The Produce Retail Podcast

The Produce Retail Podcast
  • 4.1 (7)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Produce Retail Podcast is the place for thought leaders in the industry to talk shop. Join us for conversations on strategy, business partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and much more. We'll have regular guests as well as more occasional visitors, and the goal is always to deliver conversations that inform, inspire and ultimately illuminate opportunities for growth. This podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, produce industry enthusiast and founder and CEO of Ashley Nickle Growth Strategies.  

  1. 11/20/2025

    Former H-E-B floral director and 2023 IFPA Floral Marketer of the Year Erin Esensee and floral retail veteran Jennie Kellerman Garbarek on the importance of timeline in floral

    We're delighted to welcome for this week's episode Erin Esensee, director of business development at Decowraps, and Jennie Kellerman Garbarek, sales director for mass market North America at Tessa. Erin was previously the longtime floral director of H-E-B, where she was recognized by IFPA in 2023 as Floral Marketer of the Year, and Jennie is a veteran of SpartanNash, Mariano’s and Roundy’s. In this conversation, they discuss the complexity of the floral department and the reasons why floral leadership should always aim to be working a year in advance. They talk about transitioning in and out of holidays; leaning on suppliers to keep up with the consumer trends; how the global nature of the business plays into planning; the rise of microholidays; the growing popular culture relevance of floral; the increasing presence of private brand in floral; the undervalued practice of getting out in stores and talking to customers and department managers; the still largely untapped opportunity of e-commerce for floral; and much more. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    12 min

  2. 11/06/2025

    Chick-fil-A Supply's Clark Roper talks intentional leadership, investing in young team members, and lessons from his retail days

    We're delighted to welcome as our guest for this week's episode Clark Roper, a senior team leader at Chick-fil-A Supply, which is a subsidiary of Chick-fil-A. Clark has been with Chick-fil-A since 2022, but before that, he spent seven years as a produce buyer for Piggly Wiggly. Along with reflections on logistics, category management and more from his retail days, Clark shares his perspective on how Chick-fil-A elicits such remarkable performance primarily from young, part-time employees. He also discusses tools, like the Enneagram and Working Genius, that help identify strengths, weaknesses and tendencies of team members and explains the impact those have made in allowing him to support his team better. If you lead people, this is a conversation you shouldn't miss. Enjoy! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    47 min

  3. 10/06/2025

    Anne-Marie Roerink talks about the diverging trajectories of fruit and veg; millennial spending power; the influence of picky kids on purchasing; and more

    We're delighted to welcome back to the podcast Anne-Marie Roerink, the principal of 210 Analytics. Anne-Marie is well known to many in the produce world for her insightful reports and presentations in collaboration with Circana and industry associations like the International Fresh Produce Association and the Southeast Produce Council. In this episode, Anne-Marie and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss topics stemming from the SEPC's What's New report, which debuted at Southern Innovations. Their conversation covers the continuing growth fruit but downturn for vegetables; the concentration of new units and dollars coming from millennials; the sentiment of that generation toward fruits versus vegetables; how millennials and their children are interacting with produce and to what extent pickiness is influencing purchases; how fresh produce is seeing more competition from smoothies, powders, supplements and bars; how suppliers and retailers can come alongside parents and make vegetables fun for their kids; the emerging trend of "fiber maxing" as an opportunity for produce; what fresh produce can learn from its CPG counterparts on selling the benefits of certain nutrients; what implications the increasing spending power of millennials has for order quantities, delivery cadences, stocking best practices, and more; how kids today respond to marinades, sauces and seasonings and the potential of those "extras" to elevate how consumers experience vegetables; and much more. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    53 min

  4. 09/26/2025

    Karli Nelson of the Supermarket Floral Ad Roundup + floral guru Jennie Garbarek

    We're delighted to have as our guests for this episode Karli Nelson, supermarket sales manager of Chrysal USA, and Jennie Garbarek, sales director of mass market North America for Tessacorp. In this episode, Karli — also known as the author of the Supermarket Floral Ad Roundup — and Jennie, alongside The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle, dive into floral ad trends, how different retailers see the role of floral in the ad, marketing floral beyond the ad, and more. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    47 min

