Nancy Edmonds Hanson
nancy.edmonds.hanson@gmail.com

When residents were advised to adopt “social distancing” two weeks ago, the urge to stock pantries hit supermarkets like a tidal wave. But Matt Leiseth, president of Hornbacher’s, says the supply chain has caught up after the first week of titanic demand and empty shelves. Now shoppers can count on the groceries they need to stay safe and well-fed during Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order.
“It was like what we call a ‘blizzard rush’ – for seven days in a row,” the Moorhead executive observes. “We couldn’t physically put as much food back on the shelves as what was going out in a day. That’s why we changed our hours” (from around the clock to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.). “We had to catch up.”
He adds, “The same thing hit our suppliers and distribution centers. More was going out than they could bring in. But they’re catching up. Our guests won’t have to worry about getting what they need.”
Shoppers caught the first hint of what was to come almost three weeks ago when free doughnut holes and coffee disappeared from the stores’ bakery departments. Almost simultaneously, shelves of toilet paper seemed to evaporate – the first shortage, seeming to touch off a panic not only here but across the nation.
“It took us about a week to catch up. It just physically takes time,” he says. “Even with food, where the lead times are relatively short, it took that long to stock the distribution centers and truck orders all over the country.
“There never was a real shortage. All of the brands we carry are made in America,” Leiseth explains. But the sudden spike in demand made replacing the rolls a challenge. Oversized and bulky, truckloads of paper carry far fewer units than, say, condensed soup and canned beans. “We need two truckloads to fill the shelves in each of our stores, with another two loads for the warehouse,” he says. “It takes awhile to get it back up to normal.”

Hiring temporary staff
Local Hornbacher’s stores had (as of Tuesday) hired more than 120 temporary workers. Their invitation to laid-off workers from the hospitality industry, as well as hourly school employees and others, set the phones to ringing after it was announced on Facebook and in the Extra (where it resulted in a record 147,000 views and hundreds of shared postings).
“We have had a wonderful response,” he asserted earlier this week. “And we’re still looking for more.”
Most of the new staff have been assigned to cashier work and stocking products, areas that require less intensive training. They are filling in for other regular workers who have chosen to shelter in place, including men and women in the over-65 age group and those with health conditions that make them especially vulnerable.
“We have a lot of retired people who like to get out of the house and work for us a few hours a week. Many of them have said they want to back away until this is over,” Leiseth says. “And that’s fine,” he emphasizes. “We don’t want anyone to risk their health. Their jobs will be waiting for them when they get the all-clear.”
Following CDC guidelines
The food industry’s stringent rules on sanitation aimed at preventing everyday contaminants like E. coli and listeria were already in place when the coronavirus pandemic struck, but Leiseth’s stores have stepped up with a number of new measures to keep their own 1,200 employees safe, along with shoppers.
The stores undergo an energetic cleaning overnight while they’re closed, including fastidiously sanitizing grocery carts. That’s why the first hours after opening at dawn are informally designated for older shoppers and others with health vulnerabilities. “It works out well,” the president says. “A lot of that age group are like my parents, who get up first thing in the morning anyway.”
The cleaning continues all day, however. Carts are wiped down as they’re brought in from the parking lot; counters and often-touched surfaces are sanitized at frequent intervals.
The deli and meat counters have been shut down to cut out hand-to-hand contact with consumers. Instead, the salads and meats are wrapped and packaged to stock refrigerated cases. “Everybody in the deli and meats is still there, doing what they’ve always been doing,” he says. “All the hot foods are still being prepared, but guests pick them up already packaged.”
Transparent plexiglass “sneeze guards” now separate cashiers from their customers at all check stands, a spot where it’s more difficult to maintain a safe distance. Signs at the entrances and throughout the stores remind shoppers to maintain the recommended six-foot social spacing; the measurement is actually marked out on the floor near areas where they enter.
Limiting quantities
While Leiseth says almost all products continue to be readily available, the situation is a bit different in certain categories. One is eggs. Hornbacher’s stores have been limiting purchases to one carton per purchase; the refrigerated cases bear signs apologizing for a recent bump in price. Leiseth cites three factors: increased demand among those who are eating more meals at home; the fact that, in his words, “there are only so many chickens;” and other related directly to the pandemic. Nine hundred thousand eggs a day are out of the distribution stream because they’re essential to the pursuit of a vaccine. Candidate vaccine viruses are commonly grown in eggs, as they have been for more than 70 years.
Some consumers have worried about the supply of their favorite potatoes. “Our guests do love their Red River Valley red potatoes,” Leiseth acknowledges. “They’re harder to get because of the terrible conditions for harvesting last fall. But we do have plenty of russets and other varieties.”
He didn’t see one other big bump coming. Noting that hand sanitizer is impossible because of the need in health care facilities, he says, “I’ve also noticed a big increase in sales of plain old hand soap. That surprised me,” he says. “Weren’t they already washing their hands?”