I am sick and tired of them coming to the bakery at 6:00 in the morning looking for stuff. Don't expect everything to be full at that time, especially if it has to be baked. We come in at 5:00 AM. Don't expect any particular item to be baked and ready by 6:00 AM. If a customer wants something that early, we need to know a day ahead of time so we can have it ready. Don't come around early in the morning and expect us to pull it out of thin air.
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
I am sick and tired of them coming to the bakery at 6:00 in the morning looking for stuff. Don't expect everything to be full at that time, especially if it has to be baked. We come in at 5:00 AM. Don't expect any particular item to be baked and ready by 6:00 AM. If a customer wants something that early, we need to know a day ahead of time so we can have it ready. Don't come around early in the morning and expect us to pull it out of thin air.
You have a point but you need to communicate this to that department or your store manager
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Yea, we have been talked to in the huddles about this at my store. But I guess it's also why they have our bakers coming in at 1 a.m. get the baking kicked off even earlier. So when the floor setter comes in at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. once markdowns are done they can grab the tall boys and rotate stuff out onto the floor as soon as possible. As we've already been informed it's our job to help out Clicklist.
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Excuse me but many of the items they ask for are things that get just a one day shelf life. For example, I had one of them today asking for asiago cheese bagels. Bagels are the first thing to go into the proofer. However, they take a good two hours are more to reach the right size. You also have to let them rest a few minutes before putting them into the oven. After they're baked, they need to cool enough so they can be handled without smashing them. So it's usually around 8:00 in the morning before they get put out. There's nothing that can be done someone wants one earlier unless they call the day before and we make it the night before. The earliest I will take any bread order is 8:00 AM unless of course I know about it in advanced and can make the item the day before. Bakery is different from other departments. We can't just go to the back get the item that's needed. If you want something that has to be baked and it's not out on the sales floor, you're just going to have to wait.
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Yea, we have been talked to in the huddles about this at my store. But I guess it's also why they have our bakers coming in at 1 a.m. get the baking kicked off even earlier. So when the floor setter comes in at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. once markdowns are done they can grab the tall boys and rotate stuff out onto the floor as soon as possible. As we've already been informed it's our job to help out Clicklist.
That would never work at our store: coming in at 1:00 AM. For one thing, we are a 24 hour store. So we can't fill everything up at once and then open the doors to let customers in. The shelves are being shopped continuously. Another thing is my other duties include other things besides baking. These tasks have to be done later in the day. The bakery manager everybody work during the day when the majority of customers are in the store. As the person with the most seniority in the department, if they did change the bakers time to 1:00 AM, I would ask to be put on a different shift and let the backup baker take over the primary baking responsibilities.
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Excuse me but many of the items they ask for are things that get just a one day shelf life. For example, I had one of them today asking for asiago cheese bagels. Bagels are the first thing to go into the proofer. However, they take a good two hours are more to reach the right size. You also have to let them rest a few minutes before putting them into the oven. After they're baked, they need to cool enough so they can be handled without smashing them. So it's usually around 8:00 in the morning before they get put out. There's nothing that can be done someone wants one earlier unless they call the day before and we make it the night before. The earliest I will take any bread order is 8:00 AM unless of course I know about it in advanced and can make the item the day before. Bakery is different from other departments. We can't just go to the back get the item that's needed. If you want something that has to be baked and it's not out on the sales floor, you're just going to have to wait.
Then that is something that needs to be addressed and resolved at your store. Customers that order through ClickList have no knowledge of anything you just said. These customers simply see an item available through the online ordering catalog, add it to their cart and then select a pick up time. Customers that pull up for their orders at 8:00AM/9:00AM aren't going to just sit there and wait in the parking spaces. If the customer doesn't get the item, he/she is less likely to use ClickList and may even be less likely to shop at Kroger, and that means less hours because less money is coming in. So, if you have ClickList coming to the bakery asking for stuff that isn't yet ready, then you need to communicate that to your department head as well as tell the ClickList employees to communicate that to the e-Commerce Supervisor. This way, your department head, the e-Commerce Supervisor and a member of management can have a discussion on how to address this.
