One Day, One Job » food merchandising

Driscoll’s

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:16:09 +0000

In my fiancée’s mind there is no better dessert than fresh berries and whipped cream. I’d probably add a piece of chocolate cake to that, but the biggest variable in the equation is almost always the berries. Good berries, whether they’re strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or snozberries, taste better than candy, while bad berries often taste like dirt. Since I share Jerry Seinfeld’s feeling that fruit is a gamble, I’m not particularly brand conscious, but checking my refrigerator tells me that my most recently purchased strawberries are from Driscoll’s. They’re a Watsonville, CA based berry purveyor that has been family owned and operated for more than 100 years.

It’s the Berries!

The fruit business is tough. Many people see fruit as a commodity, but it most certainly isn’t. We often attribute especially good or bad fruit to randomness, but the truth is that there are a lot of inputs that determine quality. While Driscoll’s doesn’t actually farm the berries that they sell (they partner with independent farmers to do so), they do everything they can to ensure quality and maintain their position as a premium berry purveyor. It’s a surprisingly complicated process to get delicious berries into the hands of consumers all across the world, which means that you’ll find all kinds of jobs on Driscoll’s Careers page. Some opportunities that look well suited for new or recent grads include:

Category Development Specialist (Olathe, KS)
Blueberry Production Specialist (Oregon)
Administrative Specialist (Watsonville, CA)
Production Specialist (Santa Maria, CA)
Business Analyst (Watsonville, CA)
Organic Extension & Grower Support (Camarillo, CA)
Production Specialist I (Camarillo, CA)
Production Specialist (Camarillo, CA)
Organic Specialist (Watsonville, CA)

If you love berries, then Driscoll’s would be a wonderful place to start your career.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite kind of berry?

Dannon

Willy Franzen — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:58:48 +0000

I’ve never been great about eating breakfast, but when I do eat breakfast, I try to get as much protein into the meal as I can. My problem is that I find eggs completely unpalatable. One can only eat so much sausage and bacon, so I’ve had to find some other protein sources. Sometimes it’s a glass of milk and a scoop of peanut butter, and other times it’a bowl of yogurt. Yogurt’s certainly nothing new (it’s essentially been around since bacteria and milk mixed, but humans have been producing it for millennia), but it’s experienced quite a spike in popularity lately. Probiotics and Greek yogurt are probably the two biggest trends in the industry right now, and they’re part of the reason that Dannon is “one of the fastest growing consumer products companies in the U.S.” While based in White Plains, NY, Dannon is a subsidiary of a multi-billion dollar French company called Groupe Danone). That shouldn’t matter all that much to you, though, as Dannon seems to operate mostly independently.

Yo Yo Yo

The name Dannon is indelibly tied to yogurt. They rank #2 on Google for the keyword “yogurt” just behind the Wikipedia entry on the topic. That’s actually an article you should read if you want to consider a job at Dannon. I can’t imagine working for them and not knowing the basics on their product. Dannon has been around since 1942 (only a tiny fraction of yogurt’s history), and in that time they’ve innovated a lot. Just take a look at Dannon’s product lines to get a sense of what’s possible with yogurt. What I find most interesting is that in every product there’s a purpose–a story that helps Dannon expand their market. If these stories appeal to you, then you may want to consider a job at Dannon. Their Careers site is called SomethingSpecialInside.com, and on it you’ll find some great opportunities including:

Assistant or Associate Brand Manager
Associate Marketing Manager – Innovation
Automation Engineer (Minster, OH)
HR Generalist (Minster, OH)
Key Account Associate (Bentonville, AR)
Quality Control Laboratory Technician (Portland, OR)
Revenue Specialist (Cottonwood Heights, UT)
Sales Analyst (Bentonville, AR)

There are some pretty interesting opportunities at Dannon, so browse through them and see if any get you excited.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Dannon.com
SomethingSpecialInside.com (Dannon’s Careers Site)
About Dannon
Dannon’s Products
Working at Dannon

What do you eat for breakfast?

