Kevin Ergenbright, VP of Crest Foods, has worked with the company throughout his career. He recently shared some of his history and insights into the company, which has been named The Shelby Report of the Southwest’s 2024 Retailer of the Year.
Can you give a brief history of your career in the grocery industry?
Crest Foods was my very first job and has been my only job for the last 48 years. I started as a sacker at age 16. All I knew was to work hard and do everything to the best of my ability.
As you know, in the grocery business when you find a hard worker you latch on to them. Nick Harroz and his two sons, Bruce and Gary, gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and allowed me to rise up in the company. I went from a sacker to backroom, stocker, buyer and, in 1984, store manager. As the company continued to grow, I was promoted to vice president.
Describe your role and responsibilities at Crest Foods.
As you know, the grocery business is very much a hands-on business, and at Crest Foods we are no different. I have daily meetings with our corporate team and regularly inspect and fine-tune our store operations. I am always looking to improve our efficiency in all aspects of our operations.
Having direct communication daily with our corporate team, buyers, merchandisers, store managers, warehouse crews, etc. allows me to share our strategic plans and visions for quick implementation. I am blessed to have such an exceptional management team – that definitely makes my job easier.
How does Crest Foods differentiate itself from other grocery retailers in the market?
There are many things that Crest Foods does that allow us to stand out from other retailers. In 1946, Nick Harroz started his own grocery store. Over time, he established “Five Big Reasons Crest Saves You Money on Your Food Bill:”
- We buy direct from 150 manufacturers, plus the largest supplier in the state.
- We do not spend large sums of money on advertising.
- Low overhead – Pay no rent; own our own facilities.
- No games, no gimmicks or expensive frills.
- “Rock Bottom Prices Every Day!”
These were commitments to our customers back then and are still guiding principles today.
Crest Foods is family owned and operated. When shopping a Crest store, you will notice a difference over many retailers due to our large 100,000-square-foot, clean stores. They have wide aisles and a large variety of items to choose from.
Crest has the freshest produce around. Crest has a fresh meat department, with specialty meat, seafood and CAB choice and Prime beef, all of which is cut fresh daily in our stores.
Our bakery, deli and cheese center have some of the freshest and most delicious treats around. Our sushi (made fresh daily) and fresh flowers also help set us apart from other retailers. We offer all of this and more at “Rock Bottom Prices” and with fast, friendly service at the checkout.
What are the key factors that contribute to Crest Foods’ success?
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of what contributes to Crest’s success is hard work and dedication.
Nick Harroz was the definition and example of hard work and dedication. He worked seven days a week and very rarely took vacations. Many of the decisions he made in the early years of the business set our company up for the success we have in today’s environment.
To mention a few: We are locally owned and operated and own all our stores and warehouses. We have 10 stores around the OKC metro area, making it convenient to shop at them. We have about 300,000 square feet of warehousing, which allows us to buy direct from manufacturers in all departments.
We “Stack it High – Sell it Cheap!” And finally, two of the most important reasons for our success are our outstanding employees, many have been with our company for many years, and our amazing customers, some of whom travel 60, 80, 100 miles to shop our stores.
What are the biggest challenges facing the grocery industry today, and how is Crest Foods addressing them?
We face many of the same challenges that most retailers face in today’s environment. The biggest challenges that come to mind are online shopping, home delivery and curbside pickup. We have met the demand for online shopping and home delivery by partnering with Shipt and Instacart.
A few other challenges are economy, labor and increased expenses. Bottom line, faced with all these challenges, we just keep working hard to give our customers those “Rock Bottom Prices.”
What are your key strategies for enhancing the customer experience?
We are always listening to the needs of our customers. We provide our customers with clean stores, wide aisles and a large selection of specialty products in every department. Another popular feature is self-checkout for the customer.
What the customers really like are our popular sales, such as the Crest Anniversary Sale, Summer Savings, Truck Load Produce Sale, Massive Meat Sale and Stack it High, Sell it Cheap Sale.
How do you stay ahead of the curve in terms of industry trends and consumer preferences?
At Crest, we are always looking for ways to stay ahead of competitors and improve our operations. Since we are very involved in our stores, this allows constant critique of our operations and allows us to adjust quickly.
We have our own IT department that stays on top of all the latest and greatest ideas in technology. Our business works with Associated Wholesale Grocers, as well as directly with manufacturers to keep us ahead of the market trend.
We have in-store merchandisers that make adjustments daily on new items, item variety and keep our shelves and departments set to perfection.
What are some of the innovative initiatives that Crest Foods has implemented to improve customer satisfaction?
At our core, we are very deeply rooted in the belief, if you find something that works, stick to it. Nick Harroz Jr., our founder, always said, “Stack it High – Sell it Cheap!” So that’s what we do.
Digital coupons are additional savings that can be found on our website. Customers love our yearly Hatch Chili Pepper Roasting event, our wine bottle engravings and our Wisconsin Cheese sampling events. When we find something our customers love, we stick to it.
How do you measure and analyze customer feedback to drive continuous improvement?
We at Crest Foods pride ourselves on caring about every email, phone call or letter sent to us. Our teams, both at corporate and store levels, make it a priority to address each and every customer’s compliment, complaint or suggestion right away. And customers really appreciates that.
How does Crest Foods contribute to the local community?
Crest is dedicated to consistently demonstrating a strong support for the community and takes pride in contributing to its well-being.
We provide daily donations to local food banks, support and contribute to various schools, churches and other community organizations.
What are some of the social responsibility initiatives that Crest Foods is involved in?
Crest has always been involved in the community and sponsoring our local food banks. For 33 years, we have held a vendor appreciation (Crest Invitational) golf tournament. Some of the proceeds are donated to Oklahoma food banks.
Crest makes a substantial donation to the Hungry Kids of Oklahoma organization every year. We also sponsor Oklahoma University Food Pantry. We are a sponsor for the OU/OSU sports programs. We also have a Crest Ice Skating Rink around Thanksgiving and Christmas in one of our store parking lots.
How does it feel to be named The Shelby Report of the Southwest’s Retailer of the Year? What does this recognition mean to Crest Foods?
We have received The Shelby Report for years, and every month we see some of the best retailers in the business. It is exciting to finally be able to be recognized along with them.
We at Crest Foods are deeply honored to be named the Southwest Retailer of the Year. This recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of our entire team. I want to thank our employees, vendors and most importantly, our customers who have made this possible. We have been proud to serve our fellow Oklahomans for the past 78 years, with many more years to come.
We are committed to providing top-of-the-line friendly service, and we will always remain the “Home of Rock Bottom Prices.”
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