department, known as retail accounting, that offer accounting services, at a cost, to customers. The services provided include financial statement preparation, payroll, sales tax returns, personal property tax returns, personal tax returns and business tax returns.

Strennen said Certco had two significant initiatives that were led by the accounting team over the past year. The first involved vendor food safety and compliance.

Certco partnered with a vendor (ReposiTrak) in 2015 to assist the company with obtaining all the necessary food safety and compliance information/documentation from vendors.

“We provided a list of vendors to ReposiTrak and they reached out to the vendors on our behalf. However, the participation rate wasn’t as high as we hoped,” Strennen said. “Therefore, about a year ago, we reignited the initiative. A letter went out to all vendors letting them know participation in the program was mandatory and that Certco would begin billing the vendors directly for the service at a lower negotiated rate”—and then Certco, in turn, pays ReposiTrak.

She said it was a big job taking on the process of billing all of the vendors for the ReposiTrak fee but, as a result, in less than a year the once stagnant vendor enrollment has increased from 78 percent to 85 percent.

“Also, vendors are saving with the new rate structure negotiated by Certco,” she said. “Vendor compliance is important to the company and our customers. For example, in the event of a recall, having up-to-date food safety and compliance information from our vendors allows us to get the needed information to our customers faster.”

The second initiative was a complete restructuring of the accounting team. Strennen said several factors drove the need for it: better utilization of Certco’s “most valuable asset” (people), creating development opportunities for higher performing staff and planning for upcoming retirements and career changes. Certco created two teams—one primarily accounts payable and the other accounts receivable and “other”—led by people in senior positions, one of which was newly created and the other repurposed.

“The purpose of this was

twofold. First, the two new positions created development opportunities. Also, each team had an overall general focus, which is ideal from a cross-training perspective,” Strennen said.

Another major decision that was made was to outsource the payroll. Until Jan. 1 of this year, the accounting department was responsible for executing Certco’s payroll, but there were only two employees who processed payroll, “which is not ideal in the event that both need to be out of the office,” she said.

“Also, both individuals were contemplating career changes. Transitioning the payroll to a third-party administrator was a big effort but definitely worth it. Not only did we see cost savings as a result of the change, but the third-party administrator’s system allows for additional functionality,” Strennen said.

She said she finds so much about her job satisfying that it is hard to pick one aspect that she finds more gratifying.

“First and foremost, I became an accountant because I like almost every aspect of the job. Also, I am new to the grocery industry and, although I have more to learn, I have gained a lot of satisfaction learning about the business,” she said. “Next, I have a great team and I find mentoring my team members through the career improvement/development process very satisfying. Finally, I enjoy working with the senior leadership team here at Certco. They are a hardworking, dedicated, knowledgeable and fun group.”

She said that it is Certco’s goal to provide customers with the best service possible.

“This is true of all areas and levels of the company from the CEO on down,” Strennen said. “Therefore, I am very proud of how customer service-oriented Certco and all its employees are. On many occasions, I’ve seen Certco staff go above and beyond to serve our customers. For this and many other reasons, I’m proud to say I work for Certco.”

Pritzl’s From page 62

help in any way, too, so it goes both ways. I don’t always have to call them, they’re calling me,” she said. “I get the support I need from them. They let me operate my store in the fashion my customers are looking for. We have new products, great prices and a great collection in all departments.”

Pritzl’s goal is to continue enhancing the areas that people seek out.

“We want to build on our deli department, bakery and meats because I know people will drive the distance for that aspect. If you’ve got good meat, good bakery and good deli, they’re going to come,” said Pritzl-O’Keefe.

These fresh products are not always easy to find close by.

“You’re seeing less and less of those departments. It’s more that they’re not making everything [in-house] because of staffing issues. I see that more and more,” she said.

The closest competition is a Walmart about 13 miles down the road and the two formats are not comparable. Pritizl’s is unique in its product mix and at the same time “we try to get people in and out as quickly as possible,” she said.

Certco is an extension of Pritzl-O’Keefe’s focus on providing the best experience for her customers. It has been a very good partnership for quite some time, and PritzlO’Keefe looks forward to continued growth with Certco into the future, she said.

“Certco itself is like a big family at your side, at all times,” she said. “That’s how I feel about them, part of a big, happy family.”

Nanette Strennen, director of accounting.

Drake: Certco Has Your Back

Dan Drake first became familiar with Certco while he was a teenager working at Ken’s Meats and Deli in Monona, Wisconsin. He was a “counter hop” and helped with cleanup.

“I not only know how to cut meat but what that meat means to the customer. I now work with an incredible team of 10 people in my department who have come from similar backgrounds,” Drake said. “Each one of us knows that whether it is one case or 100, it is equally important to a customer.”

