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>>neile: hello everyone, and welcome to focus on suppliers. i'm your host, neile jones. this week listen to svp of fresh for walmart, shawn baldwin as he talks to us about their when in fresh initiative and the importance of the customer shopping experience. and katie
holley of conagra gives suppliers insights on how to make the connection with fresh regardless of your product. plus, great tips if you're moving your company and your family. i'm neile jones. focus on suppliers starts right now. (music)
>>focus on suppliers is presented by 8th and walton, the premier destination for supplier development, and sponsored in part by dun & bradstreet, saatchi and saatchi x, casestack, excel displays and packaging, and other outstanding companies.
>>jessica: your millennial fun fact is that in 2015 millennials spent over 10 billion dollar in prepared or prepared fresh foods. this idea of a grocerant, not a restaurant, but a grocerant is starting to grow with millennials. this is an environment where they come into
a grocery store and they get to choose freshly made either slightly prepared or somewhat prepared foods. they get to create a fresh food environment at home but through their grocery store experience. this emotionally connects with millennials because they feel
better about their food choices and like they're making more healthy choices. we can motivate that by creating more environments where they get to see the ingredients that are going into their meal. we can facilitate that by making the purchases easy either through
online pick-up or when they're in the in-store environment. and we'll see you next week for your millennial minute. >>neile: we're starting something new here on focus on suppliers. we get a lot of questions from you from time to time about things like
legalities when it comes to your business or your personal life or maybe just moving from across the country. so to help us with that you're gonna notice from time to time our friends from hall estill will be here, which brings us to shareholder dick levin, also known as richard. so
nice to see you today. one of the things i wanna talk about, we see suppliers move around a lot from time to time. what's something they need to think about when they move from state to state that they might not know they really need to revisit?
>>richard: i think that a lot of people think that when you're born in the united states of america the law in any one of the states in any of the 50 states is identical to any place you are. so if you're in north carolina, the law would be the same as california or in
missouri or in arkansas. and that's just not the case. a real good example is you've, you've lived in north caroline. you've spent a lot of money and spent a lot of time with an attorney and you did estate planning for you and for your children and for the
possibility that something may happen to you. you do all of that. you take it. you put it in your suitcase. you bring it to arkansas. and you open it up and you go i don't have to worry about this because i already had it done in north carolina. and that's so not the fact. the
problem is that arkansas has its own laws having to do with estate planning. we have our own laws having to do with the, with how you would sign or execute a last will and testament. we have laws having to do with revocable trusts. and if you have it done in another state and come to
arkansas and don't have documents properly done with an attorney in arkansas then what can happen is just not good. the worst that can happen would be that that last will and testament or that revocable trust was not enforceable because it didn't meet the
laws of arkansas. that's something you never want to have happen. if it happens, unfortunately you don't have a will. unfortunately you don't have a revocable trust. everything you did to be able to take care of the kids is now in limbo. the worst part of this
whole thing is what i'm gonna tell you right now. and that is if that happens, the person that's gonna make the decisions won't be your family. it won't be your friends. it'll be a judge. and you just don't want that. you want your family to be taken
care of the way you wanted it to happen. >>neile: so when it comes to estate planning when you move from state to state you really need to vi-, revisit that with an attorney in that state qualified to make sure that you are in conjunction with the laws
in that area, and that things can move forward in the way that you want. now i'm sure that's also true in the world of business. if you have a company you have to check on things. are you in compliance? >>richard: compliance has something to do with it. i agree
with you. (chuckling) >>richard: when you talk about compliance and businesses. but money has a lot more to do with it. >>neile: right. >>richard: and it has a lot more to do with the state of arkansas
being able to figure out which businesses can do business here or which businesses shouldn't do business here or aren't doing business here. and if you're doing business in the state of arkansas in almost all cases the state of arkansas is gonna want some money to do
business. so if you're already licensed in a state and then you come to, and bring your business to arkansas and you don't file with the secretary of state, then you may, you may have penalties and interest that the state of arkansas is just delighted to be able to make you
pay. the way to get around that is simple. you can file as a foreign company. you can file as a domestic company. but again you should be checking with an attorney to figure out the best way to be abel to do it no matter whether you're a limited liability company, a
corporation or a partnership. >>neile: alright, dick. thank you so much for being here today. >>richard: thank you. >>neile: we'll be right back. >>neile: be sure to like 8th and walton on facebook. >>bentonville commerce. less
than 1 mile from the walmart home office. you'll love the convenience, amenities and customized options bentonville commerce offers. for more information or a tour, call 479-200-1112 today. >>america's biggest health fair is saturday, october 15th.
