Mark Mulcahy

Mark started his produce career at a co-op in Walnut Creek, California over 30 years ago. He has over 27 years of hands-on experience in the organic retail produce industry; and has been consulting with co-ops and natural food retailers since 1996. Mark is dedicated to sharing his passion for fresh food and bringing the joy of eating well to everyone he meets. Mark is the co-creator and -presenter of Rising Stars, a leadership development course for retailers, he hosts the national radio show Organic Conversation, and is columnist for many national trade publications.

Mark is well known for his creative merchandising, effective training techniques, successful financial strategies and dedication to sustainable agriculture. He said, “I love helping produce managers put in systems that will take them to the next level to create results they want. Right now I’m working with a lot of retailers on developing a strong local grower program for their stores.”

Mark’s services include:

All Store

• Management training
• Time Management and Job satisfaction
• Getting what you want, how to write a proposal to your GM
• Staff development
• Passion-building
• Avoiding burnout
• Team building

Produce

• On-site and phone consultations
• Systems development for single and multi-store formats
• In-store staff trainings
• Department resets and merchandising for better sales and more efficient use of labor
• Management training, mentoring
• Accountability training and set up
• Financial training
• Buying and inventory systems
• Passion-building.
• Team-building
• Local grower program development
• In-store customer education

New department set up

• Department layout and design
• Equipment and small wares purchase
• Display and merchandising assistance
• Interviewing and hiring
• Handbook, systems, and training
• Manager mentoring

“Thank you so much for that fabulous payroll budgeting tool you gave our produce manager and for the great work you did helping her understand how to use it. She almost immediately brought down her payroll margin by more than 1.5 points! She loves it – very easy to use and felt so empowered by really being able to improve the performance of her department. My other managers were very curious about the tool when they saw her results and I tweak it for each of their departments. Our entire store payroll margin is now down almost 2 points! Thanks again for all your help and for all you do for co-ops!”

— Jacqueline Hannah, General Manager, Common Ground Food Co-op, Champaign, Ill.

“Mark’s work with our produce department has been comprehensive and complete. He communicates an inextinguishable passion for produce to the entire staff, from the managers to the clerks. Participants in his seminar left inspired and have been approaching me in the subsequent weeks with ideas that show a new understanding for the inner workings of their department and a desire for growth and success. The department reset was compelling and beautiful and received compliments from staff, customers and owner members alike. In the first week after the department was reset we experienced an approximate 10% lift in gross revenues.”

—Chris Maher, General Manager, Briar Patch Community Co-op, Grass Valley, Calif.