How Knowing Customer Names Beats Big Box Convenience With Christina Melillo Of Buehler's Fresh Foods

Hello, everyone, this is Omnitalk Retail.

I'm Chris Walton.

And I'm Ann Mazinga.

And we are coming to you live from the Simbi and Omnitalk podcast studio at the Spartan Nash Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And we are pleased to introduce our next guest.

Our next guest is Christina Melillo.

She is the VP of Merchandising at Bueller's Fresh Foods.

Christina, thank you for joining us and welcome to omnitalk.

Thank you.

It's nice to be here.

Yeah.

Nice to be here in Grand Rapids.

It is.

It's nice, huh?

Yeah, it's been nice.

Nice little town.

I like it here.

I like it here a lot, actually.

It is great.

So tell us a little bit about yourself and also about Bueller.

Buellers, if you don't mind.

Okay, so I'll start with Buellers, if that's okay.

We are a 14 store chain of groceries, traditional grocery store in northeast Ohio.

Okay.

We've been in business since 1929.

We were owned by the Bueller family, but they exited the business in 2017.

We are now in Aesop.

So like I said, We've got 14 stores.

We also have off site liquor store.

We have an off site restaurant.

So just like I said, traditional grocery store.

So I am VP of merchandising.

I've been with Bueller 36 years.

Oh my gosh, that gives away my age.

I was 10 years old when you started.

Oh my goodness, 16.

So yeah, no, I started bagging groceries.

16.

Really?

Yeah, I was bagging groceries, went to college a little bit on and off, but kept getting promoted.

And so here I am, vice president of merchandising.

And that is one thing that I think is great about Buellers is that we do really focus on promotion within and opportunities for the people that we have.

So I was fortunate enough to be one of those people and kind of had someone take me under their wing and yeah, I'm so happy to be here.

How long have you been heading up merchandising?

Two years.

Two years as VP of merchandising.

Got it.

Yes.

I was in stores for quite a while.

Was assistant store manager.

Then I was in our merchandising group and did a little bit of buying.

Was a buyer for a little while.

So yeah, just really work my way up.

Great.

Wow.

Buellers is very lucky to have you.

36 years knowing and understanding and serving that customer base is really, really impressive, Christina.

Thank you.

You mentioned you have several stores in northeast Ohio, a pretty significant regional grocer in that area.

How does being a regional kind of influence your merchandising strategy when you compare Buellers to some of the other, other large chains that are out there?

So we're really lucky, I, I think to be in Ohio.

It's a great farming community.

Right.

So that's, we're big on local anyways because in some of our communities we were the first, very first grocery store.

Right, right.

So being the first there, you know, we had had some reach there.

But, you know, we know a lot of the farmers.

We go to the Mount Hope auction, it's an Amish auction.

And we know those farmers that are there.

We buy a good portion of our produce that's there.

So what we're selling, our customers know, is from local D farmers or local produce farmers.

So.

And we've had that history of buying from those groups for such a long time.

And our customers know that product.

They know that when we say we have Maurer Sweet corn, they know what it is and they know when we're going to have it and they're asking for it.

Right.

So it is really about our communities.

And then again, we have a lot of longtime employees and they know what they're selling to their customers.

They can speak to it.

Right.

And that's, I think, an advantage that we do have over a bigger size store chain.

That reminds me of how my family in Iowa talks about their groceries too.

I mean, you guys are in Ohio, but very, you know, very similar in terms of the makeup and how they think about things.

I'm curious too though.

Are there any other advantages that you would single out for Buellers in terms of how you approach the business overall as a company in relation to keeping pace with some of the larger national chains?

Yeah, so sure.

You know, everybody sells, you know, Cheerios, everybody sells milk.

Right.

You can almost get your groceries at the local gas station.

What I like to say is that we're also selling service in quality.

You are.

Okay, so you're coming to our, our store to talk to the, the wine manager who has a recommendation for you.

You're coming to our store because, you know, we're still making our donuts and you know, we're filling our cream sticks and, and we still decorate our own cakes.

We still have meat cases.

We're a full service floral shop.

Whereas a lot of places it's a grab and go.

You pick up a plant or a bouquet that's been sitting there maybe for a week.

Yeah.

And there's nobody there to tell you how to Care for that plant or that.