So, if you have ClickList coming to the bakery asking for stuff that isn't yet ready, then you need to communicate that to your department head as well as tell the ClickList employees to communicate that to the e-Commerce Supervisor. This way, your department head, the e-Commerce Supervisor and a member of management can have a discussion on how to address this.
As a Clicklister, we do listen when we're informed. For example, in produce we were informed to tell them before a certain time if we were picking sliced fruit. We do that know. So they can order appropriately for the next day. It's a simple fix if the department supervisors communicate to each other. But we're hourly employees, too. We're not exactly given a lot of leeway on picking. If we out-of-stock too many items, we're dinged and told to substitute. We will. But eventually the order has to be marshaled, where the leads/supervisor have to try and find it so you get to talk to another ClickLister. Which is why most of us openly ask about products so we can tell leads about what time to expect it. Unfortunately, that doesn't help the 8-9am orders for the most part. We didn't set any of this up. Corporate came up with these idiotic methods. We keep saying there are better ways but it doesn't matter. There are still 12 hours a day that customers can pick up an order.
So, if you have ClickList coming to the bakery asking for stuff that isn't yet ready, then you need to communicate that to your department head as well as tell the ClickList employees to communicate that to the e-Commerce Supervisor. This way, your department head, the e-Commerce Supervisor and a member of management can have a discussion on how to address this.
As a Clicklister, we do listen when we're informed. For example, in produce we were informed to tell them before a certain time if we were picking sliced fruit. We do that know. So they can order appropriately for the next day. It's a simple fix if the department supervisors communicate to each other. But we're hourly employees, too. We're not exactly given a lot of leeway on picking. If we out-of-stock too many items, we're dinged and told to substitute. We will. But eventually the order has to be marshaled, where the leads/supervisor have to try and find it so you get to talk to another ClickLister. Which is why most of us openly ask about products so we can tell leads about what time to expect it. Unfortunately, that doesn't help the 8-9am orders for the most part. We didn't set any of this up. Corporate came up with these idiotic methods. We keep saying there are better ways but it doesn't matter. There are still 12 hours a day that customers can pick up an order.
All you can do is communicate issues with the e-Commerce Manager and Department Lead(s). It's then up to them to come up with a plan of action; all you need to do from there on out is simply your job to the best of your ability.
All you can do is communicate issues with the e-Commerce Manager and Department Lead(s). It's then up to them to come up with a plan of action; all you need to do from there on out is simply your job to the best of your ability.
That's exactly what we do. It's just frustrating when people assume we, as the hourly, have the ability to change anything. I know every single person in my department hates bothering other departments. And we know we're a pain in the butt when we have questions so we try and communicate answers to each other when we're told, especially the daily stuff like delivery and break down times.
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Yea, we have been talked to in the huddles about this at my store. But I guess it's also why they have our bakers coming in at 1 a.m. get the baking kicked off even earlier. So when the floor setter comes in at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. once markdowns are done they can grab the tall boys and rotate stuff out onto the floor as soon as possible. As we've already been informed it's our job to help out Clicklist.
That would never work at our store: coming in at 1:00 AM. For one thing, we are a 24 hour store. So we can't fill everything up at once and then open the doors to let customers in. The shelves are being shopped continuously. Another thing is my other duties include other things besides baking. These tasks have to be done later in the day. The bakery manager everybody work during the day when the majority of customers are in the store. As the person with the most seniority in the department, if they did change the bakers time to 1:00 AM, I would ask to be put on a different shift and let the backup baker take over the primary baking responsibilities.
