Brookshire Division Chief Brian Johnson, a Winnsboro native, describes the challenges faced during the Spring pandemic.

(Courtesy photo)

As the coronavirus began to make inroads to East Texas, the largest grocer in the area faced some difficult decisions. Brookshire Grocery Division Chief Brian Johnson recalled the moment Chief Executive Officer Brad Brookshire realized the severity of the situation.

“He chased us all out of the office,” he recalled. “There was no one left at headquarters; we all received assignments to augment the stores.”

That initial push of staff employees out to the Brookshire’s stores across the region was only the first of several measures which unfolded in the face of the pandemic. The challenges facing Brookshire Grocery Company came one after another in the early days of the shutdown.

“First, we had to man-up the stores to meet the demand as people were buying more food than normal and more frequently than we had ever seen,” Johnson explained.

In the first two weeks of the shut-down, Brookshire’s hired over 2,000 people to meet the service requirements. 

That initial hiring surge was mostly truck drivers and order pullers and was designed to shore-up a delivery infrastructure which was being overstretched. 

Of note, when Brookshire’s clears the office, it is exactly what is done.

Johnson explained, “The office was empty, even the top level of executives – chief operating officer, chief financial officer, etc. – were stocking shelves or helping out in some way at a local store.”

“Those initial two weeks spoke volumes about the quality of people who are working in our groceries,” Johnson explained.

He offered that while many large companies experienced a significant increase in truancy, the Brookshire’s workforce remained as stable as always. The employees’ no-show rate remained below 2% even in the early days when not much was known about the virus. 

Once the ability to provide customer service was shored up, the company reacted quickly to meet the high demands of a worried customer base.

“We added suppliers across the board,” Johnson remarked. “Where we had three suppliers for a product normally, we often increased it to five suppliers,” he added. 

The grocers had entered into a pattern of supply and demand previously unseen. The normal ordering method for the company is a computer-assisted ordering system. The system used historical purchase records to predict future use and order to meet the demand. 

The pandemic rush forced the automated ordering system to first flood the system with new orders and then to grind to a halt when production could not meet requirements.

“We turned it off,” Johnson said, “we went back to a manual ordering to put a governor on the distribution system.”

The new conditions spawned some creative solutions to specific delivery infrastructure issues. Johnson related how the company immediately approached major restaurant venders, like Sysco and Ben E. Keith, to ensure that produce was always flowing into the local shelves. In one case, the company contracted Sysco’s distribution system to fill a specialized requirement for bottled water.

With the first two largest concerns (customer service and supply) addressed, Brookshire’s faced the daunting issues of store sanitation. With the average store size of a Brookshire’s grocery of 40,000 square feet, maintaining cleanliness standards can be daunting.

Keeping the stores virus-free started like many things at Brookshire’s, with the workforce.

“We take everyone’s temperature at the start of their shift,” Johnson related. “The limit is quite strict; a temperature of 99.5 will get you sent home.” 

Cleanliness standards were increased across all stores. Many of the now familiar procedures were put in place to mitigate virus transmission risks. Johnson explained that many of the measures will remain, as the responsibility for safety and security will always be Brookshire’s responsibility. 

Of all the company representatives, Johnson likely has a bit more insight into that responsibility than most. His father, Jerry Johnson, ran the Winnsboro Brookshire’s store (No. 6) for many years. On Dec. 19, 1984 at the age of 16, Brian began to work under his father’s tutelage. 

After graduating from Winnsboro High School, a Brookshire’s scholarship led Johnson to Baylor University and a business degree. Although not under an obligation to do so, it was a natural fit for him to join the grocery company.  

That association has led him to a highly successful career with a one-of-a-kind company.

Johnson put Brookshire into context, “By national standards we are not a large company. Our stores are only in the Ark-La-Tex. We compete everyday against nationwide chains like Walmart and Kroger, but we are still a family-run grocery.”

The community involvement of that family-run company has been a part of local East Texas communities for a long time. It continues today. Organizations such as Mineola Caring and Sharing, Hawkins Helping Hand and Winnsboro Resource Center benefit from direct charitable donations. 

More specific humanitarian requests are addressed twice a year through a grant program. Other areas of focus include first responders, veterans, education and child welfare.

 Johnson paused before offering his summary about what makes Brookshire a special organization. “First,” he offered, “the sacrifices of our partners – partners is the word we use for employees – and watching the amazing things that they do every day. And most importantly,” he concluded, “is the trust which our customers have in us.”