Listening First: Letting Customers Lead the Way

What do avocados, mushrooms, group volunteer opportunities, virtual classes, and potlucks all have in common?

They were all requests from our customers during a recent advisory committee.

I have found myself coming back to the notes from that session more than once.

A year ago, our program team made a decision I’m still grateful for.

“We need to listen to our customers more.”

It sounds simple. It isn’t always easy.

Especially in this work.

I’ve been around the nonprofit sector long enough to recognize a pattern, especially for those of us who carry responsibility and influence. We start to believe we know what’s best for the people we serve.

We bring our own backgrounds, preferences, and experiences and assume they translate.

But they don’t always.

The truth is, the people best equipped to tell us what our customers need… are our customers.

And the only way I know to understand that is to ask. And then keep listening.That’s why we started the customer advisory committee.

That’s why we survey our shoppers each year.

That’s why we work to ensure lived experience is present on our boards and in our leadership.

Not to check a box.

But to stay close to the real experts on food insecurity.

At The Store, we talk a lot about being a choice-based grocery store. That means our customers choose the food they take home.

But real choice goes further than that.

It means having a voice in what’s on the shelves in the first place.

It means being heard in both the big decisions and the small ones.

Because it turns out… garlic and ginger matter.

And when someone mentions wanting those ingredients, I don’t hear a grocery request.

I picture a kitchen.

A meal being made.

A sense of normalcy.

A family gathered around something warm.

I’m proud of our team for doing this kind of listening. It takes time. It takes humility. It requires a willingness to be shaped by what you hear.

Yes, we run a free grocery store.

But more than that, we’re building a community where every voice matters, and where the people we serve are helping shape what we become.

And sometimes, it looks as simple - and as meaningful - as making room for avocados, or garlic, or a shared meal.