Grocery Stores

This week we are kicking off a series highlighting different industries we work well with, not just for the owners of these particular companies but also because we provide many solutions.

So let's highlight the valuable grocery store chain industry.

Here are some brief statistics to better comprehend the industry and where advisors can help. First of all, there are almost 3 million people employed in the grocery store industry, and the average employee is about 37 years old.

Second, the average salary is just under $26,000 per year now. It's easy to believe that somebody's probably living paycheck to paycheck or they must have multiple jobs. They certainly can't afford a major medical plan considering that the average premium is anywhere from $450 to $500, depending on your state.

This is where many grocery store chain owners fall into a bit of a predicament as they expand and become what is called an applicable large employer because they have more than 50 employees. When those are run through an FTE Calculator, they're out of compliance because they are not offering at least minimum essential coverage to these employees.

So right here in California, we recently helped a client who has two grocery store chains in a massive market with lots of employees. He found himself out of compliance, but he also wanted to make sure he was taking care of his employees because he cared about them and said he treated everyone in his stores as a key employee. So he wanted everybody to have something, but no one had brought this particular opportunity to the table. Interestingly enough, I was brought into that opportunity; through a partnership, there was a payroll rep, and then there was also an employee benefits advisor. And together, they realized that they could not help this store out with the major medical plan. So they called me, and he bought benefits. We went to the store and had this conversation. The store paid for one of our low-cost base plans, which cost less than the penalty for not having insurance. Then it allowed the employees to buy up to a better plan and even achieve some hospital indemnity and dental and vision, and so fast forward, we put that plan in place.

This occurred about 18 months ago, and everything's going well. We developed a good rapport with the store owner, and we text back and forth once in a while to see how each other's doing. He says that his employees are pleased with the health coverage. It's straightforward for them to find their doctors and urgent care; they're getting the prescriptions they need to accept.

So all your employee benefits advisors out there, I know you don't usually target or even look at grocery store chains because you don't see how they fit your pay profile. I will go after this type of company because we will write a substantial major medical plan. Millions of employees don't make the kind of salary that justifies a major medical plan. That means millions of employees work for store owners that need you and employee benefits advisor to come and bring them solutions.

Please reach out to me via email, message me on LinkedIn, and let's schedule a call.

I'll talk to you about the talk tracks and how we usually communicate with these grocery store owners, and maybe we can help you expand your book of business chances if you haven't worked with these types of companies, and we do an excellent job there.

So until then, I look forward to talking with you very soon.