suppliers, find out how you can partner with walmart to transform preventative health care. for more information email irasema.roldan@walmart.com. >>bentonville plaza. across the street from the walmart home office. the best office location offers proximity and services
like no other business complex in the area. call 479-200-1112 today. >>neile: we've just learned a bit more about what you need to keep in mind when moving from state to state. what about if you just need a new building or your lease is up. we have an
expert here with us today. join me in welcoming today grady matthews who's the vice president at sage partners. thank you for being here. >>grady: thank you for having me. appreciate it. >>neile: and i just have to put out there we love working with
you guys. we are here in the bentonville plaza and you've taken good care of us and we're not going anywhere. >>grady: thank you. appreciate that. >>neile: now i also wanna say for suppliers when they start to think about relocating sometimes
they don't think about timing. is that one of the things people need to keep in mind? >>grady: absolutely. absolutely. typically if you are currently in the market and you have a lease that's coming up you need to be looking a year to 6 months out at new space if
that's what you wanna do. or even start renegotiating with your current landlord. that's important. absolutely important. if you get down to the end of the term that landlord may already have your space leased out and you will become homeless. so,
>>neile: so you, you need to know if you can have an extension or not. >>grady: absolutely. >>neile: and when you're looking at properties, what's something you need to consider as far as moving from your current location to another?
>>grady: a lot of times people are considering certainly their, their employee, their buyer if they're working specifically with walmart. how close do you wanna be? is proximity to the highway important? there's a lot of good product throughout the market well located whether,
whether you wanna be next to the highway or whether you wanna be close to the home office there's a lot of great things out there to consider. >>neile: so the consideration for your employees and those that you'll be working with. >>grady: absolutely. sure.
>>neile: and then what about money? >>grady: money is important. um, we see people sometimes jump the gun. they go look at space before they understand their, their corporate budget for space. space can range between $10 a foot for kind of a class c
office building not well located in the market to $28, even $30 a foot for space. so you need to know, have a good understanding of what your budget is. >>neile: and what's important to you because certain things come with, with different price points
>>grady: sure. >>neile: is that a good way to put it? >>neile: you give a great tidbit about furniture because you say you see this issue a lot. can you elaborate on the importance of furniture and timing? >>grady: sure. furniture is
important. um, people a lot of times get down to the end of a project, and they have not yet ordered their furniture thinking they can go pick it up like they do for a home. that is not the case. it takes at least 8 weeks to get furniture in. so be sure you consider your furniture
before, before you get down to the end of a term. otherwise you may be paying for a space and not have anywhere to sit. >>neile: well, and you talk about it needs to be appealing. if somebody comes to visit you in your office and you don't have furniture that's not
appealing. >>grady: not appealing, no. (laughing) >>grady: that's kind of awkward. >>neile: so is it fair to say the three points that you would reiterate to suppliers would be timing, budget, and other
considerations? >>grady: absolutely. i mean, it certainly is important a year to 6 months out you need to be looking at your options, either speaking with your current landlord or looking at new space, proximity to what's important to you. suppliers need
to be well located as far as their relationship with walmart goes. >>neile: and really plan ahead and be appealing. >>neile: alright. grady, thank you. >>grady: thank you. >>neile: joining us now a
special guest, mike bentel, to talk with us about the food safety modernization act as it relates to walmart. good to see >>mike: good to be seen. >>neile: we know that this is a major factor for walmart. this is one of their key focal points. why so much on the
fresh? >>mike: well, on the fresh side the consumer that goes into the store views the produce department as an extension of the store's brand. it's not necessarily the national brands or the cpg that you see with a brand label on it. so the
