I'm feeling relief as this is the 1st Memorial Day weekend in 10 years that I'm not responsible for Kroger's patty supply.
Thanksgiving is the big holiday for most Category Managers but my team's time to shine was Memorial Day & July 4th.
Running a supply chain with only 18 days of shelf life limits inventory availability but we managed to thrive and grow sales on patties especially 10 for $10 for 10 straight years.
The most memorable Memorial Day holiday was the first (only 3 months in role). Our shelf life was only 11 days at that time and we projected our demand would exceed capacity in our mid-west divisions.
Sure enough, we needed double what we could make. I was working with our suppliers to triage orders for 4 straight days to maximize the production.
We had 6 weeks until the July 4 holiday so we had to learn and adapt quickly. We projected orders further out, created an A/B schedule to limit changeovers, and used excess capacity to offset in other regions.
I love working in perishables because you don't have time to wallow on mistakes. You have to react, learn, and adapt to be successful for the long term because the clock is always ticking.
Have a great grilling weekend!
#groceryretail #processimprovement #cpg