3 Easy Ways to Jumpstart Your Plans for Supermarket Employee Day 2.22.23

Jan 9, 2023

By: Dan Ratner, Senior Director, Member Services, FMI

There are more than 40,000 stores that sell food and grocery items in the U.S. alone. Millions of supermarket employees come to work daily to keep shelves stocked and to provide communities with essential services that help them survive and thrive.

Supermarket employees have earned our gratitude. Hands down, supermarket employees have redefined the term “community service.” According to The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2022, 83% of food retailers engage in community support and build local ties. Supermarket employees also volunteer countless hours and contribute valuable support to local communities. We’re extremely proud of the fact, for instance, that food retailers provided more than 1.5 billion meals to Americans in need through the Feeding America network — the largest private donation stream to the organization in 2020.

Supermarket employees have personified compassion and courage when communities most needed to be encouraged. Despite supply chain disruptions or workforce reductions, supermarket employees demonstrate bold efforts to keep communities going.

To uplift and celebrate supermarket employees, FMI is proclaiming February 22, 2023, Supermarket Employee Day—a time for the food industry to recognize employees at every level for the work they do feeding families and enriching lives.

Here are three easy ways you can celebrate with your supermarket employees!

1. Decide as a team how best to create your celebration plans.

Envision celebrations that work for your operations. Make sure your whole management team saves the date so they can visit as many stores as possible that day to simply share their thanks in person.

2. Use the Toolkit and Ready-Made Graphics

Celebrate supermarket employees with turnkey resources available at FMI.org/SupermarktEmployeeDay and share on social media with #SupermarketEmployeeDay.

3. Plan Your Bling!

Create posters, stickers, banners, t-shirts, mugs – whatever works to shout out to your heroes that they are appreciated. Check out the templates, posters, infographics, and the online store organized for you. In the inaugural year, more than 50,000 buttons were ordered to help with celebrations.