He was at the buyer’s desk for seven years before taking on the director’s role and knows the responsibilities his co-workers deal with each day. He has purchased chicken, packaged lunch meat, frozen meat, seafood, specialty cheese and numerous other meat, deli and bakery-related items.

“A strong advantage we possess is our Woodman’s (Markets) group, which offers one of the largest and diverse selections of goods a warehouse can carry,” Drake said. “Stores large or small can stock the variety their customers need and want. The variety of goods in the three warehouses we have rivals any competitor in this business.”

He went to Southwestern Technical School when he turned 18 and enrolled in the Retail Meat and Slaughter and Sausage Making course. The placement at that time was 100 percent. When he graduated, he began an apprenticeship as a meat cutter in Janesville at Gentz’s County Market. He was there for six years.

He finished his journeyman training at Cub Foods in Beloit with hanging beef and ice-pack chickens and transitioned to boxed beef and chicken in the late 1980s. He soon moved up from cutter to assistant manager to meat manager at the East Side Madison Cub, working for that company for a total of 23 years. After that, he managed a meat department for Piggly Wiggly for three years before he was hired as a meat buyer at Certco.

In his current role, he succeeds the late Michael McCulloch, who died unexpectedly in June. Drake said McCulloch was the “finest meat, deli and bakery director Certco will ever have.”

Retail experience helps in current role

Because Drake has spent his career working in retail, he understands the grocer’s perspective. He also knows well the needs of the meat department and what a meat case should and shouldn’t look like.

He also has worked with managers in deli, bakery, grocery, dairy and frozen food.

“We handle the phone calls of our customers on a daily basis, are responsible for allowance entries, vendor buying, service levels and overall great customer service,” Drake said.

Certco is unique in so many ways

Certco is known as the “Home of the Independent.” It is a co-op maintained by a board of directors comprised of current or past store owners and its stockholders— the stores.

Drake said Certco has a “collective force of employees” going for it because of what it offers them in return: great insurance, a competitive wage and a health and wellness program that goes beyond what most companies have.

“The purpose of a company’s wellness plan is to help insurance premiums go down, but ours does more than that. It connects employees and involves them in activities that we would most likely not do on our own,” Drake said. “Company bike rides, sponsored 5K and 10K events, a 45-minute yoga class once a week, 10-minute massages once every three months, 30-minute crosstraining classes three times a week, health challenges throughout the year and now volunteer programs that give us eight hours (paid) with organizations like

Habitat for Humanity, local animal shelters, Gilda’s Club for cancer and many others.”

Drake said he never would have tried a 5K, yoga or cross-training or volunteered for Habitat for Humanity if it were not for Certco offering those opportunities.

Certco also has generous Christmas parties and summer picnics.

“Certco is a tremendous contributor to the local community as well. We have donation offerings from the employees at Thanksgiving and Christmas for turkeys given to local food shelters and additional products for meals,” he said. “We also donate closedated goods to them as well.”

The old-fashioned way

Drake shared a recent success story with The Shelby Report. Pritzl’s Trading Post in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, had an issue when it lost its meat manager. The owner was concerned about continuing its ad without the store’s only meat cutter.

“These days meat cutters are harder and harder to find. It’s a tough job, working in the cold for eight hours a day; it is heavy work and dangerous as well, with the knives and saws we use,” Drake said. “It’s not for everyone and not many in this generation are wanting to take it up.”

Certco offers a Tyson pre-cut beef and pork program that helped Pritzl’s get by until the store could find a meat cutter to take over. Pritzl’s was able to still write an independent ad using the prepackaged and frozen meat lines and remain competitive.

Drake said he gets a lot of satisfaction from knowing that Certco listens to its customers and still does things the “old-fashioned way” in today’s economy.

“I was told by a vendor when I was going through the hiring process here that Certco did business this way—exact words,” Drake said. “To some, this may mean we are behind the times, but what it really means is that the company has your back and listens to what you have to say. The president’s door is down the hall and always open.”

Certco’s human resources department is not for disputes, he said. It is for suggestions and encouragement.

“The bottom line is this company cares about its employees,” Drake said. “I am most proud of Certco’s dedication to its employees and how well we take care of our customers.”

Dan Drake, director of meat, seafood, deli and bakery.

On being “old fashioned”

“To some, this may mean we are behind the times, but what it really means is that the company has your back and listens to what you have to say. The president’s door is down the hall and always open. I am most proud of Certco’s dedication to its employees and how well we take care of our customers.”

Certco Helps the Independent Grocer Not Just Survive, But Succeed

Paul Frey enjoys his role as business development manager at Certco. He prospects for new business and works with existing Certco member retailers to shore up their top and bottom lines.

