How Kimberly Jones Of Natural Choice Foods Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food Insecurity
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Don’t be afraid to state your opinion. Whether new or inexperienced, your idea may spark an idea that others haven’t yet considered.
In many parts of the United States, there is a crisis of people having limited reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. As prices rise, this problem will likely become more acute. How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?
In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to address the increasing problem of food insecurity who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve this problem.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kimberly Jones.
Kimberly Jones is an accomplished professional with a proven track record of leadership and innovation in her field. Since her first job working in a small pizza shop, she’s known the significance of teamwork and the impact of individual performance on the bigger picture. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Madonna University and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA from Grand Valley State University. Throughout her career, Kimberly has held several roles, advancing from District Manager to Project Manager and Buying Manager in the retail industry. These experiences have led her to her current position as Director of Sales and Purchasing at Natural Choice Foods. Her innovative ideas have saved millions of pounds of food from going into landfills, underscoring her commitment to sustainable and responsible business practices.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Natural Choice Foods began in 1997 when the owner had a vision to help keep food from going to the landfill. The mission was to specialize in the secondary market, purchasing food that is short-dated and cannot be sold in traditional retail stores due to supply chain constraints. In 2013 we opened our first retail store, Daily Deals Food Outlet, which allows us to sell to customers in our local community in greater Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Natural Choice Foods purchased 150 semi-trucks of chicken that had an issue during production. The chicken, produced for a fast food chain, had a little too much moisture during the production process, which would result in the fry time increasing by 1 minute. The restaurant could not accept such a temporary drastic change; Natural Choice Foods was able to purchase the products, package it in our own private label, and sell it to retailers in food deserts and discount stores who help those facing food insecurity.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
I have seen much success by joining the team at Natural Choice Foods. With the addition of a Talent & Development Manager, we have a dedicated person with resources to help those who want to grow and learn have the opportunity. We have leaders who listen, accept feedback, and truly want to make a change in the food industry.
The key lesson I have learned is to never stop learning. Read (or listen) to books, keep asking questions, and never settle for how things have always been.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
It is hard to say just one person. I have been blessed to have several excellent leaders and peers who have provided candid feedback and support during my career. One of the most influential people in my career was my director in a previous role. She always provided candid feedback and praise. Additionally, she never missed a birthday text and sent personal notes when she noticed exceptional work. I still think of her often and strive to be that same leader.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- People — no one is successful on their own. To be a successful leader means you must know your team and truly care about them beyond the company. Know what they are passionate about and what drives them. I can’t share any mind-blowing story, but little things. For example, a team member in another department had a surgery that went wrong. Natural Choice Foods passed a get well card around the office and sent over some chocolate to let her know we were thinking about her.
- Learn — always read and be learning. I learned this lesson the hard way in a previous role, I had a team member whose husband was being deployed. I did not understand what was happening in the world and her husband was being deployed to a new war zone. I should have shown more compassion if I had been aware.
- Listen — regardless of who is talking to you, someone is coming to you because they need your guidance or help. Listen to hear, not to respond. Being a partner in other areas may result in ideas that may otherwise fall by the wayside. Two of the managers at Natural Choice Foods are working on a program for our customers that, had they not collaborated and had I not listened to their idea, would have ended. This program will lead to affordable food for all of our customers.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Always be learning.” I am newly going back to school for my Executive MBA at Grand Valley State University. By being open to learning new things (which is super scary) I have learned that I am still capable of learning! Keep asking questions and do not settle if you don’t understand, it is okay to be vulnerable and say you need more information.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you describe to our readers how your work is helping to address the challenge of food insecurity?
Natural Choice Foods launched a packaging center in 2019, which is the largest growing area of our company. We purchase food service bulk products at a discount, that are slightly over-produced or under-sold. We have these inspected by the USDA, upon approval, we package these foods into smaller sizes, add a retail label, then sell this product to food deserts, food outlets, and our five Daily Deals Food Outlet stores. This process allows Natural Choice Foods to have center-of-plate protein food available to our customers at a discount.
Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?
I am most proud of the customers we are able to pass savings on to. Daily Deals Food Outlet’s Facebook page is full of customers thanking us for all we do for our customers. I have two classmates who have started shopping at Daily Deals and they both rave about the cleanliness, friendliness and savings each week.
In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share a few things that can be done to further address the problem of food insecurity?
Try shopping at a local discount grocer or food outlet and support small local retailers who are trying to provide food to those facing food insecurity while competing with large retail stores.
Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address the challenge of food scarcity? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.
Spoiler Alert is one example, which Natural Choice Foods has a great relationship with. Spoiler Alert helps food and CPG manufacturers reduce waste via their online discounted sales platform. Much of the product sold through their platform goes to discount retailers that operate in underserved communities. I have been impressed with their vision, drive, and ability to enact change with food suppliers.
Spoiler Alert would be happy to talk with you, one of their co-founders is Emily Malina she can be reached at emily@spoileralert.com.
If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?
Help with public transportation to discount stores, food outlets, and food deserts. Those who face food insecurity often cannot easily access these stores.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
- Be open to feedback. Your leader wants to bring out the best version of you.
- Don’t be afraid to state your opinion. Whether new or inexperienced, your idea may spark an idea that others haven’t yet considered.
- Mistakes will happen, learn from them and move forward. Dwelling on a mistake is not worth the energy. Learn from it and move on.
- It’s never as good as you think it is and it is never as bad as you think it is. A win is a win and a loss is a loss, keep moving forward.
- Keep in contact with people, you never know what doors will be opened. The reason I landed at Natural Choice Foods is through a former co-worker, Jenn Hahn, who owns J Recruiting. Keeping that connection landed me with a great company at the right time.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Try visiting your local food outlet or discount grocer. These products are the same products you see in other stores, just with a little shorter shelf-life. These grocery stores are slowly going out of business and they often service customers in food deserts. I would love to hear about discount grocery stores that are thriving, not being driven out of business by major retailers.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.
I’d love to have lunch with Malcolm Gladwell. He came to Grand Rapids this fall and spoke during our Tech Week event. His work on social sciences is fascinating, Gladwell is engaging and he is continually asking questions.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow Natural Choice Foods on LinkedIn.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
How Kimberly Jones Of Natural Choice Foods Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.