Hy-Vee’s produce manager has to study records and adapt to the seasons to make sure he gets just enough food to go on the shelves yet not go to waste as he serves Albert Lea.

“It’s amazing how much we do go through,” Todd Brouwers said. “We go through seven, eight thousand pounds of bananas in a week’s time.”

Brouwers, who has worked as produce manager at Hy-Vee since 1981, is responsible for ordering and displaying the produce, plus ensuring it comes at a good quality and keeps that quality when it’s on the shelf, Brouwers said.

Brouwers said there are concerns these days about where food comes from, and he said he has to log that information. The product comes from all over the world, and he said some of it comes from local growers in certain seasons.

“A lot of them don’t realize actually where it comes from. They just think it’s readily available. A lot of them don’t understand it’s seasonal and that affects the pricing and that the weather conditions affects the availability and pricing.”

Foods like potatoes and lettuce are more readily available throughout any season; soft fruit is more expensive and difficult to find during the winter, Brouwers said. Most of the food is still available, but the price will go up in seasons a food isn’t as readily available, Brouwers said.

“Years ago it was more seasonal,” Brouwers said. “But growing product is available in the U.S. at this time of the year, but in Europe; it might be another time. You’re still going to get the product, but the price dictates what some of the consumers are going to pay for it.”

Weather within a season can affect costs and availability as well. For example, Brouwers said strawberries can’t be picked after a heavy rain because they’d rot too quickly.

“We may run strawberries in an ad, and then all of a sudden they’re not as available as we would like because of weather conditions. Or if it’s extremely cold, then product doesn’t mature as fast as they’ve anticipated,” Brouwers said.

“Consumer buying habits are a lot more convenience-orientated,” Brouwers said. “In the years that I first started, the bagged salads, they weren’t even available. And now the buying habits have changed, that’s a big item. … The baby carrots, quick and easy.”

Aside from the convenient foods, Brouwers said organic foods are becoming bigger and take up 10 to 15 percent of the produce, a number he thinks is smaller because Albert Lea is an older community.

“People are a lot more health conscious now,” Brouwers said. “Organics are getting to be a big, big thing nowadays.”

“We get a lot of customer requests or feedback in what they’re looking for,” Brouwers said. “We can get almost anything; it’s just whether or not they’re willing to pay what it takes.”

Typical produce can usually stay on the shelf three to four days, and Brouwers said he looks at past records so food isn’t wasted.

“Wintertime is real touchy because all of a sudden if we’re going to get a snowstorm everybody’s flocking in,” Brouwers said.

“And with produce being so perishable, you don’t want to order more than you’re going to sell.”