Produce Department Team Leader

La-Montanita-Food-Cooperative; New Mexico; On-site; USD 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Job summary

La Montañita Food Cooperative is seeking a Produce Department Team Leader to oversee all aspects of Produce operations, ensuring high-quality products and exceptional customer service. You will mentor and direct the team, implement efficient processes, and manage departmental financial performance with guidance from store leadership.

The role requires extensive supervisory experience, product knowledge, and a strong commitment to safety and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Minimum five years of customer service experience.
• Minimum three years in food service purchasing, preparation, or merchandising perishable products.
• Minimum three years of supervisory experience.
• Knowledge of products, buying, pricing, merchandising, and inventory management.
• Excellent interpersonal, motivational, team-building, and customer relationship skills.
• Capable of teaching others positively and constructively.
• Proficient mathematical skills for financial performance, monitoring profitability, and inventory management.
• Experience with email, Microsoft Office, and operations-related applications.
• Demonstrates excellent interpersonal and written communication skills; able to work with diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to adhere to safety, regulatory, and wellness guidelines; PPE usage required.
• Integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
• Ability to identify and resolve problems promptly; adapt to changes.
• Able to work with a diverse group; strong prioritization and multi-tasking.

Responsibilities

• Creates, develops, communicates, implements, audits, and evaluates operating standards and procedures and makes adjustments as needed.
• Supervises work performance and conduct of team members and supports performance management per policies and legal guidelines.
• Models leadership behaviors that promote cooperation, teamwork, and goal achievement.
• Delegates tasks for department team members and ensures completion.
• Addresses and reports concerns about team members' performance with guidance.
• Helps create and facilitates trainings to build skills and knowledge.
• Conducts regular performance evaluations, feedback sessions, and coaching to promote growth.
• Responsible for recruitment, retention, and engagement of department staff.
• Ensures new hires are trained appropriately.
• Supports safety protocols and strong departmental control measures.
• Supports marketing and outreach initiatives and contributes to events as requested.
• Orders, receives, and merchandises products following guidelines for merchandising and quality.
• Establishes annual department budgets including sales, margin, labor, and net profit.
• Monitors labor and margin ranges and department expenses against budget.
• Oversees costing and pricing accuracy for all produce items.
• Maintains product freshness and visibility through replenishment.
• Maintains knowledge of store products to assist customers effectively.
• Assists in inventory counts, store cleaning, and other projects as needed.
• Ensures regulatory standards for freshness, safety, sanitation, weights and measures are met.
• Follows opening/closing procedures and maintains ServSafe certification for team members.

Skills

Customer service

Food merchandising

Supervisory experience

Product knowledge

Inventory management

Interpersonal skills

Mentoring/teaching

Financial acumen

Computer skills (email, Office)

Communication skills

Safety awareness

Integrity and confidentiality

Problem solving

Adaptability

Teamwork

Multi-tasking

Job description

Description

The Produce Department Team Leader (DTL) is responsible for overseeing and directing all aspects of the Produce department operations. The Produce DTL is responsible for ensuring an excellent experience for customers in the Produce Area. This customer experiences revolves around providing high quality products and service selections, in-depth knowledge of products and consistently providing excellent customer service. The Produce DTL is accountable for effectively developing, mentoring, and supporting their team, implementing efficient and productive systems, demonstrating stellar leadership, and being accountable for the financial performance of the department (in areas such as margin, sales goals, labor budget) all in a manner that demonstrates the values of La Montañita Food Cooperative. This position oversees that the department adheres to labor and food safety guidelines and ensures compliance with policy and procedures by establishing clear expectations and guidelines.

SOME FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Creates, develops, communicates, implements, audits, and evaluates operating standards and procedures and makes adjustments as needed.


• Supervises work performance and conduct of team members and supports the performance management practices as needed and in accordance with policies, procedures, labor and legal guidelines.


• Models behaviors that support the values, through supportive and participatory leadership, promoting cooperation, team building, and motivating team members to achieve goals.


• Delegates and assigns tasks for department team members as needed and ensures tasks are completed.


• Immediately addresses and reports concerns with team members’ behaviors or work performance and addresses the concern appropriately with guidance.


• Helps create and facilitates trainings for team members that enhance and build upon their skills, knowledge and abilities.


• Conducts regular performance evaluations, timely feedback sessions, meetings/huddles and provides coaching to promote the growth and development of team members.


• Responsible for recruitment, retention and engagement of team members for the department.


• Ensures new hires are trained appropriately and effectively.


• Supports the security and safety protocols and establishes strong departmental control measures.


• Supports marketing and outreach initiatives and contributes to marketing, outreach, and events as requested


• Orders, receives, and merchandises products following proper guidelines for merchandising, rotation, sanitation, pricing, mechanizing, and quality standards.


• Establishes annual department with guidance from Store Management, budgets that include sales, gross margin, labor cost, and net profit.


• Monitors and ensures labor and margin ranges, direct and indirect expenses comply with approved budget.


• Monitor and oversee the accurate costing and pricing of all produce products.


• Consistently replenish products to ensure freshness and visibility.


• Maintains a working knowledge of all products as well as 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.


• Helps customers make product selections by answering questions and providing information about all department items.


• Ensures accurate and sanitary product processing, packaging, labeling, dating, and pricing according to department procedures.


• 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.


• Follows proper procedures for opening and closing.


• Maintains and updates as needed ServSafe® certification for department team members and self.

Requirements

ATTRIBUTES & QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of five (5) years’ previous Customer service skills (able to complete the full customer service cycle).


• Minimum of three (3) years’ of years’ previous experience in food service purchasing, preparation, or merchandising perishable products.


• Minimum of three (3) years previous supervisory experience.


• Knowledge of products, buying, pricing, merchandising, and inventory management.


• Excellent interpersonal, motivational, team building, and customer relationship skills.


• Capable of teaching others positively and constructively.


• Proficient mathematical skills for assessing financial performance, monitoring profitability, and managing inventory.


• Experience with email, Microsoft Office, and operations-related applications.


• Demonstrates excellent interpersonal and communication (oral and written) skills and able to communicate with individuals of diverse backgrounds and experiences.


• Ability to adhere and follow safety, regulatory, and wellness guidelines. Safety Conscious and adhering to required PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is required.


• Able to act with integrity, ethically, professionalism, and confidentiality.


• Able to identify and resolve problems in a timely manner.


• Able to deal and adapt to changes in the work environment, industry with a calm professional demeanor.


• Able to work with a diverse group of people.


• Excellent ability to prioritize and multi-task with attention to detail.