retailer is, when there, there are issues in the marketplace, the retailer is viewed as the person that provided that product, not necessarily a national brand. >>neile: well, and let's just say the rule's in place because it's a matter of
public health. >>mike: yeah. food safety and modernization act has really changed the mandated fda from being more reactive to proactive and, in the area of fresh produce that we're focusing on here today. it's gonna really focus on workers, wildlife, and
water. and each one of those have the potential to contaminate the product since the product's grown outside. so you, so you actually end up with a scenario where you can't eliminate everything, but these best practices within the industry and some of the
regulation as far as water quality will help minimize the industry's impact on food safety of the public. >>neile: and if you don't take this into account and start parlaying these rules into your everyday life there are consequences in addition to
making people sick. >>mike: absolutely. absolutely. so you have two different parallels here. you have a, a customer expectation which would be like walmart that has a certain food safety standard they want you to follow as far as being audited. and then you
have the federal government. you can meet one and not the other and other and not one meaning that you're actions or your policies could meet federal requirements, but not the third party audit requirement. and you have third party audits not, that would meet the federal
requirement. so it does create some conflict and it does cause a need for some, some strategic planning by whoever's running your food safety program and the senior management of the company to address all of things at once if you're gonna provide into walmart.
>>neile: and ignorance is no excuse as you've mentioned to us before. there's some pretty heavy things that can happen. >>mike: there's been some very well publicized incidents both within the nut industry, the egg industry, within the produce industry
>>neile: mmhmm. >>mike: where people actually have lost generational wealth and gone to jail over these issues. and it's not the things that they did purposely sometimes. it's things that they should or could've known at the time. and as a result
what ends up happening is is that they've injured people and there's nothing, both, you know, as a say in the election year, both republicans and democrats eat. so it's a non-partisan issue. and when you have food safety issues it does create an issue for politicians
to wanna weigh in and cause action to take place. >>neile: where is the first place people can go for a better understanding of what they need to do? >>mike: first, first place they can go is to a preventative control class uh, in order to
understand what they have to do in order to become a preventative controlled qualified individual to address some of these risks. >>neile: alright, mike, always good to see you. thank you so much for talking to us. >>mike: good to be seen. thanks.
>>neile: follow us on instagram @8thandwalton. >>beau terre office park is conveniently located off i-49 and near walmart's facilities. our beautiful campus is northwest arkansas's largest office park. let us build to suit your needs. rates start at
fourteen-fifty per square foot. visit beauterre.com today. >>casestack, the leader in collaborative retail consolidation programs. we offer the supply chain expertise needed to navigate the challenges of selling products with the world's largest
retailers. and we provide customers with a customizable, scalable, environmentally sustainable supply chain with the same advanced technology typically used by larger rivals. by leveling the playing field, casestack lowers distribution costs and increases overall
margins. casestack. retail logistics is what we do! >>you just had your buyer meeting. now there's follow-up to do. maybe your buyer wants more on seasonal sales or invited you to prepare a joint business plan or set up a date for your line review. 8th and
walton can help. our experts work with you one-on-one in a confidential setting to prepare for your next buyer meeting. the classes we offer help you, too. retail link, supply chain management, inventory management taught in cities across the country, in canada, and in latin
america. so before your next buyer meeting, contact 8th and walton, then relax knowing that you will be ready. >>neile: because fresh is a big initiative for walmart right now, we asked conagra to stop by which brings me to katie holley. thank you for being here today.
>>katie: you're welcome. thank you for having me. >>neile: well, we're glad to see you. really wanna talk to you about how conagra has worked to make that connection between fresh and, you know, getting the attention and the right place in the aisle.
