To help preserve its colleagues and shoppers, members of the retailer-owned supermarket organization, Wakefern Food Corp., have launched its latest measure to improve the safety rules for its clients and partners. Beginning next week, stores will perform a temperature monitoring application.
As part of the initiative, markets will use Non-contact Forehead Infrared Thermometers to take the temperature of plants and merchants as they come for work. Any person with a high temperature will be sent home. Wakefern intends to roll out temperature monitoring at all its properties, as well as its repositories.
Safety Rules
This program is the latest in a series of safety standards intended to protect both consumers and friends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, the organization installed Plexiglas protection at cash registers, customer service counters, and drugstores across all its banner brands, including ShopRite, The Fresh Grocer, Price Rite Marketplace, Dearborn Market and Gourmet Garage.
Properties also lately began limiting occupancy during peak purchasing hours. In keeping with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all store partners will wear defending masks.
“These are unusual times, and we are dedicated to preserving our partners and consumers as we keep our stores open to serve our societies,” stated Joe Colalillo, chairman and CEO of Wakefern Food Corp.
In-store Communication
“We are strictly controlling the fast-moving COVID-19 pressure and all new orders and CDC protocols, and using that data to guide our choices. We are proud of our hard-working friends and doing everything we can to encourage them and keep them safe as they work on the front lines of this public health crisis.”
All stores are also featuring social distancing with unique signs, in-store communications, and floor markers, and many are also trying shopping hours or selected checkout lanes for seniors and other at-risk clients.
In addition to rigorously implementing practiced protocols for proper food handling, hand washing, hygiene, and store sanitation, stores are also taking extra steps to deep clean and sanitize food contact covers and high-touch areas such as credit card pin pads and shopping carts.
Total Responsibility
As part of Wakefern improved rules, clients who bring their bags to shop are required to bag their orders, and friends may only pack a customer’s request using store stocked bags.
Members of the Wakefern collective operate nearly 80,000 people across nine states, serving one of the largest employers in New Jersey. The retailer-owned team is made of 51 family-owned companies, including many that have been in the grocery business for generations. “So many of us have spent our whole lives in the grocery store, and we are dedicated to feeding families. Today that responsibility includes making significant changes to our stores so that we can proceed to do what we do best – helping people get the fresh foods and essential numbers they need,” he continued.