You guys don't have a floor setter that comes in as well? Almost sounds like your bakery works like our Deli. Meaning they have one person down there at times and bakery will have 2. And then the floor setter at 3. Heck even our DH and back up managers are in at 6 or 7 at times. And they help too with other tasks at times. We also have a truck person that comes in about 7ish to 8 too. But yea I think it was combo shortened hours, Clicklist stuff, and even some things to do with one of the bakers needing to take her kid to his special classes.
And yea, my store is 24 hours as well. Just I think how they spread out some duties earlier in the morning. Just our problem is that there are a great majority of folks on in the morning. But as the afternoon hits, it dwindles down to 4-ish. And by closing down to just one person. But yea, I always think if the bakery was a little more organized at times. Things can run a lot more smoothly than they normally do.
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Yea, we have been talked to in the huddles about this at my store. But I guess it's also why they have our bakers coming in at 1 a.m. get the baking kicked off even earlier. So when the floor setter comes in at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. once markdowns are done they can grab the tall boys and rotate stuff out onto the floor as soon as possible. As we've already been informed it's our job to help out Clicklist.
That would never work at our store: coming in at 1:00 AM. For one thing, we are a 24 hour store. So we can't fill everything up at once and then open the doors to let customers in. The shelves are being shopped continuously. Another thing is my other duties include other things besides baking. These tasks have to be done later in the day. The bakery manager everybody work during the day when the majority of customers are in the store. As the person with the most seniority in the department, if they did change the bakers time to 1:00 AM, I would ask to be put on a different shift and let the backup baker take over the primary baking responsibilities.
You guys don't have a floor setter that comes in as well? Almost sounds like your bakery works like our Deli. Meaning they have one person down there at times and bakery will have 2. And then the floor setter at 3. Heck even our DH and back up managers are in at 6 or 7 at times. And they help too with other tasks at times. We also have a truck person that comes in about 7ish to 8 too. But yea I think it was combo shortened hours, Clicklist stuff, and even some things to do with one of the bakers needing to take her kid to his special classes.
And yea, my store is 24 hours as well. Just I think how they spread out some duties earlier in the morning. Just our problem is that there are a great majority of folks on in the morning. But as the afternoon hits, it dwindles down to 4-ish. And by closing down to just one person. But yea, I always think if the bakery was a little more organized at times. Things can run a lot more smoothly than they normally do.
Floor setter? I come in at 5:00 AM. If I'm by myself, I bake the bread and make the doughnuts. If another person comes in at the same time I do, they take care of making the doughnuts. Otherwise, they come in at 7:00 AM. I pull the leftover Artisan bread, clean the shelves, put out the new Artisan bread, and scan the outdates. I also run the bills so I know how big the order is. After baking the bread and taking my first break, I break down the frozen food order. The other person is responsible for bagging the bread and putting it out on the shelves. This includes slicing and bagging the day old Artisan bread that I pulled that morning. They are also responsible for doing the doughnut breakout for the next day regardless of whether or not they were the ones who made the doughnuts that day. A good bagger can have everything bagged and put out almost as fast as I can make it. If the last cart of bread comes out of the oven at 8:30 AM, they can have it out on the shelf before 10:00 AM. The rest of the time they have left they can help with whoever needs help the most. Notice I said, "A good bagger." There are some baggers who manage to stretch the job a full 8 hours. This is accomplished by taking extra long breaks and lunches and stopping to participate in every conversation within earshot.
The bakery manager comes in around 7:30 AM. She takes care of putting on orders, doing the CAP for pies, cookies, etc, and pulling the pre-made stuff out of the freezer. She also puts it out unless we have an extra person that day. She likes to be the one to pull the stuff out of the freezer so she knows exactly what we have when she goes to put the order on. CAO does the ordering for the pre-made stuff but it's far from perfect. It orders too much of some things and not enough of others. If the person doing the ordering is the one who's pulling the stuff out of the freezer, then they should know exactly what we're going to need.
