In this series, we ask top industry execs and marketers across the country about their biggest fears and concerns. What is giving top marketers restless nights? This week, we caught up with KC Shendelman, VP of marketing for Longo’s. Her duties for the Empire majority-owned grocer banner include strategy and execution for all consumer communications, advertising, media, loyalty, community, public relations and in-store activities.

What’s keeping you up at night?

Lots! I would say our guests and their current mindset is always a focus, because keeping them happy and engaged is what we work to do every day. We have a super loyal following, but there’s lots of things that they have on their mind. So I would say pricing and value is where we’re very focused [while also telling] stories about [our] products and services and how we differentiate on quality and freshness.

And then I think the other piece is a lot about our marketing department and all of the cross-functional departments that we work with. It’s a super busy team, and there’s always a lot on the go. So finding ways to prioritize and balance our teams is always a focus. I would say we also test and learn in a lot of ways, whether it’s the communication itself from a marketing standpoint, or our media mix and where we show up, or if there’s new tools, like AI, and how we bring things to life in store.

What’s the most difficult consideration you’re facing today?

I think we’ve done well to differentiate our private branded products and our fresh products. But then there’s also national branded products that are more comparative across retailers, and so we’re trying to make sure that we’re in the right spot, so that our guests can have a full shop with us without “needing” to go to other places. So things like our new program that we just put in place a few weeks ago, called Low Price Lockdown, is staples and everyday items that we are offering at a locked-in price for a period of time, so that our guests can ensure they’re getting their full shop from us – that balance is the part that’s a little bit tricky.

How do you lean into the banner’s European heritage while appealing to a Canadian audience?

There’s a lot of legacy within our organization. There are three founders, and we’re going to celebrate our 70th year soon. And so our Italian heritage is true in both the style and manner, as well as the products, and our treating-you-like-family approach, where we serve our guests how we would serve our own families. That runs throughout our store network and all of our team members to make sure that we have a really strong focus on our mission and values.

And it does stem from our founders, one of whom is still involved in the business. There are a lot of tenured team members who’ve grown up with the organization, and a lot of family members that are still part of the organization. There’s an Italian word for passion and entrepreneurship called “voglia,” and that is integral into the language within the organization.

Even though we’re growing over 40 stores in the coming year, we still have an entrepreneurial spirit that flows through our organization. Our products and services give guests who’ve been with us for a long time a sense of comfort, because there are a lot of things that haven’t changed. For example, we still have freshly squeezed orange juice or freshly stretched mozzarella or hand piped cannoli and Italian products.

We actually have a whole line of Italian products that is under a private label. We curate our products with growers, producers and partners in Italy for us. So there’s a lot of Italian roots that run are all the way through, but it’s still really relevant to our existing guests and to future guests as well.