Meat Associate

About the Role

Assists in the daily operations of meat and seafood departments, promoting and executing consistent and compliant operating conditions to increase customer confidence and loyalty. Provides fresh and appealing products, courteous, knowledgeable, and prompt service while valuing diversity and supporting an inclusive environment.

Responsibilities

• Service (60%)
  • Creates an environment that enables customers to feel welcome, important, and appreciated.
  • Prepares and packages meat, seafood, random weight items, lunchmeat, frozen food, and salted meats to production standards.
  • Operates department equipment and tools.
  • Ensures customer requests and special orders are fulfilled.
• Leadership (20%)
  • Promotes trust and respect among associates through collaboration, teamwork, and communication of company, department, and job-specific information.
  • Adheres to all local, state, and federal laws, and company guidelines.
• Financial (10%)
  • Stocks and rotates department products to ensure freshness and date control; restocks and uses supply items efficiently to eliminate waste and maintain low supply costs.
  • Receives and breaks down meat deliveries.
  • Maintains a clean, orderly, and hazard-free work area.
  • Monitors inventory/stocking conditions and reports discrepancies.
  • Reviews and inspects products for quality and freshness, taking appropriate action with substandard items.
  • Ensures products are held at proper temperatures per food safety guidelines and retains temperature logs as required.
• Compliance/Safety (10%)
  • Ensures company standards for safety, food handling, sanitation, and productivity are maintained.
  • Adheres to regulatory compliance requirements for food safety, USDA, Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), and Department of Agriculture (DOA).
  • Executes product recalls and withdrawals promptly, securing and removing items from customer access.
  • Reinforces safety programs by complying with procedures and reporting unsafe conditions to management.
  • Notifies management of customer or employee accidents, safety risks, or illegal activity (e.g., robbery, theft, fraud).
  • Ensures adherence to wage and hour policies and regulations.
  • Cultivates a culture of safety, ensuring all associates have received necessary training.
  • Posts Hazardous Assessments and ensures Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is available and utilized.
  • Reports and assists with remediation of safety hazards, including lockout/tagout of equipment.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• Authorization to work in the United States or the ability to obtain the same.
• Successful completion of pre-employment drug testing and background check.
• Strong customer service skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal, motivational, and communication skills.
• Knowledge of cutting, traying, wrapping, and labeling.

Qualifications

• Education: High School diploma or GED preferred.
• Language: English required; Spanish preferred.
• Experience: 0–3 years of relevant or supervisory experience.

Physical Demands & Working Conditions

Physical Demands: Regularly required to stand or walk on various flooring types, utilize manual dexterity, talk, see, hear, smell, and perform repetitive movements with both hands and/or feet. Frequently required to reach at waist level or overhead, carry, push, or lift loads up to 70 lbs. Occasionally required to sit, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and climb up to 10 ft. Pulling requirement up to 250 lbs.

Working Conditions: May be exposed to indoor, outdoor, cold, freezing, heated, and wet/humid environments. Safety risks include twisting back/neck, slippery or cluttered floors, hazardous equipment, sharp objects, loud noise, skin irritants, nuisance dust, fumes, sprays, hazardous cleaning solutions, and other toxins.

Equipment Used: Cleaning supplies, office equipment, register, pricing gun, scales, scanner, material handling equipment (racks, carts, pallet jacks, shopping carts), baler/compactor, hardware tools (ladder, pliers, wire cutters), ice machine, shovel, powered cutting equipment (slicers, saws, grinders), knives, wrapping equipment, automatic meat wrapper, lobster tanks, box cutter.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Goggles, gloves (including cutting, fryer, and oven gloves), back brace.

Shift: Varied shifts.