Cake decorator comes in anywhere between 8:00 AM and 11:30 AM depending on who else is scheduled that day. They take care of filling all the cake cases and filling orders. The last person, who is sometimes the cake decorator, takes care of baking and packaging cookies, pies, croissants, etc and cleaning up.
After putting away the frozen food order, I go to lunch. When I get back, I do the CAP for the bread and do the breakout. Occasionally, if the frozen order is small, I'll have time to help bake pies and cookies.
Why do I do the baking, the frozen order, and the CAP and breakout? Because I'm the only one who can do all those jobs and do them all well. It sounds like bragging but it's the truth. Other people can bake bread but whenever I take a day off, I have to finish up what frozen food the person the day before was unable to put away. I can't imagine anyone from the afternoon shift being able to do the CAP and breakout and neither can the bakery manager. Also there's also the definite possibility of the closer calling in and the breakout not getting done. I know corporate wants it done differently, but their plan was based on the assumption that everyone can do all tasks equally. That simply isn't the case. Every store is different and every employee is different. We all have our strengths and weaknesses
Would you rather they just out of stock the bakery items? If so, be prepared to have management on your back for not having your department properly stocked. Departments get reprimanded by management when ClickList has to out of stock product. So, you can either provide ClickList with the product or deal with management. Take your pick.
Yea, we have been talked to in the huddles about this at my store. But I guess it's also why they have our bakers coming in at 1 a.m. get the baking kicked off even earlier. So when the floor setter comes in at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. once markdowns are done they can grab the tall boys and rotate stuff out onto the floor as soon as possible. As we've already been informed it's our job to help out Clicklist.
That would never work at our store: coming in at 1:00 AM. For one thing, we are a 24 hour store. So we can't fill everything up at once and then open the doors to let customers in. The shelves are being shopped continuously. Another thing is my other duties include other things besides baking. These tasks have to be done later in the day. The bakery manager everybody work during the day when the majority of customers are in the store. As the person with the most seniority in the department, if they did change the bakers time to 1:00 AM, I would ask to be put on a different shift and let the backup baker take over the primary baking responsibilities.
You guys don't have a floor setter that comes in as well? Almost sounds like your bakery works like our Deli. Meaning they have one person down there at times and bakery will have 2. And then the floor setter at 3. Heck even our DH and back up managers are in at 6 or 7 at times. And they help too with other tasks at times. We also have a truck person that comes in about 7ish to 8 too. But yea I think it was combo shortened hours, Clicklist stuff, and even some things to do with one of the bakers needing to take her kid to his special classes.
And yea, my store is 24 hours as well. Just I think how they spread out some duties earlier in the morning. Just our problem is that there are a great majority of folks on in the morning. But as the afternoon hits, it dwindles down to 4-ish. And by closing down to just one person. But yea, I always think if the bakery was a little more organized at times. Things can run a lot more smoothly than they normally do.
Floor setter? I come in at 5:00 AM. If I'm by myself, I bake the bread and make the doughnuts. If another person comes in at the same time I do, they take care of making the doughnuts. Otherwise, they come in at 7:00 AM. I pull the leftover Artisan bread, clean the shelves, put out the new Artisan bread, and scan the outdates. I also run the bills so I know how big the order is. After baking the bread and taking my first break, I break down the frozen food order. The other person is responsible for bagging the bread and putting it out on the shelves. This includes slicing and bagging the day old Artisan bread that I pulled that morning. They are also responsible for doing the doughnut breakout for the next day regardless of whether or not they were the ones who made the doughnuts that day. A good bagger can have everything bagged and put out almost as fast as I can make it. If the last cart of bread comes out of the oven at 8:30 AM, they can have it out on the shelf before 10:00 AM. The rest of the time they have left they can help with whoever needs help the most. Notice I said, "A good bagger." There are some baggers who manage to stretch the job a full 8 hours. This is accomplished by taking extra long breaks and lunches and stopping to participate in every conversation within earshot.
