Produce Clerk

La Montañita Co-op; Santa Fe (NM); On-site; USD 17,000 - 22,000; Full time

Job summary

La Montañita Co-op is seeking a Produce Clerk to support customer relations, maintain department cleanliness, and stock fresh produce. Duties include processing, sanitation, labeling, and ensuring compliance with safety and quality standards.

The role emphasizes welcoming customers and delivering helpful, respectful service within a cooperative store environment. Candidates should have strong communication skills, a food safety certification or willingness to obtain it within a month, and the

Qualifications

• Customer service throughout the full service cycle.
• Effective communication with customers and colleagues.
• Ability to teach others positively and constructively.
• Food safety certification or ability to obtain within 1 month.
• Knowledge of basic math (counting, addition, subtraction).
• Adherence to safety, regulatory and PPE guidelines.
• Interpersonal and conflict resolution skills.
• Integrity, professionalism and confidentiality.
• Calmly adapt to changes in the work environment.
• Dependable, reliable and self-motivated.
• Able to work with a diverse group of people.
• Strong teamwork, friendly and patient.
• Attention to detail and prioritization.
• Professional appearance.

Responsibilities

• Assist in produce processing, sanitation, and stocking.
• Greet customers and provide helpful, respectful service.
• Maintain cleanliness, safety and appeal of the department.
• Answer questions and help customers locate products.
• Follow procedures for pricing, labeling, dating and merchandising.
• Support inventory counts and store projects as needed.
• Ensure compliance with regulations and weights & measures.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Team player

Food safety

Detail oriented

Multi-tasking

Integrity

Adaptability

Safety compliance

Tools

ServSafe certification

Job description

The Produce Clerk is first and foremost responsible for customer relations and satisfaction. The Produce Clerk is also responsible for ensuring the department maintains its cleanliness, safety and appeal to customers (may also assist other departments in these areas on occasions). Duties include all produce processing (cutting, packaging and merchandising), sanitation, safety, and stocking procedures on all fresh produce products (fruits, wet vegetables, and dry vegetables) while removing expired products from displays. Most importantly, the Produce Clerk will make all customers feel welcomed by acknowledging or greeting each customer and providing genuine, helpful, and respectful customer service.

SOME FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Orders, receives, and merchandises produce products following proper guidelines for merchandising, rotation, sanitation, pricing, mechanizing, and quality standards.
• Consistently replenish products to ensure freshness and visibility.
• Maintains a working knowledge of all produce products as well as non-produce items throughout the store to respond to customers to ensure they get the products they want and need.
• Adequately accepts, orders, receives, prepares, packages, labels, displays, stocks, replenishes floor stock and inventories merchandise.
• Follows department procedures for processing known loss, invoices discrepancies, special orders, and transfers.
• Keeps the department orderly and clean.
• Helps customers make product selections by answering questions and providing information about all produce items.
• Ensures accurate and sanitary product processing, packaging labeling, dating, and pricing according to department procedures.
• Prioritizes time to ensure that prep work, stocking, cleaning, and customer service are handled efficiently.
• Creates and maintains an environment that enables customers to feel welcome, important, and appreciated by answering questions regarding products sold within the department and throughout the store by providing excellent customer service.
• Assists in inventory counts, storewide cleaning, and other projects as needed.
• Ensures federal, state, local and La Montañita Food Cooperative regulations and standards for product freshness, safety, refrigeration, sanitation and weights and measures are being adhered to and met.
• Maintains presentation and quality standards in the department.
• Maintains and updates as needed ServSafe® certification.

Requirements

ATTRIBUTES AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Customer service skills (able to complete the full customer service cycle).
• Effective communication skills
• Capable of teaching others positively and constructively.
• Food safety certification. If not currently certified, able to obtain certification within 1 month.
• Knowledge of basic math (counting, addition and subtraction)
• Ability to adhere and follow safety, regulatory and wellness guidelines. Safety Conscious and adhering to required PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is required.
• Good interpersonal and conflict resolution skills.
• Able to act with integrity, ethically, professionalism, and confidentiality.
• Able to deal and adapt to changes in the work environment, industry with a calm professional demeanor.
• Dependable, reliable and self-motivated.
• Able to work with a diverse group of people.
• Strong team player, friendly and patient.
• Excellent ability to prioritize and multi-task with attention to detail.
• Professional appearance and manner.