>>katie: mmhmm. so conagra foods, we are predominantly in center of the store. so we are shelf stable. and for years we've always worked hard to make that connection with fresh. some of our products like reddi-wip we've always partnered with berries. and
rotel diced tomatoes it's an easy solution with an avocado for guacamole. so we've had some success in the past, but it really, um, our focus in connecting with fresh began about a year and a half ago when we were at walmart's year beginning meeting in orlando.
and they were very clear on their focus on fresh. and here i am, a supplier of a center of store brand, several brands, >>katie: and i'm trying to be relevant and, and make sure that i stay connected to walmart's strategy. so we worked hard to research with shoppers and
consumers to understand why is it that they're now spending more money outside of the home versus in the home on food that is consumed in the home. and it was really because their tastes are changing. >>katie: they're seeking more fresh options, but ultimately
their knowledge of cooking has really diminished. and so we found that we needed to find a solution to connect our products with fresh if we were going to remain relevant. and that solution has been what we call yes, you can. so it's a great, it's really founded on shopper
insights, and it's a promotion that we're working hard to build with the walmart shopper. >>neile: okay. you say yes, you can to me. >>katie: mmhmm. >>neile: can you elaborate on that >>katie: of course.
>>neile: to kind of explain what it is from conagra's point of view? >>katie: yeah. so i'm very passionate about yes, you can because it really, it focuses on empowering the shopper and, and telling them that yes, you can cook great meals. and with the
help of a canned product we can make it easier for you. we can give you more guidance to have more time. the number one, um, savings that people are looking for now is saving me time. >>katie: so it's very, deemed very valuable to them. and with our products partnered with
fresh products you can have great meals. so we've created a website that is foodyoulove.com/yesyoucan. and it's a blogging network of very passionate, um, you know, creative food bloggers. and then we've also spent a lot of time towards emails and facebook. and
we're, we're reaching the consumers with yes, you can through the, the same method that they're, they're looking for like tasty videos. >>katie: so very simple recipes. usually 3 to 4 ingredients that are again great, provide a lot of taste, and a lot of time
savings. >>neile: so you're seeing an impact there. how are you dealing with people wanting more natural foods? >>katie: right. so we, um, at conagra we have focused on, there's some areas of our business that already we're
very natural. um, for example, hunts tomatoes is one of our number one brands. and it was already, um, there, you know, that uh, tomato that's in the field to when it's in the can it's about 8 hours. that's all it takes. it is at, packed at its freshness. and um, we, we
call it fresh pack because it's very natural. it's only steamed. so we use flash steam process just like your grandma or your mom would do in the canning. >>katie: so it's just the flash steam. and that's the only thing that stands between
you and that tomato in, in that can is water. >>neile: thank you for taking the time to be here with us, katie. >>katie: thank you very much. >>neile: tampico spice company started back in 1947 with just $35 and a big dream. today we
have two special guests from the company today. please welcome david martinez and francisco medrano. thank you both for being here. >>pleased to meet you. thank >>thank you. >>neile: i'm so excited to talk to both of you. i wanna
start out and explore how you finally ended up in walmart >>neile: 'cause it was a long journey. and that's good for other suppliers to hear >>francisco: yes. >>neile: so they don't give up. >>francisco: that's, that is
correct. that is, it took us like about 10 years. but again during that period we had a, we attended a meeting in which people from walmart asked anybody has a question. so i just raised my hand and i said for 10 years i've been pursuing being your vendor. so
all i need is 2 minutes one-on-one under the decision maker so we can find out whether we become a vendor for you or not. >>neile: you said they laughed. >>francisco: yeah. >>francisco: so everybody laughed. but 3 days after i
receive a letter from walmart that said we would like to receive your full information about your company so i can consider you as a vendor. and here we are now. >>neile: which is fantastic! i mean, >>neile: so, speaking of being
in walmart let's, let's look at that a little bit. what do wish you had known about working with walmart? >>francisco: yes. some that i still wish is that i would know how to better communicate or have a more often communication with the buyer so that we are
able to share with him about what it is about our product that we feel make it a better option for him. >>neile: how have things changed now for you when it comes to doing business? i mean, is it business as usual? or is it a little bit different?