The bakery manager comes in around 7:30 AM. She takes care of putting on orders, doing the CAP for pies, cookies, etc, and pulling the pre-made stuff out of the freezer. She also puts it out unless we have an extra person that day. She likes to be the one to pull the stuff out of the freezer so she knows exactly what we have when she goes to put the order on. CAO does the ordering for the pre-made stuff but it's far from perfect. It orders too much of some things and not enough of others. If the person doing the ordering is the one who's pulling the stuff out of the freezer, then they should know exactly what we're going to need.
Cake decorator comes in anywhere between 8:00 AM and 11:30 AM depending on who else is scheduled that day. They take care of filling all the cake cases and filling orders. The last person, who is sometimes the cake decorator, takes care of baking and packaging cookies, pies, croissants, etc and cleaning up.
After putting away the frozen food order, I go to lunch. When I get back, I do the CAP for the bread and do the breakout. Occasionally, if the frozen order is small, I'll have time to help bake pies and cookies.
Why do I do the baking, the frozen order, and the CAP and breakout? Because I'm the only one who can do all those jobs and do them all well. It sounds like bragging but it's the truth. Other people can bake bread but whenever I take a day off, I have to finish up what frozen food the person the day before was unable to put away. I can't imagine anyone from the afternoon shift being able to do the CAP and breakout and neither can the bakery manager. Also there's also the definite possibility of the closer calling in and the breakout not getting done. I know corporate wants it done differently, but their plan was based on the assumption that everyone can do all tasks equally. That simply isn't the case. Every store is different and every employee is different. We all have our strengths and weaknesses
Yes, each store is different and have their own strengths and weaknesses. But oh my God. O_O You are totally running that department and thensome! You aren't the head baker, you are the Department Head and everybody! Man if you go on vacation the whole place must shut down.
They do the same thing with the meat Dept at 5 am ......5 AM !!!!!!
That's because there are orders due at 8:00AM. All ClickList orders are supposed to be complete one hour ahead of a customer's scheduled pick-up time. This means that 8:00AM orders are supposed to be done by 7:00AM. With multiple 8:00AM orders, picking has to start at least a couple of hours in advance in order to get the orders done on time. That's just how it works.
They do the same thing with the meat Dept at 5 am ......5 AM !!!!!!
That's because there are orders due at 8:00AM. All ClickList orders are supposed to be complete one hour ahead of a customer's scheduled pick-up time. This means that 8:00AM orders are supposed to be done by 7:00AM. With multiple 8:00AM orders, picking has to start at least a couple of hours in advance in order to get the orders done on time. That's just how it works.
Well then the Click List people need to inform their customers that orders for items that are baked on the premises need to be placed 24 hours in advance. Even before Click List came on the scene, we would tell people the earliest they could pick up a bread order was 8:00 AM. However, that was when we knew about the order and could prepare for it. Don't expect the same thing when you show up at 6:00 AM and expect us to have five packages of 8-count croissants just ready to go at a moment's notice.
They do the same thing with the meat Dept at 5 am ......5 AM !!!!!!
That's because there are orders due at 8:00AM. All ClickList orders are supposed to be complete one hour ahead of a customer's scheduled pick-up time. This means that 8:00AM orders are supposed to be done by 7:00AM. With multiple 8:00AM orders, picking has to start at least a couple of hours in advance in order to get the orders done on time. That's just how it works.
Well then the Click List people need to inform their customers that orders for items that are baked on the premises need to be placed 24 hours in advance. Even before Click List came on the scene, we would tell people the earliest they could pick up a bread order was 8:00 AM. However, that was when we knew about the order and could prepare for it. Don't expect the same thing when you show up at 6:00 AM and expect us to have five packages of 8-count croissants just ready to go at a moment's notice.
That's on corporate to fix, not ClickList. ClickList at the store level has no control over what customers can order and when customers can schedule pick-up times.
