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Coborn's, Inc. · 1 month ago

Fresh Merchandising Produce Training Lead

St Cloud, MN

Part-time

Onsite

Mid Level

$72K/yr - $114K/yr

3+ years exp

Coborn's, Inc. is a fast-growing, employee-owned grocery retailer proudly serving communities across the Midwest. As a Produce Training Lead, you will support store operations by coaching and developing leaders to enhance produce departments, ensuring adherence to merchandising standards and food safety practices.

AssociationHealth CareHuman ResourcesSmall and Medium Businesses

Responsibilities

Build strong, trust-based relationships with Directors of Operations and Store Directors to drive execution, training, and readiness priorities for the assigned category

Influence leaders to prioritize compliance, freshness, and merchandising standards without direct supervisory authority

Serve as the primary field liaison between Support Center Merchandising and Operations leadership — clarifying expectations, facilitating communication, and ensuring consistent understanding of Fresh program objectives

Present performance insights, field trends, and improvement recommendations to Operations leadership to shape priorities and action plans

Educate Operations and Store leadership on new Fresh merchandising programs, initiatives, and standards

Conduct regional and district-level briefings to ensure alignment on program intent, timelines, and expectations

Partner with Operations to reinforce leadership capability to coach and assess store teams on execution performance

Train and coach Store Directors and Training Store Department Managers to deliver high-quality, standardized training for department managers and teams on merchandising standards, presentation, and food safety practices

Conduct periodic audits to verify merchandising quality, compliance, and readiness

Partner with Directors of Operations to maintain qualified Training Stores that exemplify operational excellence

Ensure the Training Store network remains aligned with current merchandising standards and operational expectations

Monitor operational consistency across assigned department and partner with Operations leaders to resolve recurring performance or compliance gaps

Provide proactive coaching to maintain execution readiness — ensuring daily adherence to rotation, presentation, and food safety standards

Deliver practical, actionable insights from the field to the Operations Lead and Operations Manager to improve tools, processes, and training content

Reinforce food safety, sanitation, and freshness practices through training and coaching

Partner with Store Directors and Operations to ensure standards are sustained daily in the field

Support corrective actions and ensure accountability for improvement when gaps are identified

Partner with the Fresh Merchandising Operations Manager and Leads to ensure training materials accurately reflect execution playbooks and operational requirements

Provide data-driven and field feedback to the Fresh Merchandising Operations and Training teams on training effectiveness and field challenges to improve content clarity, visuals, and communication tools

Identify trends in training gaps and recommend updates to processes or resources

Qualification

Grocery retail operationsFood safetyTraining deliveryMerchandising standardsAdult learning certificationCoachingInfluencing skillsCollaborationCommunication

Required

3-5 years of experience in grocery retail operations, merchandising, or store management within Fresh departments (Produce, Meat, Deli, Bakery, Floral)

Proven success delivering in-person and virtual training or coaching in a retail environment

Demonstrated ability to partner with and influence Operations leadership to drive consistency and accountability

Preferred

Bachelor's degree in Business, Merchandising, Education or related field preferred

Certification or coursework in Adult Learning, Instructional Design, or Food Safety preferred

Benefits

10% employee discount on grocery items, with additional franchise-specific discounts available at company owned Ace Hardware, Caribou Coffee, Erbert and Gerbert’s, and Pet Supplies Plus locations.

Get Paid Daily with DailyPay - for employees who would like access to their pay before payday, we offer this great benefit!

Paid Time Off (PTO/Vacation)

Paid Floating Holidays & time and a half (1 ½) paid for hours worked on a company-recognized holiday!

Sunday Premium Pay - an extra $1 per hour for hours worked on Sundays (some exclusions apply)

Paid Military Leave

Employee recognition programs with monetary rewards including in-store vouchers, years of service, and employee of the month

Employee Health & Wellness Programs, Challenges and Resources - to assist our team members in living a life of wellbeing!

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) - unlimited phone access to legal, financial, and work-life services and up to five free in-person counseling sessions, per situation/issue, per year

Access to a national discount marketplace for travel, electronics, auto/home insurance, entertainment and more!

Tools, resources and opportunities for career growth and development

401(k) plan options - we also match up to 20% of the first 5% contributed

Participation in our Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) - yes, we’re employee-owned! Our team members benefit from the success of the company through this company-sponsored benefit!

Education benefits including tuition discount and scholarship programs

Additional Voluntary Benefits - such as vision, accident and critical illness insurances

Medical & Dental Insurance, Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Tuition Reimbursement, Adoption Reimbursement, Paid Family Caregiver Leave, as well as company-sponsored Term Life Insurance, Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance, and Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Insurance!