That’s a long way from 1981, when he was sorting pop bottles, carrying out groceries and stocking shelves. He worked his way up from night closing manager to manager of every department except meat. Then he was an assistant store manager, store manager, operations manager and finally GM and president of an independently owned group of stores.

“Along the way, I also had the privilege of being a minority owner in a group of stores, which really gave me the complete experience,” Frey said. “In between my retail management career, I worked for five years as a territory supervisor for a cooperative warehouse.”

He said his previous experience in managing high-volume retail stores combined with his wholesale experience translated well to understanding the challenge of a prospective account, both at retail and wholesale.

“Being on both sides of the desk, so to speak, gives me a clearer picture of the relationship expected and/or needed for a solid, successful retailer-to-wholesaler relationship,” Frey said. “Additionally, my experience in running independently owned grocery stores allows me to not only review retailers’ financial statements but then advise and assist them through a thorough store operations review on how to implement and achieve any improvements needed.”

Certco, unlike some wholesalers that have moved away from support for independent stores, still has “boots on the ground” with its retail business counselor, he said.

“With a store count of somewhere in the area of 30-35 stores per counselor, we still have the ability to personally know and assist our members,” Frey said. “Through more frequent store visits, trusted relationships are built that allow us to be more hands-on and not only make suggestions to help improve operations but also assist in making them happen.”

“We continue to grow and give employees the ability to better their careers and themselves, and we don’t hire lead people from outside the company. Everyone gets trained and works their way up from within,” he said. “That ties into our employee-ownership.”

Strong partnership with Certco

Membership in Certco has been advantageous for Woodman’s.

“We’ve been very innovative. We’re the first to do a lot of things,” Woodman said. “One of our huge successes is that we’re directly supplied through our own buying and through purchasing through Certco.”

Woodman’s had four or five stores when the company first partnered with Certco, and the two have grown together over a long period of time. It has been a very good partnership “since the early 1980s, when we started buying from them,” he said.

Certco is a good fit for Woodman’s because the partnership allows the retailer to make independent decisions and Certco is there to support those decisions.

“The benefit is we’re able to control our cost of goods through being efficient, and we don’t depend on a major wholesaler that doesn’t have our own best interests at heart,” he said. “They’re working for the independent and the small guy. Their strategy is the same as ours.”

At times, Woodman’s has used Certco for other business needs outside of product distribution.

“They worked with us on certain things over the years. We’ve worked together on marketing. We handle most [business processes] ourselves now, but we’ve worked together on various projects,” Woodman said.

E-commerce services

Woodman acknowledges that it’s not easy for a company to keep its finger on the pulse of the industry. Woodman’s approach is to innovate through familiarity, knowledge and understanding of its market. The knowledge that is gained of gaps or needs in the market is translated into new

The company’s success starts with a Certco staff willing to always go the extra mile to take care of members’ store needs, and the commitment they show and execute every day, he said.

The creation of Certco’s private label milk and bread programs in 2018 also helped members be more competitive—and profitable—in two key categories.

“By aggregating our volume and working together, we were able to strip out many of the expenses of a DSD program and deliver a quality cost competitive program in two highly price-sensitive categories,” Frey said.

He shared a recent real-life success story about a member who asked Certco to look into its operations. After an initial visit, both sides decided to start with a store operations review.

“After completing the review, we were able to put into place some reporting tools, including shrink reports, purchase-to-sales ratio reports and weekly sales and labor forecasting along with other observations and suggestions,” Frey said. “After training and implementation, we continued to work with the customer so they could interpret and react to what they were seeing. The end result included an increase in gross profit and productivity while reducing their payroll cost and increasing the bottom line.”

Seeing owner-operators succeed is the most satisfying part of Frey’s job. He said with all the challenges the independent grocers face, helping them not just survive but grow is rewarding.

“In some small communities, it not only is the owner/operator but the entire community that wins by having a successful, full-service supermarket alive and well in their town,” he said.

Certco has not forgotten the importance and value of every owner-operator, no matter how big or small, Frey said.

“Certco values and treats every sized operator with the same respect and courtesy that all retailers deserve,” he said. “Their stores are not only their business but their lives and in many cases their family as well.”

technology and services.

“It’s hard work. You have to stay engaged with the business, with your customers and with your employees,” Woodman said.

“We’ve expanded e-commerce and delivery to every location. People can order groceries online and get them delivered straight to their homes or pick them up at the store,” he said. “We started in e-commerce about four years ago now. It’s working well. It’s still a smaller percentage of sales but it’s a growing part of the business.”

Woodman is not ready to reveal future plans but said the company is working on projects to be revealed at a later date.

Through all the business growth and industry changes, Certco has continued to be the right wholesale partner for Woodman’s.

“We’re able to make independent decisions and aren’t relying on anyone else to control our destiny,” Woodman said. “We’re able to be efficient and keep operating in line with the best operators in the country.”

