What is happening at Marianos?

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omnisuperstore
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by omnisuperstore »

New Marianos uniforms are unprofessional at best.

Instead of wearing super professional black slacks and white shirts and classy sweaters, Marianos employees can now wear street clothes such as a polo shirt or flannel and jeans and tennis shoes. They now wear a black apron. It looks extremely unprofessional. I also haven’t seen many name tags with the new uniforms. More cost cutting?

I bet Bob Mariano is glad he isn’t involved anymore.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by storewanderer »

This same thing happened at Smiths last year. The employees wear street clothes. Some have aprons. I did notice recently some employees in gray "Team Smiths" t-shirts but it still looks ... very casual. They do wear name tags though.

I think an upper end store needs uniforms. Even if they want to go to a uniform of jeans and polo shirt or something. It doesn't have to be black slacks and white shirt but at least something uniform that makes the employee easy to identify.

There is a certain standard by which things should be done in Chicago and I think Mariano had that expectation very well dialed in. This change clearly misses that mark.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by Bagels »

Kroger use to require select stores, including all Fresh Fares, to wear khakis/dress pants and dress shirts with ties. They ended that practice several years ago. It wasn’t a cost cutting move since they didn’t provide these items or a uniform allowance to the employees. In fact, they initially replaced them Kroger branded shirts and traditional uniforms, so it cost more.

Not sure what the reason they made the change for, but I suspect they did their research. Maybe they concluded customers feel more comfortable that way, or feel the traditional dress up look makes them feel like they’re spending more.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by veteran+ »

Bagels wrote: March 11th, 2020, 8:56 pm Kroger use to require select stores, including all Fresh Fares, to wear khakis/dress pants and dress shirts with ties. They ended that practice several years ago. It wasn’t a cost cutting move since they didn’t provide these items or a uniform allowance to the employees. In fact, they initially replaced them Kroger branded shirts and traditional uniforms, so it cost more.

Not sure what the reason they made the change for, but I suspect they did their research. Maybe they concluded customers feel more comfortable that way, or feel the traditional dress up look makes them feel like they’re spending more.
I worked at King Supers and Ralphs (also Fresh Fare).

No research was done. Sometimes employees were asked and sometimes not. And the few focus groups that were used were a total joke

IMO they mostly made decisions based on cost, granting contracts for friends and "friend companies".
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by Bagels »

veteran+ wrote: March 12th, 2020, 7:19 am I worked at King Supers and Ralphs (also Fresh Fare).

No research was done. Sometimes employees were asked and sometimes not. And the few focus groups that were used were a total joke

IMO they mostly made decisions based on cost, granting contracts for friends and "friend companies".
Did Kroger provide an allowance in some locations? An old high school friend of mine worked for a Kroger Fresh Fare in the Midwest, and did not receive an allowance but rather was required to purchase his own dress clothing. He was pretty happy when Kroger switched to the then-standard blue smock.

At Ralphs, when they dropped the dress clothes at my local Fresh Fare, employees were wearing brightly colored t-shirts, hawking whatever the heck Kroger was selling or promoting at the time (obviously didn't work, since I can't remember). I'm not a dressy person, but watching a severely obese middle aged man in a bright yellow t-shirt and too baggy jeans made me question at the time why the heck Kroger went away from the old dress clothes policy.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: March 12th, 2020, 11:02 pm
veteran+ wrote: March 12th, 2020, 7:19 am I worked at King Supers and Ralphs (also Fresh Fare).

No research was done. Sometimes employees were asked and sometimes not. And the few focus groups that were used were a total joke

IMO they mostly made decisions based on cost, granting contracts for friends and "friend companies".
Did Kroger provide an allowance in some locations? An old high school friend of mine worked for a Kroger Fresh Fare in the Midwest, and did not receive an allowance but rather was required to purchase his own dress clothing. He was pretty happy when Kroger switched to the then-standard blue smock.

At Ralphs, when they dropped the dress clothes at my local Fresh Fare, employees were wearing brightly colored t-shirts, hawking whatever the heck Kroger was selling or promoting at the time (obviously didn't work, since I can't remember). I'm not a dressy person, but watching a severely obese middle aged man in a bright yellow t-shirt and too baggy jeans made me question at the time why the heck Kroger went away from the old dress clothes policy.
Some of the union agreements call for uniforms to be provided so that may explain some of these differences we are seeing.

