EN Locations Search go to store ... Menu #BETTER CONSUME A day in a life of the store Carrefour Bio October 15th 2019 By Julien Marival 4 min Self-sufficiency for organic food products can only be achieved therefore if we make changes to a number of our consumption habits. "Consumers have doubtless become too accustomed to being able to buy any fruit or any vegetable all year round”, says Agnès Chevalier from Rougeline. “Our cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, for example, are only available from May to November. If consumers want to eat completely French-grown organic produce in the winter, they have to opt for carrots, radishes or cabbage”. Julien, tell us a little about yourself? “My father is a Carrefour franchisee. I learned the profession through him as his deputy after I finished my law degree. It didn't take me long to decide when I was offered the opportunity to take over a 100% Carrefour Bio store under a lease-management arrangement. I have a genuine affinity with Carrefour Bio stores and the relationships with customers are richer than they are in a conventional supermarket. Customers don't just come to Bio stores to do their shopping: they regularly need advice and support. At the Bolivar store, I work with seven employees, including two deputies”. 6:58 AM: relaxed arrival "I always arrive an hour before the store opens. I need this time to turn on the bread oven, since all of our varieties are baked on-site. I need to take delivery of products and place the first orders of the day so as to keep the risks of stock outages on the shelves to a minimum. It's also an opportunity to have a relaxed, friendly snack with the morning team. And at our store, the last person who arrives has to buy the coffee!” 7:20 AM: the big clean "The store has to be spotless from floor-to-ceiling as soon as the doors open at 8 AM. Between 7 AM and 8 AM, we clean the floors, we check that products are properly labelled and we fill the shelves. Fruit and vegetable churn is higher in a Bio store than in a conventional one. Because no chemical treatments are used, many varieties are more vulnerable to external factors (cold, humidity, heat, etc.). As a result, they go off faster and need to be replaced every day. This is the case with kiwis and pears, for example". 8:05 AM: breakfast top-ups “The first customers start to arrive. At this hour, they are often people wanting to have or finish their breakfast by buying a coffee, a pastry or a fruit juice. Peak times are later on." 9:33 AM: grown in France "I have to send my fruit and vegetable order to Carrefour's central purchasing office before 10 AM. I choose my assortment based on demand from my customers, although I only sell varieties that are in season, in accordance with our programme to support the food transition. Apart from the exotic fruit that we sell, most of our organic fruit and vegetables are grown in France. Our suppliers are everywhere: Brittany, Brittany, south-western France, etc. The most popular fruit and vegetables that the store sells are bananas, cherry tomatoes, avocados, apricots and courgettes". 10:20 AM: time for a chat "It's at times such as these when there aren't too many customers that we can take the time to chat with them. Our new Bio customers are those who ask the most questions. I often get asked, for example, if organic products have several quality levels. My answer is that the Bio label is a unique label award by the European Union and I reassure them about the taste and quality of our products. I enjoy giving them fruit and vegetables to sample. In the summer, people go crazy over melon and watermelon!” 1:40 PM: loose products are popular “Aymane, one of the merchandisers, resupplies the loose-product column with white quinoa. We have nearly 200 products in the catalogue, and some – such as muesli – are so popular that the silo needs to be refilled every day! And yet one column contains 5 kg of dry product…" 2:01 PM: team change "It's time for the changing of the guard! The morning team hands over to the afternoon team. We all have a chat over a coffee about the morning's events and we prepare for the next shift. It's vital that we all get together at least once a day in a family atmosphere”. 3:33 PM: thank you! "A customer thanks me for providing reusable cloth bags in the fruit and vegetable area. Managing a Bio store is about more than just selling organic products. It is also very important to adopt a more general approach to safeguarding the environment – by installing bins for recycling in particular". 5:02 PM: there is no age for buying organic “Two students arrive at the checkout. For a few years now, Bio stores customers have been getting younger. Eating better really is becoming a multi-generational preoccupation. I am sure that young people will soon start sharing recipes as well and will do what this grandmother did who converted me two years ago to butternut squash soup!" 7:43 PM: mirror, mirror… “Naira, who is working at the checkout this evening, tells a customer about our beauty products that contain no questionable substances. With the new Bio store concept that Carrefour has been running since 2018, the number of hygiene and cosmetics products has been doubled – we now sell nearly 500". 9:02 PM: it's a wrap “The last customer has just left and the doors are closed. Having checked the tills and cleaned the floors, the evening team is finished for the day. I go home to prepare dinner – an organic dinner, obviously!" Follow us Group Carrefour Activities Stores Carrefour Governance Foundation & Solidarity The Carrefour Story Carrefour 2022 Strategy The Food Transition Digital Retail Strategy 2026 Finance Shareholder section Shareholders’ Meeting Carrefour Share Financial publications Regulated information CSR Method Performance Commitment Ethics and responsible business conduct Newsroom All news Horizons Blog HR Act For Change Diversity #Better Produce #Eat Better #Better Consume #Imagine The Future General terms Cookies policy Privacy policy Faciliti Déclaration d'accessibilité Hello and welcome to Carrefour Regarding cookies 🍪, it's up to you ;) Carrefour needs to place cookies or other technologies in order to: Ensure better site performance and safe navigation Submit content and / or personalized advertising according to your areas of interest Collect traffic and navigation statistics Our only goal: to improve our continuous services to provide you with the most qualitative experience possible You can change your mind at any time by setting your cookies.Learn more about our cookies policy.Learn more about our cookie policy ACCEPT ALL COOKIES COOKIES SETTINGS CONTINUE WITHOUT ACCEPTING