How QFC Is Working to Be the Best in the Northwest
The future was uncertain for QFC over the past two years as it waited to be divested as part of parent company The Kroger Co.’s plans to merge with Albertsons Cos. Following the breakdown of that deal in December, Brent Stewart, a 35-year veteran of QFC, was officially named president of the Bellevue, Wash.-based subsidiary.
Stewart, who most recently served as the company’s VP of merchandising, recently spoke with Progressive Grocer about what’s next for QFC as it moves forward under the Kroger banner.
Progressive Grocer: You’ve been out visiting stores over the past few weeks – why is it important for you to be working and interacting with associates at the store level?
Brent Stewart: We’ve got to go see and understand what’s happening at the store. Not only spending time with our associates but spending time with our customers.
We do evening tours where we pick a couple of stores and go out unannounced. It gives me a chance to work with the closing manager. I can understand what their focuses are, what they need and how our store conditions are. We want to deliver a great experience for our customer and that's all through the day, from open to close, so that's why we're getting out and seeing it, and then getting to know our folks.
Anytime I can get out and spend time in stores, that's what I absolutely love. It’s my favorite part of the job, honestly, getting out with the customers and the associates.
PG: How does QFC stay nimble and cater to the needs and wants of today’s customers?
BS: Understanding the trends and going to see competition. I tell the merchandising team we should be spending half the time in our stores to understand what's going on and half the time in the competition to understand trends. You’ve got to get out in the competition and also look at our internal data [to see] what areas are taking off.
And listening to our customers, ultimately. What are they requesting? What do they want? What do they wish we had more of? Our customers, especially in this area, are evolving. We all are. What we ate 30 years ago, 20 years ago, five years ago, is changing.
We have a very seasoned merchandising team here that is passionate about having a point of difference in the itemization that we carry and curating it to what the customer really wants and needs. We operate in two different states and the wants of those customers in the different demographics absolutely do change and we do everything we can to curate that store for what that customer's looking for.
PG: What can you tell me about store remodels and any possible expansion plans?
BS: We have nine remodels lined up for this year and nine remodels lined up for 2026. We're always working on them, and that's probably been our pattern for the last 10 years. All through the possible merge time we continued to work on our plans. We went through and made remodel plans across the board.
Expansion, we hold that pretty tight. We're always looking and always interested in possible opportunities.
PG: What’s your vision for QFC over the next five years?
BS: I think number one is continuing to elevate our customer experience. That's full, fresh, friendly and clean. We talk about how the customer is shopping today and really meeting them however they want to shop, whether it’s online, home delivery, pickup or coming into the store. What is that experience like? So that's a big focus — continuing to elevate.
I’m proud today, but my vision is to be the best, the best in the Northwest and to really be known as that. Who's the friendliest grocer out there? Who has the freshest produce, meat and freshest products? I want that to be QFC and the team is focused on that. Itemization and curation are very important, and continuing to understand that and continuing to evolve for our changing demographics in Seattle, and our changing needs and customer wants.
Healthier products and better-for-you items [are also important]. Whole meal replacement is a big one – restaurant-quality food that you can pick up at a grocery store is a big focus. We want to elevate that experience.
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I think with all of that, you’ve got to continue to take our associates on that journey, so continuing to elevate their experience is a huge focus. We are nobody without our teams out there. We have a great team at QFC with a lot of tenure. It's not unusual for you to meet somebody out in our stores who has been with the company for 30, 35 years, and they just do a fantastic job. So we’re continuing to educate them and take care of them. What do they need? What are they looking for in their career?
PG: How does technology play into that for QFC?
BS: A lot of that's developed out of Kroger and I couldn’t be more impressed with what they are doing today. I've been in the business 40 years and I think back about that time and what I used to have to do. It makes it so much easier — automatic orders put together and replenishment. Technology is helping us do our jobs better each and every day.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
