Fresh Ideas
The Fresh Market’s centralized organization and open lines of communication within its maintenance group serve the grocer well.
By Katie Lee

The Fresh Market, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based grocer founded in 1982 in the style of an old-world European market, has a unique approach to maintenance. The maintenance department, managed by Kevin Herrmann, consists of a staff of only four people — and it is their centralized organization that sets The Fresh Market apart from most retailers.

“Our approach towards centralization of contracts and vendor selection — while at the same time allowing local store personnel to manage repair and service incidents — is fairly unique,” says Steve Showalter, vice president, Construction & Facilities, who has been with the company for nearly 3 years.

Central to The Fresh Market’s ability to manage its 86 stores in this fashion is its utilization of an electronic database of facilities, assets, repair and service companies, and repair history of all equipment. This database helps to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

“With our particular organizational model, good communication is the most important attribute we can have,” Showalter says. “Having a good understanding of the requirements, ensuring that information is communicated clearly to our vendors and then following up to ensure complete resolution of problems goes a long way towards ensuring a good relationship with our internal customers.”

Indeed, communication and organization are the hallmarks of this maintenance group. The team regularly interprets the needs of Operations, facilitates solutions with vendors, and manages costs through active budgeting and analysis.

The maintenance department at The Fresh Market falls under the category of New Store Construction and Facilities. Within that group, a small central group focuses on having the proper maintenance contracts in place and having agreements prearranged with service companies. The central group designs business processes and collects information about repair activities, ensuring this data is maintained electronically for analysis use.

When handling a typical maintenance call, Showalter explains that store personnel access this electronic database that houses contact information for repair and service companies. The store personnel create the work orders themselves and then contact the service companies directly. “Following completion of the required work, detailed information related to the work order is recorded in the database so that it’s available for analysis and decision-making,” Showalter adds.

Emergency calls are handled in a similar manner. The only difference is that the central maintenance staff — Kevin Herrmann’s staff of four — is also notified so that they are aware of the emergency situation and can provide additional support or assistance.

Although The Fresh Market technically has an in-house maintenance group, they do not physically perform the maintenance duties themselves. “Our maintenance organization is really geared towards outsourcing,” Showalter says. “The in-house group identifies and contracts with appropriate vendors — [they] manage the function — but external vendors perform all the maintenance related functions.”

These external vendors are a mixture of local and national companies. “We’ve found national vendors to be the best choice for certain types of equipment, such as refrigeration systems, and we believe local vendors provide the best solution for other types of equipment and services, such as plumbing repairs,” Showalter explains.

In choosing these companies, Showalter says, price isn’t the first thing they look for. “The items that are important to us include quality of work, knowledge of the personnel, professionalism of the organization, and overall cost,” he says. “Price is important, but the vendor’s ability to respond quickly, diagnose problems correctly and resolve issues on the first try are at the top of our list in terms of importance.”

With its team of vendors in place and its in-house staff working diligently together, using open communication, The Fresh Market has found success in its centralized method of maintenance. Like a well-oiled machine, the process is designed to be smooth from start to finish — adding to the overall efficiency and profit of the company as a whole.

“We actively track maintenance activities, number of incidents and the amount of money spent supporting each facility,” Showalter says. “We feel good when the number of repair events and the associated costs are on a declining trend. It is particularly satisfying when our Operations group tells us that the facilities and equipment are performing well and that the processes we are putting into place are helping to make the organization more efficient and professional.”

The success of the maintenance team means they can grow their responsibilities with each new store opening. The Fresh Market has opened one new store so far in 2009 and plans to open six more by the end of the calendar year.