Batter Blaster

Willy Franzen — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:45:06 +0000

Apparently IHOP has declared it National Pancake Day. (Shouldn’t the company formerly known as The International House of Pancakes call it International Pancake Day?) I tried checking out their website to look for interesting opportunities, but it’s getting slammed from all of the holiday related traffic and the site is inaccessible. I’m not kidding. Free pancakes do that to people. Since I’m a fan of making my own pancakes, I decided to celebrate a corporation’s self-created, self-serving holiday by spotlighting one of their competitors. Since I’ve already featured King Arthur Flour, my favorite source of raw materials for pancakes, I thought it would be fun to take a look at Austin, TX based Batter Blaster in celebration of such an important holiday. In case you’re the type who hasn’t been exposed to the finer things in life, Batter Blaster is essentially a whipped cream can that releases pancake or waffle batter. It sounds completely ridiculous, and then you try it. It’s so easy and mess-free, but what’s in it. Then you look at the label and the ingredients are organic. Genius.

Have a Blast

I’ll warn you ahead of time, Batter Blaster doesn’t have any current jobs posted. So why am I telling you about them? Because if you’re only applying to companies with jobs posted, you’re selling yourself short. Batter Blaster has a great story (seriously, read it) and is making millions in revenue. Two years ago they only had 16 employees. It could be the perfect place for a hard working new grad to show his or her hustle and start an amazing career. They also may not be hiring. But when you see something cool, whether it’s Batter Blaster on the supermarket shelves, a new website that your friends are talking about, or a really catchy tv commercial, use it as a jumping off point for your job search. Identify who’s behind it, and then do your best to figure out how the business works. If you think there’s something meaningful you can add (read: you can make them more money), then reach out to them. You have nothing to lose. Now I know I said there aren’t any current jobs posted at Batter Blaster, but I did come across this posting for a Brand AmBLASTador from Fall 2010. It may be outdated, but it will give you an idea of what they’re looking for and how they operate.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Batter Blaster?

Johnsonville Sausage

Willy Franzen — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:35:34 +0000

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays. Some think that it’s unfortunate that the day has taken on a dual meaning, but I really enjoy both parts of the holiday. That’s why we took a look at Hope for the Warriors and their potential job opportunities yesterday, and today we’re going to look at the lighter side of Memorial Day. In past years we’ve featured jobs at Weber-Stephen, The National Park Service, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway because all three have solid connections to the holiday. Today it’s all about Johnsonville Sausage, which is based in Sheboygan Falls, WI. I’m back to talking about grilling because it’s the first Memorial Day in three years that I’ll actually have a grill at my disposable. I’ll admit that Johnsonville products aren’t my first choice for grilling (I like steaks), but I do love brats.

Take a Trip to Johnsonville

Apparently Otto von Bismarck said, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” As someone who took a class called Meat Science in college and got an A+, I completely disagree. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the sausage making process, especially when you get to cook and eat it after the fact. Johnsonville Sausage is probably best known for their bratwurst, but they also offer Italian, Breakfast, Smoked, and Snack Sausage. Johnsonville also recently started offering three types of chicken sausage. If you’re excited about any of these types of sausage, then you need to check out jobs at Johnsonville Sausage. They have a pretty nice looking careers site (it makes me hungry) and some interesting jobs posted (though nothing immediately available that looks perfect for a new grad), so give them a look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are you grilling for Memorial Day?

Goya Foods

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:35:11 +0000

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I haven’t done a celebratory post for today’s holiday since I featured Party City in 2008, so I think it’s about time. In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is mostly a general celebration of Mexican culture (much like St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Irish culture). In my opinion there’s no better way to observe this kind of holiday than by enjoying the culture’s food (some may prefer imbibing the culture’s alcoholic beverage of choice). When I think of Mexican food, Secaucus, NJ based Goya Foods is one of the brands that comes to mind. They are the “the largest, Hispanic-owned food company in the United States,” and they consider themselves “the premier source for authentic Latino cuisine” (that also includes Spanish, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Central & South American foods). The company offers more than 1,500 products, and many of them are ingredients for home cooking, which is exactly what holidays like Cinco de Mayo should really be about.