So, so I think that we are still very service focused and that's hard to be in the labor, you know, situation that it is today and the challenges that are out there.

So I think service is a big thing that, that we push.

What, what are you seeing as trends when it comes to how you provide service to your customers and especially in how you're buying.

Like, what food trends are you seeing as the VP of merchandising?

Yeah, so protein, I would say really?

That's probably a.

Not going to surprise anybody here.

Right?

But yeah, definitely protein.

The hydration packets and the hydration drinks with people, I think being very, I guess preventative right there, that's their health focus now is preventative.

So Christina, going back to the, the comments you made about protein, like, how overt is that change?

Like is it forcing you to rethink the store layouts, the amount of merchandising you're giving to certain products?

Like how, how impactful has that change been?

Yeah, well, it's big for several reasons, I think.

You know, GLP1, the dieting and everything like that.

I think there is people, there are people out there that are thinking about preventative health care and how can they live longer and what can they do.

And also you think about parents with the, the way sports are so intense in school, parents are letting their kids eat and drink protein and creatine and things like that.

The other thing is it just tastes better now.

Right.

You know.

Right, it just tastes better.

Just like good for you is not crapping.

Yes, right.

Was cardboard.

And it's the same thing with these manufacturers.

They, they see that people want convenience, they want portability, they want easy things.

And so they, they just love it.

They love the convenience of it.

They love the, the that it tastes better.

And are there new products too, like creatine?

Like, is that becoming more important of an element for you to have in a grocery store even?

We're struggling to get that because we, we buy from bigger suppliers.

Right, right.

We're trying to find, you know, more ways to get those, those types of items.

We do have what we call healthy living in our stores.

So we've been focused on, on those types of items for a long time, having items that are organic and non GMO and things like that.

So now it's kind of building that segment of the supplement part of it.

It's the better eating part of it.

Now it's the supplement part of it.

Like, what else can I add to.

My diet supplements being that's interesting, too.

Supplements being a bigger part of the grocery shopping experience for all the food is medicine reasons out there.

Right.

Yeah.

I'm big on the.

And I don't think I've talked about this.

I'm big on the.

The creatine gummies.

Like, that's the next trend I want to get into.

I haven't tried those yet, but.

Okay, I'm kind of digging those.

Gotta get it past my dentist wife first, but.

All right, well, let's get you out of here on this.

You know, as someone that's been in the grocery industry for, you know, a long time, what is what.

What excites you most about grocery in terms of how it's evolving and where you see the future going?

Yeah.

So it, it is really tough because in our markets especially, there's so much competition out there.

So I think we just have to stay focused as who we are.

And while that can be tough sometimes when you have big players, I still think that people, they want to.

They want you to say their name when they come in the grocery store.

They be able to have fresh ingredients.

They want to be able to, I guess, pick what they want.

And sometimes in big box stores, you can't do that.

So I'm excited because I still think that there is a market for who we are and who we want to be.

Right.

The best local grocery store in your community.

And I think we've got the people in place to do that.

We've got the.

We're maintaining that knowledge and we're maintaining that longevity of an employee.

And, you know, it is exciting.

There are new opportunities for us as we, we, you know, get into some of these things that, like supplements, there are categories we can build on.

It's tough to sell more Cheerios.

Yeah.

But as healthy living is out there and then that we make that a priority, there are still ways for us to grow our sales, to be impactful in our community, to support our community.

And.

And so that's what excites me the most because it, it can get scary out there when you get a meijer come in and.

And Right.

They come right across the street.

But I think people shop there for a little bit and then they kind of come back for.

They want to be treated as individual.

They want to be seen as important.

They like special offers that we have.

They like the special things that we can do.

They like.

We know their name when they come in the store.

How are you doing?

And, and so being, I think, in the community for a long time, that's what, that's what really helps us, you know, compete against those big, well stores.

And thankfully for the Bueller's customers, they have you making sure that the products that they want, the, the hydration packets, the protein, high protein items and the creatine, all that thing, you're working to bring all of those products in so they can get everything they want in that trip.

Well, Christina, thank you so much for taking the time with us today.

Thank you again to Simbi and Spartan Nash for hosting us here at the Food Solutions Expo.

And we still have a couple more interviews, so stay tuned and until next.

Time, be careful out there.