“Young vs Old”

Cheese Talk with

Juliet Harbutt

• How one cheese shop supported locals in lockdown
• Rory Mellis, IJ Mellis: “Local businesses have a chance to flourish”
• Why we should be proud of the cheese industry’s response to Covid
• The joy of cheese grading
• “Keeping the faith”

When I started Jeroboams in the late 80s, working in a cheese shop didn’t have the cache it has now – I remember advertising in the Evening Standard and getting just one reply!

Now, not a week goes by that I don’t have someone wanting to know how to start a career in cheese or to start a cheese shop or deli. However, the problems of motivating and inspiring your staff have not changed.

Two friends of mine started jobs in food retailing just before Christmas. One, in her early 50s who I shall call Sally, had worked in a high powered marketing job before she started her family and took a position on the shop floor in a highly successful farm shop. The other, Rosie, 25 and a graduate, was offered a three month position in a London deli. 

Both ended up bending my ear about how abysmal the training was, and how the people managing them appeared to have virtually no training in how to manage people and were rude, disrespectful, thoughtless and made everyone’s lives a misery.

Both had made it clear they were just looking to fill in time and earn some extra money, but they are confident, well travelled and articulate, and thought they had something to offer and that it would be fun. Like most people they imagine food retail is about chatting to customers, helping them choose something delicious, getting to know the other staff and generally being helpful, liked and respected by all. They had no idea that there was anything to do before the shop opened or after it closed, so from the beginning there was the potential for disappointment and resentment.

Sally wanted a job that would fit around family commitments and allow her to use her skills of communication and experience of selling, but as many of her friends shopped there she wanted to avoid wearing “those ridiculous hats” or tie her hair back so asked if she could work in the non-food area. On her first day she was reduced to tears by the young manager who told her to “get a grip” and put the hat on. She consequently spent the next month running for cover whenever she saw someone she knew. 

I admit that Sally is fairly opinionated, but she is a grafter and like most of us if asked to do something politely, even if it seems unnecessary, will do it. But her young manager showed her little respect; I saw this first-hand and cringed at the way she put her down and spoke to her. 

The problem is lack of training or support given to young managers. At 30, she had the job because she has been there longest, but she needs to understand how to manage people, especially older staff, and her manager treats her in a similar way!

Rosie is bubbly, keen to please, talk-to-anyone-do-anything and just wants to feel part of a team. She received very good product training and was young enough for the lack of praise and occasional bollocking to slide off her, but no one ever explained the basics of retailing such as stock control and best practice. When it came to time off I used to say, “I will be flexible if you will be,” and I hope I stuck to that because both Sally and Rosie discovered, despite being told that requests made in advance would if possible be respected, that their requests were virtually ignored. Rosie missed the last train out of London on Christmas Eve and her brother had to detour 200 miles to pick her up. Sally asked if she could swap days so she could go on a skiing holiday with her family early January, but on December 19th was told it was an unreasonable request and it was turned down. The holiday had already been booked!

Endless stocking and restocking of shelves and changing displays seemed ridiculous to Rosie when they were so busy. Sally was appalled to find she barely had time to go to the loo, the kitchen never seemed to cook what people wanted (if only we knew!) and that she was meant to get customers to buy food with the shortest date. I had to laugh when she told me she was telling people to buy the youngest Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings, not understanding the longer they age the better.

Your staff need to understand the importance of stock rotation, what the difference is between ‘best by’ and ‘use by’ dates and when something should or shouldn’t be sold. You can never tell your staff everything they need to know – they need to learn the basics and then they can apply that to different situations. I used to tell my staff that the best rule to use was “if you wouldn’t sell it to your mother don’t sell it to my customers” – this meant that if I wasn’t there or they weren’t sure then they could apply this rule.

And please take time to train the young managers; if they are being aggressive or disrespectful it is more than likely because they lack confidence and are afraid to get things wrong – which makes the best of us a bit grumpy.