The Shelby Report of the Midwest recently visited with Jenny Osner, who along with husband Clint owns Hired Man’s Grocery & Grill in Conway Springs, Kansas, to find out how the pair got started in the grocery industry and their strategy for standing out in a competitive market.
How did Hired Man’s Grocery & Grill come to be?
Seventeen years ago, when the only grocery store in town closed, Conway Springs became a food desert. My husband, Clint, and I saw an opportunity to serve our community.
With the help of extended family – including brothers, uncles, cousins and brother-in-laws – we built our 7,500-square-foot store over nine months, working mostly on weekends.
Has your family always been in the grocery industry?
No. When we started the store in 2008, I was a full-time elementary school teacher and Clint worked as a welder. For several years after we opened the store, the two of us continued working in those careers.
My mom, Nancy Koester, became the store manager during the day. After work, both Clint and I – along with our three kids – would come to the store and work through the evenings and weekends.
Clint’s dad, George, was a butcher years ago at the old grocery store and has been instrumental in the success of our butcher department. His dad and mom, Donna, continue to come to the store each day and work along with Clint in the butcher room.
For those not familiar with Conway Springs, how would you describe it?
We are a community-centric rural town of 1,200 people about 30 minutes southwest of Wichita. Dollar General is across the street and the closest big box store is about 20 miles away.
What sets Hired Man’s apart from other grocers in the area?
We are most known for our exceptional meat department. Our reputation has enabled us to pull shoppers in from surrounding communities, and we’ve been known to have people from various states stop in to purchase our meat.
Clint, along with his butchering team, works hard to provide store-ground beef, as well as specialty meat items. Those range from stuffed and bulk sausage (original, garlic, Italian and jalapeño) and homemade brats of various flavors to specialty burger patties (jalapeño cheddar, garlic, mushroom and our bacon burger blend known as Texas Squeal) and cut-on-site steaks.
One of Clint’s meat innovations, Candy Corn Brats, helped Hired Man’s win the Local, Specialty or Emerging Products Award from the National Grocers Association last year. We thought selling these brats would be a one-season event. Instead, it has turned into an annual request.
How does Hired Man’s build and maintain strong customer relationships?
Although we are conscious about what our competitors are doing, we focus on what we can provide to our customers so they continue to keep choosing to shop with us. We don’t expect their business; we want to earn it.
Additionally, we provide products they cannot get in the big-box stores, not only in the meat department but througout the store. And we are blessed with a great staff that is helpful, friendly and efficient. Working closely with our neighbors, friends and family, we all take pride in serving our community.
We also believe in the importance of stocking the freshest possible items – produce, bakery, meat and deli items and the like. Providing our customers what they need in a rural community helps us retain our repeat customers and draw from other communities as well.
[RELATED: Midwest Grocery: How Rural Nuance Allows Regional Independents To Thrive]
Is being involved in the community important to you?
We believe in being active stewards and a visible resource in our community.
We sponsor many church and school events throughout the year, but we also have our own events that give back to our customers.
Each July, we celebrate our anniversary with a month-long customer appreciation event. For every $100 spent that month, customers receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win prizes like Yeti coolers and cornhole boards, among others.
Can you tell me more about the care packages you put together?
One of our favorite community activities is supporting our Hometown Heroes. We invite members of our community to submit the name of someone from the Conway Springs area stationed in the military away from home.
Each soldier is sent a support box with a T-shirt and snack food they enjoy, along with personal care items. We include a handwritten letter acknowledging those serving our country as Hometown Heroes.
How do shoppers view your store?
For some customers, we are their main grocery store. For others, we are a fill-in stop for grocery items. Customers also shop with us because they can get in and out of our store quickly.
Regardless of why they shop – whether it is for our weekly sales, extended sales, Hired Man’s app deals, meat department, customer service or local products – our goal is to make sure they have a positive experience so that they want to come back.
Can you tell me a little about the decision to focus on local?
We are dedicated to circulating money back into our local community, so we partner with local producers to feature their fresh produce, eggs, honey, salsa, mustard, barbecue sauce, etc., in our store.
The decision to carry local is also customer driven. Many shoppers today want to know where their food is coming from and like to support local farmers. By offering local products right beside the national brands, customers appreciate having choices. Putting local dollars back into our community is a win-win situation.
Speaking of local, can you tell me your version of that word?
Instead of saying “local,” we like to say we are “Homegrown.” We feature that on our signs, on the shirts we wear, on our aisle markers, etc.
Clint and I are homegrown. We were raised in Conway Springs, graduated high school here, as did our kids. We are proud to live and work in our rural community.
How do you manage labor costs and staffing challenges?
We are lucky to have a great staff of about 25 workers. We could never do what we do without all our employees dedicated to serving the community.
We do our best to honor their scheduling requests and the number of hours they want to work each week. Some want part time, and we want to respect those days off. Others want full time and possible overtime hours when available.
With our high school-age employees, we happily work around their schedules. We don’t expect them to miss out on school functions they want to attend. To deliver the outstanding service our community deserves, we all work as a team to fill the required hours and shifts.
At the beginning of the year, we’ll be implementing a new monthly focus. We’ll also provide weekly reminders to ensure our staff focuses on our most important values and consistently delivers exceptional customer service.
Working such long hours, how do you prevent burnout?
As owners of a family business, our workload is often high. So we are trying to be more conscious about the need for better work-life balance. We try to take off every Thursday, and most times we can. But we often work through the weekends and work long hours during the day, like many grocers.
Focusing on this issue is one of our long-term goals. We will be implementing more training to help balance the workload.
We built this store at the beginning of our 30s and have poured ourselves into making this business a success, so we knew long hours were part of the package deal. We are currently in our 40s. While we enjoy working, we realize we need a solid plan in place as we start to get older.
Given your kids grew up in the industry, are any of them interested in taking over some day?
Our son, Colby, will graduate in December from Kansas State University with a degree in supply chain management and has just decided – after turning down offers from other companies – that he wants to come home and work at Hired Man’s and eventually take over the store. There are plans for expansion once he is home.
Our oldest, Karlee, has a finance degree from KSU and is working in Dallas. Our youngest daughter, Haylee, is attending KSU and pursuing a degree in nursing.
Add Comment