The Goya Mystery

Goya Foods is a big company. They have more than 3,000 employees, and they were the 355th largest privately owned company in 2006 according to Forbes. Yet, there is absolutely no evidence that they have jobs. They don’t have a Careers page. There aren’t any job listings that I can find through Google. There’s nothing. The only thing that I could find were some jobs at Flightpath, an ad agency that serves Goya. You’re probably asking why I’m writing about them then. Occasionally, I like to give you a challenge. Goya clearly has jobs. With 3,000+ employees and a good number of them on LinkedIn, there have to be some opportunities available. There aren’t any articles about layoffs or hiring freezes. There’s nothing. That doesn’t mean you should give up your interest in potentially working for Goya. Do some research, and start reaching out to people. See what you can find. It may not lead anywhere, but if you do find an in, you probably won’t be dealing with much competition for the job. And if you solve the mystery, please let me know how you did it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

Russell Stover

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:15:58 +0000

I always like to tie in holidays to the companies that I feature, so when Easter comes around I usually go looking for candy companies. Last year I actually found a candy related non-profit in PMCA, but in previous years I’ve featured Jelly Belly and Just Born Quality Confections (Peeps!) on Good Friday. I’ve also used other holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day to look at even more candy companies including Mars, The Hershey Company, NECCO, Charles Chocolates, and Vosges. I guess you can tell that I have a sweet tooth. This year we’re going to take a look at Russell Stover, a Kansas City, MO based confectioner that also owns Whitman’s and Pangburn’s. They’re the nation’s third largest chocolate manufacturer behind Hershey’s and Mars, and they’re the leader when it comes to boxed chocolates.

Are You Sweet on These Jobs?

I have to admit that Russell Stover doesn’t always do it for me at Easter time. Their chocolate bunnies are pretty good, but I feel like I’m too old to be chomping on a chocolate bunny these days. I much prefer marshmallow and peanut butter eggs, and I think Hershey’s and Reese’s have Stover beat on the respective products. There must be a lot of people who disagree with me though, because Russell Stover candies seem to get a ton of shelf space. If you’re one of them, then maybe you’ll want to consider a career at Russell Stover. Their Jobs page offers some information, but it oddly doesn’t provide a listing of jobs. They do, however, invite interested applicants to apply to jobs@rstover.com. If you’d prefer to actually have a job to apply to, you can use our Indeed search function to get a better read on Russell Stover’s current job offerings. They’re a pretty big company, so there should be a relatively wide range of opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you enjoy Russell Stover candies?

CytoSport

Willy Franzen — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:42:19 +0000

A few days ago I started reading The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss on my Kindle. I enjoyed his first book, The 4-Hour Workweek, and I like Tim’s blog, so I figured it was worth a read. It’s a little out there, but I find that there’s always something that I can learn from Tim whether it’s what he’s actually teaching or how he’s teaching it. Anyway, The 4-Hour Body focuses on hacking your body to improve performance, so most of the focus is on diet, exercise, and supplementation. I’m somewhat familiar with diet and exercise, but I’ve never used supplements beyond a few scoops of whey protein. I do know that supplements are big business, and one of the big players in the industry is CytoSport, which is based in Benicia, CA. They aim to provide the highest quality nutritional products to professional and amateur athletes striving to reach their potential,” and they do that one of the biggest brands in the space, Muscle Milk.

Let Them See You Flex

What really makes CytoSport stand out is that they “wholly own [their] manufacturing and packaging equipment and facilities,” which means that they control the entire production process “from raw materials to finished products.” This is huge in the supplement industry because quality control can be a huge problem. CytoSport is a family business that has been around for 12 years, and they stake their name on quality. As they say, “Driven by Science – Inspired by Performance.” CytoSport even has a line of products specifically for NCAA athletes—they’re guaranteed to “meet the unique needs for Collegiate Athletics as outlined under NCAA® bylaw 16.5.2.2 for nutritional supplements.” If you’re fitness focused and interested at working at one of the top brands in the supplement industry, then you should check out jobs at CytoSport. They don’t list specific positions, but you can use LinkedIn to get a feel for what types of opportunities might be available.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used any CytoSport products?

Food Should Taste Good

Willy Franzen — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:44:24 +0000

Today we’re going to talk about Cheetos. They are the epitome of snack food—you can’t stop eating them. Do you know why? Because they taste awful. It makes sense if you think about it. The only way to get the awful taste out of your mouth from the previous Cheeto is to eat another one. Then you eat the whole bag. You trick yourself into thinking they taste good. I can take something that tastes bad if it’s healthy, but that’s something that Cheetos definitely aren’t. Food Should Taste Good. That’s not just a statement, but it’s the name of today’s company. They’re a Needham, MA based company that is “dedicated to making wholesome, healthy snacks.” They think that real ingredients are the key to great tasting food, and I think they’re right. Their name may seem kind of obvious, but judging by some of the stuff that I see on store shelves, maybe it’s not.

Jobs Should Taste Good

Food Should Taste Good’s product offerings straddle between the chip and cracker categories, but it appears that everything is of the tortilla variety. Their flavors range from old standbys like Blue Corn, White Cheddar, and Multigrain to more interesting offerings like Lime, Sweet Potato, and Chocolate (I’ve got to try those). It’s a small company based on a simple idea, but they’re growing at a massive rate—1,952.2% over the past three years. They’re now at $34 million in revenue, and LinkedIn says that they only have 30 employees. If you’d like to join their team, you need to reach out to them and let them know that you’re interested. They don’t appear to post any specific positions, but their Join the Team page should tell you everything that you need to know to apply. It sounds like a pretty delicious place to work.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Food Should Taste Good’s products is your favorite?

Sambazon

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:55:37 +0000

I don’t know if you’ve heard of açaí, but apparently it’s all the rage these days. In fact the buzz has gotten so big that the newest Internet scam is to push açaí as celebrity-endorsed weight loss products. This is giving açaí, a berry that has “30x the antioxidants of red wine, and an essential fatty acid profile similar to olive oil,” a terrible reputation. I think that we all know that this berry isn’t going to solve all of your problems, but that doesn’t mean that you should miss out on “getting with the purple berry.” Sambazon is a company that does açaí right. They “promote sustainable management of the Brazilian Amazon by providing the highest quality whole food, organic, fair trade Açaí products to consumers.” In other words they make products like juices, smoothies, energy drinks, sorbets, and supplements (with no false promises of instant weight loss like the scammer/spammers). I think that I first heard about Sambazon over a year ago from the Inc 5000, but I’ve been waiting for them to post some jobs that I can feature here.

These Jobs Are the Berries

Finally, Sambazon has some jobs that I think that some of you might be interested in, but first you should get to know the company a little better. The best way to do that is to check out their blog. Lately Sambazon co-founder, Ed “Skanda” Nichols, has been doing a series called The Real Deal Açaí Blog Series to address all of the crap that has been going on in the açaí industry. Reading up on this series is probably the best way to get a feel for what the company is about and how they work. If you like what you see and want to be part of the Sambazon Team (which is actually for athletes sponsored by Sambazon), then you should check out Sambazon’s Jobs page, which is hidden in a tiny font on the sidebar of their Contact page. The jobs that they have aren’t exactly ideal for most new college grads, but they look pretty cool. Sambazon is looking for Part-Time Retail Sales Merchandisers/Demonstrators in Dallas/Ft. Worth; TX, Houston, TX; and Seattle, WA. These are sales jobs that require a lot of travel by car, but they’ll get your foot in the door of a company that is cool, exciting, and growing. The application instructions differ depending on which location you’re applying for, so check out the job postings to get all of the details. Also, if you think that you could add something to Sambazon team even though they don’t have a job posted for you, you can always try reaching out to them at jobs@sambazon.com

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever tried açaí?

POM Wonderful

Willy Franzen — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:42:55 +0000

For a long time fruit juices other than orange juice (and prune juice) were largely the domain of young children. I’m not sure why this was, but I still to this day feel like a kid when I drink juice. Over the past few years we’ve seen juice gain in popularity – not grape or apple juice, but more exotic juices like pomegranate, cherry, and acai. POM Wonderful has been one of the companies that profited the most from the upswing in adult juice consumption. Maybe it’s all of the health benefits of the pomegranate that is convincing adults to hit the juice. It’s hard to not like something that improves cardiovascular and prostate health while also improving erectile function. Not to mention that pomegranates are loaded with antioxidants. With those health benefits and great marketing, POM Wonderful is primed for continued success – they’re the largest producer of pomegranates in the United States.

Wonderful Entry Level Jobs

How could you not want to work for a company with “Wonderful” in its name? They make delicious juices, they have clever packaging, and creative ads. They also have jobs all over the world, although their entry level opportunities seem to be restricted to West Los Angeles, CA. Right now there are two jobs available that look like they might be good ways for new college grads to get a foot in the door at POM Wonderful. These jobs are Administrative Assistant and Administrative Sales & Merchandising Coordinator. You can find the full descriptions by visiting POM Wonderful’s Careers page, and you can apply online directly from the job postings. Sounds wonderful, huh?

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you drink POM?

Wegmans

Willy Franzen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:00:37 +0000

If you’ve never spent time in upstate New York or the mid-Atlantic, you probably don’t even know what Wegmans is. The One Day, One Job team is made up of Cornell kids, so we developed quite the obsession with the supermarket chain during what we call our “time on the hill.” For those of you who aren’t blessed with a Wegmans in your college town, we’ll fill you in. Wegmans is the best supermarket in the world. Wegmans is an acceptable place to take a date for dinner. Wegmans is the place to go when you decide to bake cookies at 3:00 A.M. Wegmans is the thing you miss most about college after you graduate. And in case you didn’t know, Wegmans is also one of the best places to work in America – Fortune Magazine has had them on their list of the 100 Best Places to Work for 11 straight years (#3 this year, top 10 the past 6 years).

From what we can tell, Wegmans doesn’t offer entry-level job opportunities in the sense that we usually talk about. They have a ton of jobs that require no prior experience, but they’re not jobs that require a college education either. Wegmans is a bottom-up type of company, so starting out as in a “customer service” role is probably necessary to future success in a leadership position at Wegmans. It might be possible for some to leap into some sort of management position based on education and internship experience, but we wouldn’t count on it. Considering that Wegmans has over 35,000 employees, we’d imagine that they also have corporate jobs at the their headquarters in Rochester, NY, but we can’t find much information about them. That’s because Wegmans fills most of those jobs with people who have succeeded at the store level. The only fast track at Wegmans is great performance and customer service while working in the trenches.

Wegmans offers both pay and benefits that are unparalleled in the grocery industry. In fact, they might even be competitive with other entry-level jobs that you’d be looking at. What really stands out, though, is Wegmans’ scholarship program. In the program’s 25 years, they’ve awarded $63 million in scholarships. This isn’t just for you to go to college, but also to extend your education in other ways. For instance, someone in the meat department might be able to get a scholarship to study charcuterie (sausage making) in France. How cool is that?

The types of jobs that Wegmans offers may not be exactly what you’re looking for after you graduate, but take some time to think them over. If you want to go into food merchandising or marketing, there are few better places to learn the ins and outs of the grocery business. The same can be said if you want to learn how companies can use customer service as a competitive advantage. Wegmans is also a great place to get started in a culinary career. So, before you write off Wegmans’ jobs because they won’t put your degree to use right away, consider your future aspirations and how Wegmans might be able to help you achieve them.

To get a job at Wegmans, use their store locator to find a location near where you want to live and then browse through their job listings.

P.S. While we were writing this post, Wegmans completely revamped their website. All the links we put together changed. We did our best to update them, but there might be a few things that we missed. That’s just more of a reason for you to head over to Wegmans.com and check it out for yourself. The new site is a big improvement in a lot of ways, and it has even more information than before.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at Wegmans.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you’re not going to apply for a job at Wegmans, at least figure out which of your friends go to school in a Wegmans town, so that you can make a road trip and go visit them.