Woodman’s Markets From page 52

Paul Frey

From a Dairy Farm to Director of IT

Bob Collins today is the director of IT at Certco. That is a long way from his grandparent’s dairy farm where he worked in his early years. When they retired and sold the farm, he worked as a hired hand for other farmers.

Later, Collins took a job as a clerk at a local hardware store and stayed with it while he completed his studies at the Wisconsin School of Electronics. He became a mechanical assembly remanufacturer, rebuilding fusing assemblies and toner cartridges for major manufacturers’ laser printers. He then worked the help desk for external customers, which led to an instructor position to teach them how to repair laser and ink printers.

He moved into an IT position and worked in a variety of roles. Certco hired him to be an IT manager. He continued to work in a variety of IT areas and updated hardware/software and worked on streamlining processes for the company.

“Since taking the role of IT director, I’ve taken a higher-level view of how IT fits into the business, how that affects our customers and making sure that those related projects are getting done,” Collins said.

He oversees a team of 12 and works with the management team as well as customers.

“I have worked customer service and led a team previously, so I think that has helped me build those skills,” he said. “My 25-plus years in IT-related fields has helped me understand the technology that is needed to run a company of Certco’s size.”

He said much of Certco’s outward-facing technology is based on customer and vendor input. For example, many features of a new order handheld device can be attributed to customer input.

“I like that we get input from the people that have to actually use the product,” Collins said. “Our web portals allow customers and vendors access to their Certcospecific information. Customers and vendors have come to rely on their portals to get their information quickly and accurately. They’ve evolved into tools that would be difficult to live without, and it’s all thanks to the input we’ve received and building the technologies around it.”

He said the IT department’s websites and social media offerings have been successful. The company has helped numerous stores build an online presence.

“We’ve helped a number of stores with setting their pricing to help their margins, data cleanup, worked with their point of sale providers and offered advice about their technology, including web and social media,” Collins said.

The most satisfying aspect of his job is “being able to help people—particularly seeing stores succeed and thrive and knowing I was at least a small part of that.”

He is proud of the people who work at Certco. They want customers to succeed, he said.

“That we come together as a team to solve a problem or help a store, it’s a great thing to be a part of,” Collins said.

WHOLESALER OF THE YEAR

Everett: ‘At Certco, You’re Not a Number’

If you ask Terry Everett what is strong about Certco, he would answer by telling you to read the company’s mission statement: “To provide the independent grocer with the best available services in wholesale grocery. To offer the greatest variety and best-delivered cost with a staff who understands the urgency of service needed to supply a successful retail organization.”

That is Certco’s focus. Everett also admires the company for building relationships with store owners, customers and employees.

“At Certco, you’re not a number. You have a name and it’s a relationship,” he said.

Everett also enjoys “keeping up with all the changes that help us focus on the future,” as he observes store owners starting a website, taking the next step with social media sites like Facebook. Now he is observing many grocers venture into e-commerce.

Online or brick-and-mortar, Certco makes sure independent stores have all the offerings they need to compete in today’s marketplace.

“Certco offers the largest variety of products of any wholesaler in the region,” Everett said.

Everett’s career began at a wholesale company

In 1987, Everett worked at Fairco Foods in Ankeny, Iowa. Some of the duties at the wholesale company were coordinating the item selection and special pricing for weekly ads. He also managed and maintained scheduled deadlines, designed formats for weekly grocery promotions, anniversaries and grand openings and was responsible for producing all promotional material. He also purchased supplies and services relating to advertising and printing.

He took on the advertising manager position in 1994 and later was promoted to director of advertising. Now his duties at Certco include all aspects of sales, marketing, advertising and merchandising, communication, planning, budgeting, item selection placement and pricing, scheduling, production and execution.

He now works with grocery store owners, including a chain of 18 big-box stores that average 250,000 s.f. as well as convenience stores in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

He implemented and supervised the design and production of three four-color weekly grocery advertising programs, which tripled store participation.

He also has generated a 52-week sales promotional calendar that has quadrupled stores’ participation in the advertising program.

He also has managed outside vendors for graphic design, electronic publishing, semi-tractor and trailer graphics, printing, direct marketing, point-of-sale set-ups, radio ads, market surveys and other services.

Everett also is the key contact at Certco for the Food & Drug Administration for all products recalls.

Full-Service Advertising Department Ready to Help

Certco’s full-service advertising department offers ad programs independent grocers need to compete, including marketing, branding and advertising that helps position each store in its market.

Certco can develop programs that promote a store’s image and position in the marketplace, where brand is identity.

From information bulletins to order guides and custom print options— Certco’s full-service print shop supplies the materials and great quality printing services.

Bob Collins, director of IT.

Terry C. Everett, director of advertising.