  5. 09/12/2025

    Town & Country Market produce manager Tim Deubner

    We're delighted to have as our guest for this episode Tim Deubner, a produce and floral manager for Town & Country Supermarket. He’s been in produce for more than a decade now and is dedicated to making his career in the industry and continuing to advance through the ranks. He’s probably one of the best out there at using LinkedIn to share his success stories, explain his thought process in his work, and be candid about his ambition to keep growing in this industry. In this conversation, he visits with The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle about how he practices thinking like a produce director; how he found and engages with mentors throughout the industry; how he has broadened his skillset since moving from a corporate store to an independent store; how he built a cut-fruit program for his store; how he engages customers both in the store and online; why and how he shares about his work via LinkedIn; how he approaches opportunity buys; which metrics he watches most closely; how he's grown in the three years since he last appeared on the podcast; and more! Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did, and thanks for listening! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    41 min

  6. 09/08/2025

    Tony Mirack, director of produce, floral and salad bar at McCaffrey’s Food Markets

    We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Tony Mirack, director of produce, floral and salad bar at McCaffrey's Food Markets. In this conversation with The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle, Tony discusses his excitement about produce now having the "Wow!" factor thanks to varietal innovation in grapes, stone fruit, kiwi, berries, melons and more; the tricky calculus, given all the new varieties these days, of category management and SKU rationalization; how he measures success (spoiler alert — it goes beyond sales and profit); the information from growers that is most valuable to him; the philosophy that guides how he builds the ad; why he believes growers and shippers should visit their retailers and understand their customers; the power of educating your employees so they can educate your customers; how he allocates his time between strategy and planning and being in the stores working with the store-level teams; and much more. Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did, and thanks for listening!   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 11m

  7. 09/03/2025

    Marc Goldman, produce director at Morton Williams

    We're delighted to welcome as our guest this week Marc Goldman, produce director at Morton Williams Supermarkets, a 17-store chain that has served New York City since 1952 and was just acquired by Wakefern. Marc has been with Morton Williams the better part of 30 years, and in this conversation he talks about his career; changes he’s observing in the competitive landscape; what he's looking forward to about the acquisition; how he and his produce managers evaluate and evolve the assortment; what he looks for during store visits; the hardest part of the job for a produce manager today; his early experiences learning to lead a team; and more. Thanks for listening!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    42 min

  8. 08/26/2025

    VP of fresh foods Rick Stein on FMI's State of Fresh Foods report

    We're delighted to have as our guest on this episode Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods for the Food Industry Association, also known as FMI. Before Rick joined FMI in 2014, he spent more than 20 years at Safeway in various leadership roles across marketing, merchandising and operations, and he has overseen all sorts of large-scale special projects in that capacity. In this conversation, Rick and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss why produce saw greater unit sales growth in 2024 than any other perimeter department except deli foodservice; what percentage of retailers are using produce programs as differentiators and how satisfied they are with those programs’ performance; the mindset shift and supply chain improvements that have bolstered the availability of local produce in grocery retail; the role that retail media networks play for grocers currently and how that may evolve — and how fresh fits in; preserving the shopper experience as retail media grows; the growing importance of digital even as the vast majority of purchases remain in-store; the need to merchandise with meals in mind to better meet the needs of shoppers; and other topics including sales per labor hour, electronic shelf labels, stabilization of labor and supply chain challenges, and more. Hope you enjoy the conversation, and thanks for listening! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    56 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.1
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

The Produce Retail Podcast is the place for thought leaders in the industry to talk shop. Join us for conversations on strategy, business partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and much more. We'll have regular guests as well as more occasional visitors, and the goal is always to deliver conversations that inform, inspire and ultimately illuminate opportunities for growth. This podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, produce industry enthusiast and founder and CEO of Ashley Nickle Growth Strategies.  

Information

  • Creator
    The Produce Retail Podcast
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean