Employee of the Month - October—James Perez

October 2013Volume 5, Issue 1Employee of the Month - October—James PerezCongratulations to James Perez, Order Selector for the PerishableShipping Department. James has worked under the direction of RafaelTelles since August, 2011. Rafael believes James to have a positivecan-do attitude and knows that he can count on James to get the jobdone.James is married to Isis and they share two children; Hazel, age 5; andAhnondi, age 1. James enjoys playing basketball, working out, andwatching movies with his family. James especially enjoys going tosports bars to watch the San Antonio Spurs, and a few other basketballor football games on the big screen. James favorite movie is “300” andhis favorite meal includes brisket.Randy Arceneaux, President and CEO presents the“Employee of the Month” award to James Perez. PLEASE SEE EMPLOYEE ON PAGE 71

#1830 Lowes SS - San Saba, TX1596 - Anthony’s Foods, Meeker, OKSan Saba, TX is a small community located in Central Texas.Lowes Super S #130 is one of the over 130 Lowes SupermarketStores located throughout, Texas, New Mexico, New Mexicoand Arizona.Meet Rudy Valencia, (located in the center of the picture), “Avery dedicated employee who has worked for 2 years in the MeatDept.” stated Clay Bush; Manager. Rudy has walked to walked towork everyday of the 2 years.Clay along with his teammates pulled together, ordered and bought a bike for Rudy,through their Ace Hardware Dept. They presented the bike to him on Monday,September 16, 2013. It was a really great feeling for everyone, and Rudy was veryappreciative.As Clay stated “It’s a really great day, here at Lowes”.Meat Department Introduces Jeff AndersonNew addition to the Affiliated Foods Retail Support Family2Courtesy of Clay BushJeff Anderson recently joined Russell, Jim, Donald, Rudy and the rest of the AFI Meat Departmentto support, train and work with our member retailers’ and their meat departments.Retail meat departments account for, generally, 25% of the retail sales volume and contributeapproximately 50% to the store’s total gross margin percent. Jeff will be calling on ourmember stores in Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Kansas.A native of Oklahoma, Jeff resides in Okemah with wife, Andrea. They have a daughter,three sons and a 2 year old grandson.Jeff’s extensive knowledge and experience span several years in the meat business with tenureswith Foodland, a subsidiary of Hale-Halsell Co., Williams Discount Foods and mostrecently, Homeland Stores. During his “time-off”, Jeff served 8 years in the US Navy with adeployment patrolling the Persian Gulf, literally chasing “pirates”. He has been, and is, avolunteer firefighter with 22 years of experience, and a master welder. A man of manytrades.We welcome Jeff and his family to ours and wish him great success.Courtesy of Dale Thompson, New Accounts

Snack Pak 4KidsScott ErwinPhotos courtesy of Kourtney EvansWhen AFI went looking for a volunteer to drive a truck forSnack Pak 4kids’ corn experiment, they did not have to look far.Scott Erwin, Warehouse Operations Manager volunteered in aheartbeat!Snack Pak 4Kids was created by Dyron Howell and his wifeKelly in their home for just 10 kids in need at Will Rogers ElementarySchool in 2010. The program that began small, hasreached out to over 4000 kids in 26 Panhandle communitiescurrently. Snack Pak 4Kids organization aims to end weekendhunger for area children in food insecure households. Providingbags filled with nutritional snacks handed out each Friday of the school year.www.snackpak4kids.org**This journey began on 2 acres of land located 4 miles South of Wildorado,TX, just 25 miles west of Amarillo…There 160 volunteers gathered on Saturday,August 10 th , 2013 to harvest 15000 ears of corn that was grown on 2acres of donated farm land and grown with donated seeds. In that one day1500 bags were packed and in route via two refrigerated trucks one, PTGtruck and one from Baldwin Distribution, to Amarillo for distribution to sixAmarillo Elementary Schools.Scott along with many volunteers from all ages and walks of life helped inbringing the fresh corn to the kids. As you can see by the looks on the facesof these little ones…….The journey was a great success!**Courtesy of AGN Media;www.agnmedia.com*3* *

Plains Dairy - Labor Day Cookout!Jared Roberts andMichael Holliman…The Cooks!James Woods and Jeff Covington Enjoying their meal.I believe in the dignity of labor, whether withhead or hand; that the world owes no man aliving but that it owes every man an opportunityto make a living.~ John D. RockefellerAFI’s Warehouse Incentive ProgramCourtesy of Mary Reed/ Plains DairyEmployees enjoying themselves.Great food!At Affiliated Foods, when we hire a new order selector there is a working standard that must be met in the first 60 days of employment. The Warehouse ManagementSystem calculates time for each store order based on Engineered Labor Standard. This time standard must be met at 100% by the first 60 days. Oncethe selector achieves 100% of standard and keeps that standard or above, they become qualified order selectors.This process helps orders to be pulled ina timely manner.October 2013 Above and Beyond…Grocery Qualified: George Williams, Wilson Boit, Manual Soto, JarrodWhite, Andrew Cummings, Joewil Toro Sanchez, Brandon Luna andSteven Russell. Grocery Top Pay: Jeremiah GrizzlePerishable Qualified: Rafel Flores, Carlos Gonzalez, Jose Moreno, MatthewBonds, Kenneth Revell, Fransisco Flores, Jeffrey Harris, Jose Barron and JosueBravo Perishable Top Pay: Jason Flores, ToddSena, Braulio Gallardo, Matthew Jaquez, Jesus Hernandez,Edward Romero and Fernando Hernandez .HBC Qualified: Misette VasquezHBC Top Pay: Melody Verde4Courtesy of Jimmy Ross / Director of Warehouse Operations, DavidTrimble / Assistant Director of Warehouse Operations, Enrique Barreras/ Dry Grocery Supervisor, Ralph Telles / Perishable Supervisor andPreston Haberman / HBC Supervisor

AFI Bakery/Deli NewsI can smell fall inthe air just a fewmore days till theofficial day of fall.Imagine a carpet offallen leaves, thecolors of this season,the smell ofnutmeg and cinnamon in the oven,pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins needI say more. It is the change of theseason and the smell of autumn.Decorate your departments and delicases to the colors of this beautifulseason, yellow, orange and brown.Get excited and have fun use yourimagination and give your deli departmentsthe season transformation.Open the eyes of your customersmake them look and invite them toyour department.Don’t forget that the football seasonis now in full swing, Friday nightlights are burning, tail gate parties,college football on Saturdays, andSunday, Monday night NFL games.Pizzas, Chicken wings, Fried Chicken,Sandwiches, Subs, Salsas, delimeats and cheeses are great pushitems. Also let your customers knowthat you have Deli trays and suggestother items and offer samples to increaseand complete every sale.These are just a few ideas and I amsure that there plenty more but it is upto you to have fun and make it happenin your stores this fall. Get everyoneinvolved and increaseyour sales.Thank YouBobbyOctober is muffin month and you allneed to take advantage of those small(holidays) like Grandparents day,Boss’s Day, Secretary’s Day and so on.Also at end of this month is Halloweenand you are going to have those extrasales. Decorate your bakery area forHalloween. Prepare a display with cupcakesand cookies, some of the easyitems to sell for Halloween parties.Also have a display with a variety ofHalloween decorated cakes. Prepareyourself and be ready and go for thosesales!By now you should have your plan forThanksgiving. It is next month and youneed to prepare your department andmake the department look good for thisholiday.We added a few mixes like biscuit andcookie mixes. If you are interested inthat call me and I will send someone orgo myself to train your associates onhow to prepare these correctly.You need to take ownership of yourdepartment and go for more sales. Theweather is getting cooler; prepare acookie table. Yes it’s hard, but it is agood week of the month for the bakerydepartment. In most cases the deli isright next to the bakery and if there aretables for customers to dine in, thenserve samples while they are enjoyingtheir coffee or hot chocolate. This canproduce sales or future sales of yourpastries, muffins, cookies, pies, etc.Football season has started and you willbe receiving a flyer with football shapedmessage cookies. Decorate these appropriatefor the weekends, for whateverpro football teams are playing. Especiallyin Texas, be prepared for all thoseDallas Cowboys and Houston Texanfans. If you are in a college footballarea in addition to pro football cookies,make some for the colleges in your area.And don’t forget those high school footballgames. Have some also decoratedfor your nearby high school footballgames too. Please make sure and takeadvantage of this promotional item andmake and order when you receive thefootball shaped message cookie flyer.These are just a few ways you can increaseyour sales. Most of you havebeen in the bakery business for a whileknow how to take advantage of the holidaysand uses these techniques to helpincrease sales; if you are new and justlearning or getting started, then use thisnewsletter as a tool to help and guideyou to more sales during these holidays.JaimeJaime Ortega / Sales Manager/ Bakery/Delijortega@afiama.com806-681-9238Bobby Pena / Deli Specialistrpena@afiama.com806-392-64165

Susan G. Komen / The Race for the CureBret placed 15th out of647 registered runnerswith the time of 19:54.Bret Baer and Family: L to R...Jewel, Bret,Alexis, Claire, Ayla, Addie and Jackson...On Saturday, September 28, 2013 the23rd Annual “Greater Amarillo Racefor the Cure” was held in downtownAmarillo.There were more than 6000 plus participantsfor the event, several AFIemployees and their families wereincluded in that count. Runners and walkers, survivors fromacross the Texas Panhandle came to help promote positiveawareness, education and early detection of breast cancer.The Race raised over 1.5 million dollars to be used in Texas Panhandleto be distributed by Komen Amarillo. Up to 75 percentof the funds raised with this Race remaining here at the affiliateto provide breast health research, diagnostics, screening, treatment,services and education for insured and uninsured women.The remaining will be used for research to discover the causes ofbreast cancer, eventually leading to a cure.Many of the participants walked and ran in memory and in tributeto those who are currently fighting the illness and struggling, survivors, for those in remission, all whohave hope and to those who have given their life in the fight with cancer…Janie Wagner; Accounting andEdward Savage: Special ProjectsJoni and Janie Wagner...Sisters!Courtesy of Edward Savage6Photos courtesy of Kourtney Evans

EMPLOYEE: October Employee of the Month...cont. from page 1Jesus Christ has been the most influential in James’ life. Jesus is his Savior and died for hissins and James knows that if he follows Jesus he will have all he needs. When asked abouthis memorable experiences at AFI he says he really likes to race the other top pullers.James says racing really burns off lots of energy and keeps things exciting. James plans tokeep working and providing for his family.James is pictured above being presented with a plaque by Randy Arceneaux, President ofAFI. Great work, James! Congratulations and many thanks from Affiliated.The following employees were also nominated this month. Congratulations to all!Abelardo Cantu, Leonard Carrasco, Thomas Douangpanya, James Lanham, Kayleigh Perez,Ramiro Rameriz, Roxana Sandoval, Billy WilliamsCourtesy of Rita Koontz / Human ResourcesHalloween TriviahHalloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States alone.hHalloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, behind Christmas. hIllinois,California, New York, and Ohio produce more than 100 million pounds of pumpkins eachyear. These states are U.S. leaders in pumpkin growing. hOrange and black are traditionalHalloween colors for a reason. Orange was chosen because of its association with the fall harvest and black was chosendue to its association with darkness. hOur beloved Jack o' Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candlesin hollowed-out turnips to dismiss haunted spirits.Reference: www.dumdumpops.com/halloween-trivia-and-fun-factsSpotlight On the WarehouseNewcomer of the Month:7Employee of the Month for October 2013James PerezMeet, Meleaha Farrow. She works in the HBC Shipping Department under the directionof Eric Rodriquez her supervisor.Meleaha is a very hard working employee, who gives her very best in each task sheundertakes. She brings a positive attitude to work with her everyday. “She is a greatemployee to have in our department” said Eric.Congratulations to Meleaha….We wish you all the best with your careerhere at Affiliated Foods.Courtesy of Jamallh Clark, Recruiter

3/4 c.1/4 c.2 tsp.2 3/4 c.1 c.5 qts.Halloween Popcorn BallsShurfine Corn SyrupShurfine MargarineCold waterShurfine Powdered SugarShurfine Mini MarshmallowsShurfine Popcorn Yellow , poppedShurfine Vegetable Shortening1. In medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine; corn syrup,margarine, cold water, powdered sugar, and marshmallows.Heat and stir until the mixture comes to a boil.2. MIXTURE IS VERY HOT!!!! In very large bowl...Carefully combinethe hot mixture with the popped popcorn.3. Grease hands with shortening, shape the coated popcorn intoballs before it cools.4. Wrap in plastic wrap, or place on cupcake holders or in abowl!..............................................................................Have Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Healthy Halloween TreatsEmpress your friends and familywith a healthy Halloween treat thatwill create a festive dish.BooNanas and Mandarin Pumpkinsare made with bananas decoratedwith small and large chocolate chipsand peeled mandarin oranges, with astem made from celery!A Note of Thanks!Courtesy of Val Clawson / DeJarnett and Western FamilyFall Back - Daylight Saving Time EndsNovember 3, 2013“THANK YOU” to all who have contributed to the success of the Newsletter”!A special thanks to Dale Thompson and Kevin Fortenberry for their continued support and help!The Affiliated Family NewsCathy Gallivan / afinews@afiama.comIf you have any thing to contribute please e-mail the “AFI Family News” @ www.afinews@afiama.com1401 Farmers AvenueAmarillo, TX 79118806-372-38518