>>francisco: well, we knew all along that we would have a lot to offer to walmart based on our experiences on knowing the different cultures >>francisco: the different taste, the different preferences of every ethnic group, and also festivities. what type of spices
they use. and so we knew that being able to bring this knowledge will make us more positive in bringing the right assortment for the right store in a way that we can fulfill all of the needs of these multicultural, uh, customer that is constantly changing. but we
are able also to change with times and to change with the moves of the market. >>neile: well, so let's talk about a little bit, david, you travel across the world to find your spices. where, where all do you go? >>david: you know, there's 35
different countries that spices come from all around the world, but i've been to mexico. and i went to the oregano fields. um, you know, there's turkey where they sell the bay leaves and vietnam and india for the black pepper. china for the chinese garlic and the domestic garlic
which is in northern california. so it's a lotta, a lotta travel. >>neile: a lot of getting to know people. >>francisco: right. >>neile: what has the transition been like from generation to generation? you grew up in the
company, and, and now it's your time. >>david: well, i'm part of the third generation. i'm the oldest of 4 boys, and, you know, it's just an exciting time and exciting time to continue to grow the business. but the most important thing is that you
treat your workers well. 'cause when you treat your workers well they treat your customers well and profits will follow. >>neile: and you are very proud of not only the product, but the value. >>francisco: we are proud of
being able to offer to the consumer the best product that we, that they can get at the best possible value. that's what really make us proud. we focus on service and the final, the end consumer. and that's where we will continue to do so and what we will continue to do
in the future. >>neile: if you could give any other advice to suppliers who might be new to walmart or still trying to get into walmart what would you say? >>francisco: well, definitely we study their website so that they knew the requirements.
>>francisco: and the second is be very, very patient. be very, very patient and be very, very patient and stick to the principle and you will eventually get through and doing business with walmart is really very satisfying. >>neile: visit us at
8thandwalton.com to learn how you can become a better partner with walmart. >>what time is it? time to walk to defeat als. join us saturday, august 27th at the compton gardens. register your team at als-arkansas.org or call 479-621-8700.
(upbeat music) walton. then relax knowing that >>neile: joining us now is shawn baldwin, svp of produce from walmart. thank you so much for being here today. >>shawn: you bet. >>neile: you are actually a board member for the northwest
arkansas food bank. >>shawn: i am. >>neile: what prompted you to become involved in this organization? >>shawn: uh, well first of all, nobody should ever go hungry. uh, we, my wife and i both devote our time, talent and, and
our money into things that help children and help people make sure that they're not hungry. >>neile: so this was a natural fit for you. >>shawn: that's right. >>neile: is there a new, renewed effort when we talk about fresh food to have fresh products and
food for food pantries to choose from? >>shawn: yeah. we've worked our way through a lot of different products from the time we first started having the relationship with the food bank to get to a point where we can get more available for them over
time. especially perishable foods. perishable foods are extremely popular there at the food bank. the, the ones in cans last a lot longer, but the ones that people want the most are the ones that are fresh and better for 'em. >>neile: we know that fresh is a
big focal point for walmart right now. >>shawn: yeah. >>neile: walk me through some of the next steps and what we can expect to see. >>shawn: sure. we have a, a process and a, a program called when in fresh that we're doing
inside there. and so we're really basically walking back through the eyes of the customer to look at each of our fresh offerings throughout the building whether it's the, the bakery, the meat department, product area, all of it to really overhaul the customer
shopping experience. make it easier for 'em to navigate, easy to see and get through and, and basically see the changes that we're making in our assortment. >>neile: when we talk about fresh, how important are the local farmers when bringing in
that produce? >>shawn: we had a goal 2010 to double the amount of local produce that we're sourcing. and we got to it actually early. we do about 852 million dollars in local produce. >>neile: wow! >>shawn: so it's exciting
>>neile: so can you talk to me a little bit or speak to the importance of supply chain when it comes to providing quality products for you. >>shawn: sure. the supply chain is really the secret that goes on behind all of the work that's done to bring
somethin' to market in that situation. so the quicker you can get it out of the field from harvest and to somebody to let the customer have the extra days of shelf life, that's the secret. >>neile: for suppliers who are watching how can they be better
partners with walmart because that's certainly important information for us to share with them. >>shawn: sure. anytime you can use a rpc, a reusable plastic container we, we ask that people do that. anytime they can ship in those it helps cool down the
product quicker. it gets it on the road faster, and it provides a nice, safe environment for it to, to get there so we can get it across the country or across the state whenever we need to as fast and efficiently as possible. >>neile: so what are some ways
that suppliers can be involved with the food bank? 'cause the food bank actually services so many people in the area. a lot of folks don't realize how great the need is. >>shawn: a way people can help is again it's time, it's talent, it's money. if
there's product that they can give it helps in that situation. if it's time that they can give in volunteering that helps. or if they just support some of the rest of the efforts that the food bank does to try to raise awareness for it and then distribute it.
