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EXCELLENCE IN OPERATIONSThe Wisconsin Grocers Association is proud of the four recipients of the2008 EXCELLENCE IN OPERATIONS AWARDFour individuals will be awarded WGA’s Excellence in Operations which recognizesthe professional efforts of store owners, managers, directors, and generalmanagers on their work ethic, commitment to the grocery industry, and creatingopportunities for store associates.Mike GeidelGeidel’s Piggly WigglyKewaskum, WIMike Geidel’s family has beenselling groceries in Kewaskumsince 1876, and Mike isworking with his children tocontinue that heritage. Thestore has changed namesseveral times, but Mike’s greatgreat-grandfather’sfoundationof customer service and familyinvolvement remains intact.Being the only full-servicegrocery in Kewaskum, Mike’semployees know theircustomers well, usually callthem by their first names, andmany are relatives.Mike is very concerned abouthaving good customer servicethroughout his store. He stilltrains and mentors all thefront-end personnel and hetakes pride in training hisyounger employees to have thework ethics needed in futurejobs. Mike also mentored otherdepartment heads, and ishonored if they are chosen tomove on to higher positions.Mike also has a very highstanding throughout theKewaskum community. Heis a board member on theKewaskum Chamber and is theChairman of the ChamberGolf Outing. He serves as theChairman of the KewaskumParade and has represented theWGA in Washington, DC.Mike is veryconcerned abouthaving goodcustomer servicethroughout hisstore. He stilltrains and mentorsall the front-endpersonnel and hetakes pride intraining hisyoungeremployees tohave the workethics needed infuture jobs.The Geidel family has a longhistory of prospering in thegrocery industry. Mike Geidelcontinues that tradition andshows that old-time values canstill lead to success today.GlennPalmquistRichter’s SentryTwin Lakes, WIGlenn Palmquist has showntime and again that he is fullycapable at looking adversity inthe eye and forcing it to blinkfirst. Glenn is the generalmanager for the Richter’sSentry stores in Twin Lakesand Burlington, and bothmarkets have facedGlenn was ableto skillfully usehis knowledge ofthe groceryindustry to helpRichter’s increasesales and profitsin both stores.competition from big boxretailers.Glenn was able to skillfully usehis knowledge of the groceryindustry to help Richter’sincrease sales and profits inboth stores.Glenn came to Richter’s Sentryafter an extensive careerworking for Fleming andholding a variety of managerialpositions over the years. Glennis tapped into nearly everyfacet of the grocery spectrumand uses this knowledge tomake both stores runsmoothly. Glenn has helpedrestructure every inch of thecompany, includingrefinancing, competitiveservice bids, aggressivemerchandising, andpromotional and advertisingneeds. He also works with thecompany on their real estateand leased properties needs.Employees feel that Glenn’sgreatest assets are hiscommunication skills. He has auniquely effective way oftransferring his envisionedgoals to others withenthusiasm. He holds storemeetings to outline his specificgoals, but leaves room forspontaneity and initiative.Glenn consistently looks insidethe company when promoting,and is a strong believer in thevalue of good training.28 WISCONSIN GROCER www.wisconsingrocers.com
EXCELLENCE IN OPERATIONSThe 2008 Excellence in Operations honorees are Mike Geidel,Geidel’s Piggly Wiggly, Kewaskum, Glenn Palmquist, Richter’sSentry Twin Lakes, Nate Pederson, Sun Prairie Sentry, Sun Prairie,and Dennis & Karen Wautlet, Denny’s SuperValu, Algoma.Nate PedersonSun Prairie SentrySun Prairie, WINate Pederson is the storedirector at the Sentry Foods inSun Prairie, a store that wasfounded by Joe Conrad and isnow owned by Nate’s parents,Terry and Penny. Nate startedworking 18 years ago, stockingshelves and bagging groceries,but has now been store managerfor six years. Nate wasinstrumental in the recent storeremodel and the developmentof a cheese room, plans for anew salad and olive bar, andstore décor upgrades.Nate has a knack forcommunicating with hiscustomers, often knowing theirnames and quickly earning theirrespect. He personally conductsstore tours with local schoolchildren to teach them all of theaspects that go into running abusiness. He is the president ofthe Sun Prairie Chamber ofCommerce and works hard tomake the city better forbusiness.Nate is the head of Sun Prairie’sRelay of Life run to raise moneyfor local cancer research.Nate goes to great lengths tomake sure all of his employees,regardless of level, know whattheir responsibilities are andwhat incentives they have to dowell. He urgently responds toany employee concern whiledealing with them with ahumanistic approach.Nate holds regular store anddepartment manager meetingsand makes sure everyoneunderstands the detailed weeklyplans. He also trains mostemployees and holds follow-upsessions to ensure that theyunderstand what is expectedof them.He married Becky in Octoberof ’96 and they have twodaughters, Devyn who is tenand Emma who is seven. Ifspending time with his family ishis first priority, karate is hispassion. After studying for fouryears, Nate earned his black beltin 2003. He is currentlyworking toward his third degreeblack belt and studying Ju-Jitsu.He also teaches karate and selfdefenseto adults and childrenof all ages. He is past presidentof the Chamber of Commerce,and current president of theSun Prairie Business andEducation Partnership.Nate is admired by family andfriends not for what he does,but for who he is.Dennis& KarenWautletDenny’s SuperValu,Algoma, WIThe Wautlet team took a bigrisk 40 years ago when they soldeverything they owned to openup Denny’s Red Owl inAlgoma. Denny ran the storeand Karen handled thebookkeeping from an office intheir bedroom. Since that time,they have built a new store thatincludes one of the first foodcourts in the state and a beercave.In 2003, they added a Bank ofLuxemburg enclave to the frontof the store, and last year theyexpanded the store to includean addition 4,300 square feet.Denny and Karen haveestablished a very strongfollowing in their hometown ofAlgoma. It is common for themto greet every customer byname, and their store isdecorated with pictures ofscenes from around thecommunity. They treat theiremployees very well, and havemany generations of the samefamilies working at their store.The Wautlets are very active insupporting their communitythrough “Denny’s CommunityDollars,” a program that hasdonated over $120,000 to localnon-profit organizations.It is common forthem to greetevery customer byname, and theirstore is decoratedwith pictures ofscenes fromaround thecommunity.Dennis has been on the Boardof Directors at the CommunityState Bank/F&M Bank for over20 years. He also volunteers forthe Handicap Hunt and is amember of the Knights ofColumbus and a formerPresident of the Lion’s Club.Karen and Dennis are membersof St. Mary Catholic Church.Karen has served as PastoralMinister and currently serves ondiocesan boards and committees.PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER2008 Convention Issue WISCONSIN GROCER 29
Page 3: Russ Davis Wholesale, celebrating o
Page 7 and 8: Innovation Expo Promises tobe a Sho
Page 10 and 11: LEGISLATIVE UPDATEBy C.J. Smith,Sum
Page 12 and 13: Presentedbythe WisconsinGrocers Ass
Page 14 and 15: SpecializedInformationExcellence in
Page 16 and 17: 16 WISCONSIN GROCER www.wisconsingr
Page 18 and 19: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 WEDNESDAY, OC
Page 21 and 22: I N T R O D U C I N GDebbie Schneid
Page 23 and 24: DIAMOND SPONSORSSponsorSPOTLIGHTSup
Page 25 and 26: SILVER SPONSORSSponsorSPOTLIGHTCoco
Page 27: 2008 GROCER OF THE YEARLeo and Rose

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