It may also be as time has gone on and things have gotten worse and worse for the union they have given up asking for uniform allowances. Rather than place the burden of a uniform cost on employees they and the chains just agree to drop the uniform entirely.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: March 12th, 2020, 11:19 pm
Bagels wrote: March 12th, 2020, 11:02 pm
veteran+ wrote: March 12th, 2020, 7:19 am I worked at King Supers and Ralphs (also Fresh Fare).

No research was done. Sometimes employees were asked and sometimes not. And the few focus groups that were used were a total joke

IMO they mostly made decisions based on cost, granting contracts for friends and "friend companies".
Did Kroger provide an allowance in some locations? An old high school friend of mine worked for a Kroger Fresh Fare in the Midwest, and did not receive an allowance but rather was required to purchase his own dress clothing. He was pretty happy when Kroger switched to the then-standard blue smock.

At Ralphs, when they dropped the dress clothes at my local Fresh Fare, employees were wearing brightly colored t-shirts, hawking whatever the heck Kroger was selling or promoting at the time (obviously didn't work, since I can't remember). I'm not a dressy person, but watching a severely obese middle aged man in a bright yellow t-shirt and too baggy jeans made me question at the time why the heck Kroger went away from the old dress clothes policy.
Some of the union agreements call for uniforms to be provided so that may explain some of these differences we are seeing.

It may also be as time has gone on and things have gotten worse and worse for the union they have given up asking for uniform allowances. Rather than place the burden of a uniform cost on employees they and the chains just agree to drop the uniform entirely.
As far as Colorado and California, there were no allowances for uniforms (shirts, et al) and all was provide for free with limitations. These limitations varied by division and full or part time status. Like 4 shirts in ONE year for full timers with 2 hats, etc.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by timanny »

A Cincinnati company downgrading an upscale Chicago chain?

Gee, that's never happened before. :lol:
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: March 8th, 2020, 10:24 pm...There is a certain standard by which things should be done in Chicago and I think Mariano had that expectation very well dialed in. This change clearly misses that mark.
Yep. Same with Safeway and Dominick's and to a lesser degree ASC and Jewel. When ASC first acquired Jewel things slipped, but they quickly course-corrected and took a relatively hands-off approach until they became an operating company. Even then, they understood that different locales had different standards and expectations.

It's strangely funny that Kroger fled Chicago in the 1970's because their operation had grown stale and couldn't compete with the big "J" and the upstart Dominick's. This was an opportunity for a re-do with an established operation and they effed it up. Yes, Mariano's was bleeding money, but Kroger's economies of scale should have been able to stanch some of the bleeding. This is truly a case of different cultures clashing.
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Re: What is happening at Marianos?

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: March 27th, 2020, 9:47 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 8th, 2020, 10:24 pm...There is a certain standard by which things should be done in Chicago and I think Mariano had that expectation very well dialed in. This change clearly misses that mark.
Yep. Same with Safeway and Dominick's and to a lesser degree ASC and Jewel. When ASC first acquired Jewel things slipped, but they quickly course-corrected and took a relatively hands-off approach until they became an operating company. Even then, they understood that different locales had different standards and expectations.

It's strangely funny that Kroger fled Chicago in the 1970's because their operation had grown stale and couldn't compete with the big "J" and the upstart Dominick's. This was an opportunity for a re-do with an established operation and they effed it up. Yes, Mariano's was bleeding money, but Kroger's economies of scale should have been able to stanch some of the bleeding. This is truly a case of different cultures clashing.
All Kroger had to do was taste the stuff in the fresh departments... does this taste okay? Well then let's sell it.

Too many of the bakery/deli items at Kroger do not taste okay, are borderline terrible, and need a serious upgrade. Mariano's provided the opportunity to upgrade the rest of Kroger. To a lesser extent, so did Harris Teeter. I am not sure what happened, but the quality of Kroger's bakery/deli has been on a flat line and that is being generous, with the last high point when they brought in Boar's Head (and that was before they bought Harris Teeter or Mariano's)...
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