Field Trip to Stater Bros!

Last year, the preschool had a field trip to another grocery store that didn't act very happy to have us there for a tour. And because of feeling as though we were a bother, it looked like a grocery store tour wasn't going to happen this year. But all it took was one phone call to Papa (who's worked with the company 40+ years) inquiring about a possible filed trip to Stater Bros and we were hooked up!

Yesterday and today were the preschool field trips to the local Stater Bros store and it was AWESOME! The girls from the corporate office really worked hard and rolled out the red carpet for our school and all the kids had so much fun!

We were greeted before we even entered the store by one of the ladies from where Papa works. She gave everyone a colored apron and then explained what kinds of job you would perform when you wore that apron. Rachel's apron was green, which meant she does a lot of customer service work - bagging groceries, collecting carts, putting groceries back on the shelves that weren't purchased.Our tour started in the produce section of the store. There was a cart of vegetables and Terina showed the kids the vegetables and why they are important for us (carrots are good for vision, etc). She explained that the lighting in the produce section is very similar to that of the sun, and that's to help the produce not go bad so quickly (need to ask Papa about that one!) and how the vegetables are sprayed down every 15 minutes. The kids all got a chance to water the vegetables and I'm sure that particular section of veggies is probably good on the water for the remainder of the day. LOL. From there, we got to go into the produce refrigerator, into the freezer where they store the ice cream and popsicles, and to the Meat Department where everyone got a special hat! And then we got to go behind the meat counter and watch the Meat guys wrap some packages of meat and another man tell us about what kinds of meat they have. The kids all loved their Stater Bros hats and wore them proudly!From the Meat Department we headed to the regular refrigerator where all the milk and yogurt is stored. Not quite as cold as the freezer, but it was COLD! From the refrigerator we stepped into the back room and learned how everything in the dry food area comes to the store in cardboard boxes. The kids got to see the baler compact some boxes and that for some reason was very exciting! At the very end of our tour in the store room, there were two tables set up for decorating cookies! This particular store doesn't have a bakery, but the bakery supervisor brought in sugar cookies and lots of icing and sprinkles for the kids decorate their own cookies! They were in handy dandy little deli containers with lids and once the decorating was done, the lids went on, and into a brown bag to take back to school! After we completed our 'behind the scenes' tour of the store, we made our way to the front end where a check stand had been reserved just for us! There were some groceries that needed to be rung up and each kid got to scan some groceries. Boy was that ever fun! All the kids loved scanning the boxes of cereal over and over again. LOL.At the end of their scanning, each preschooler was handed a brown goodie bag! Inside was a Red Delicious Apple, a small bottle of water, a Stater Bros pencil pouch complete with a Stater Bros ruler, eraser, and pencil, as well as an official card that when brought to the bakery counter of any store gets them a complimentary cookie!!! We also went back to school with "I'm a Staters Kid" balloons and coloring sheets!Rachel wore her "Stater Grand Kid" shirt that we made for Route 66 last summer. You couldn't see it once she was wearing her official Stater Bros work apron. But she looked cute nonetheless.

It was fun to visit this particular store because my Dad opened the store when he was a store manager! I think this might have been the store that I remember Mr Twinkie being at for the Grand Opening?? Or maybe it was the other nearby store. At any rate, our tour was awesome and both Kim and Terina were the best tour guides we could have hoped for! Thanks Papa for hooking the preschool up, and thanks Stater Bros for all the goodies and loads of fun!

Hmmm, I wonder if Papa could arrange for a tour of the corporate offices? We'll save that request for Kindergarten! :)