Fortinos senior director of produce and floral Kevin Climie talks new items, assortment, career and more

We're delighted to have as our guest on this week's episode Kevin Climie, senior director of produce and floral at Fortinos. Fortinos operates 23 – soon to be 24 – locations in the Greater Toronto, Hamiliton area. Fortinos is under the Loblaws umbrella but functions as an independent, so all Fortinos stores are franchised and have individual owners. In this conversation, Kevin and The Produce Retail Podcast host Ashley Nickle discuss how he keeps up with trends; how he finds and trials new items; how new items factor into the shopping experience at Fortinos; how he approaches assortment overall; the role foodservice plays for Fortinos; how he got into produce and his career path; and much more. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! For more episodes featuring executive perspective, check out this curated playlist dedicated to conversations with current and former vice presidents of produce, directors of produce, and other executive roles.  More Playlists Merchandising & Marketing  Leadership & Training Produce Manager Perspective Podcast Background This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more. Get Involved The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.