On March 23rd, SAS began a new venture with Florida-based Bi-Lo Holdings Company, which consists of Winn Dixie and Bi-Lo grocery stores. Phase 1 of the project consisted of converting 70 Sweet Bay stores to Winn Dixie stores over a 4-week period. The conversions would begin every Sunday morning with the store re-opening five days later on Friday at 7 a.m.
The original request was for SAS to provide 85 associates, but one week prior to kick-off, the request grew to 170 associates. The Daymon Worldwide, Interactions and SAS teams came together to bring in additional resources to deliver what the customer needed in record time. Ross Purdy’s Daymon team provided assistance and SAS managers from around the country provided the experienced associates that were desperately needed. Associates from California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and Connecticut converged on Florida to assist on this project for the first round of four weeks.
In support of this large undertaking, Tad Neighbor’s Interactions team and SAS’s Sharon Youngkrantz were utilized to lead our recruiting process. In the field, Tami Miller and Joan Carr coordinated the schedules, logistics and team management while making daily visits to the stores. In addition, they communicated with the Bi-Lo Holdings supervisors overseeing the project in order to keep things running smoothly and on track.
Thanks to some great team work and communication this large undertaking was a successful one!
Steve Harry Regional Vice President |