>>neile: what are some other things that you could use at this point? >>shawn: uh, honestly in that situation we try to focus on food, but all sorts of things have shown up there that they go ahead and distribute whether it's diapers or whether it's
paper supplies, other things that go around the, the food network. >>neile: so basically if someone comes to you and says hey, this is what we can donate you're not gonna say no. >>shawn: correct. >>neile: you'll find a place
for it. >>shawn: we had somebody call last week and said we have a, a bunch of eggs and we don't know what to do with 'em. where do we do with 'em? and that's a great place for them to get quickly taken care of and get distributed out to the
>>neile: good, healthy protein you get. >>neile: 'cause a lot of people don't realize that those who are worried about food many times are children. >>shawn: most of the time, yeah. more than you would expect are in that situation. and so
anything nutritious we can get or them is a benefit. >>neile: so if someone's out there watching, it's a supplier and they're like okay. i wanna contact them. i've got stuff to give to the food bank, what do they do? >>shawn: the easiest thing to do
is just call the number for the bank. and as soon as they do one of the folks there that man the phones would be happy to set 'em up with a time to deliver it and get it off their hands as quickly as possible so they can get it into the distribution >>neile: when we look at the
need for the future and the food bank and some of the things you hope to do with expansion, can we elaborate on that a little bit for our viewers? >>shawn: you'd be shocked at how much we get and then how tough it is actually to just get it distributed as quickly as
possible. so some of the things you'll see happen there is eventually we'll make it easier for them to come in and pick it up. and i know that sounds pretty simple, but that's the best way we can actually get more of them to participate as quickly as
>>neile: it was so interesting to hear what you were saying about the legacy and what you're working on with that when it comes to fresh? >>shawn: yeah. our, our president, greg foran, brought a program with him. it's called a legacy program which is an
excellent program. it basically challenged each of us to go back and look at the impact that we're having in our areas and what we wanna leave behind whenever we're done. and so each of us then have had a chance to go back and work on those initiatives inside
specific areas of the company that need to get better faster. >>shawn: one of those is in fresh. and so we've had a chance to do all sorts of things. invest, you know, time, invest hours, wages in the stores. invest in new fixtures. invest in new, all sorts of
things. just to overhaul the shopping experience for the folks who spend their time and money with us on the weekends when they come in and through the week. >>neile: if suppliers have questions and maybe they don't feel like they're getting the
answers that they need is there a point of contact for them to keep in mind when it comes to communication? >>shawn: absolutely. you can call anybody on our produce team. we also have, you can call me. i'd be happy to get a call from any one of them to talk
about anything that they have on their mind that they think could help. >>neile: okay. well, thank you so much for your time today. it's been a pleasure to visit >>shawn: you bet. same with you. i appreciate the time. >>our guests enjoy staying at
the 21c museum hotel and hosting dinner, meetings, and product launches there. >>neile: here are 3 key takeaways from this week's show you might wanna jot down. remember number one, customers wanna save money, but they also wanna save time. make things
easy for them. and suppliers can help organizations like the northwest arkansas food bank in several ways. you can donate your time, your money or your products. i'm sure they'd appreciate all 3 if you get my drift. also when you're trying to get fresh to store shelves,
streamline your efforts so that you meet regulations and your product is ready for consumers when it gets there. we'll see you next week.