The Affiliated Family News would like to wish you and your family a

November 2013
Volume 5, Issue 2
The Affiliated Family News would like to wish
you and your family a safe and blessed
Thanksgiving...
Employee of the Month - November - Arturo Castillo
Arturo Castillo has been selected as AFI’s Employee of the
Month for November. Arturo works under the direction of Freddy
Jimenez in the Dry Grocery Sanitation Department. Arturo will
complete one year of service this month. Freddy tells us that Arturo is one of the best workers he has seen. Freddy knows he
can count on Arturo to get things done and says Arturo has a
great attitude about work and life.
Randy Arceneaux, President and CEO presents the
“Employee of the Month” award to Arturo Castillo .
Arturo is married and has a grand total of seven children. Arturo
says the families love to get together on weekends and have cookouts. In his spare time, Arturo installs carpet and tile and does side
jobs that keep him busy.
PLEASE SEE EMPLOYEE ON PAGE 7
1
#1557 Shoppin Baskit / Deleon, TX
1596 - Anthony’s Foods, Meeker, OK
2
Soldiers’ Angels - This Thanksgiving...
Soldiers' Angels is a volunteer-led nonprofit organization with hundreds of thousands of volunteers providing aid and comfort to the men and women of the United
States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, veterans and their families…
Soldiers’ Angels Germany is the official Soldiers’ Angels organization in Germany,
and is supported by Soldiers’ Angels. Since 2003 Soldiers Angels Germany’s mission has been to support patients from Iraq and Afghanistan, medevac'd from Balad
Air Base, in Balad Iraq, to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, located in Landstuhl,
Germany.
Soldiers enjoy a Thanksgiving meal on Combat Outpost McClain,
Afghanistan, November 22, 2012. The soldiers are assigned to the 173rd
Airborne Brigade Combat Team U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Roland Hale.
This Thanksgiving please remember all the men and women of the United States
Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, veterans and their families…
We would like to thank MaryAnn Phillips, a volunteer at Landstuhl Military
Medical Center, for letting us share, and letting us remember, ‘our guys”.
References and for more information go to: www.soldiersangels.org;
www.soldiersangelsgermany.org; www.wikipedia.com
NOVEMBER, 11, 2013
Let us not forget our troops around the
world, who are not with their families.
Remember those who have sacrificed so
greatly for the freedom and the safety of
you and your families….and this
great Nation…………………
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance” ~ President Thomas Jefferson
3
AFI’s Warehouse Incentive Program
At Affiliated Foods, when we hire a new order selector there is a working standard that must be met in the first 60 days of employment.
The Warehouse Management System calculates time for each store order based on Engineered Labor Standard. This time standard must
be met at 100% by the first 60 days. Once the selector achieves 100% of standard and keeps that standard or above, they become qualified order selectors. This process helps orders to be pulled in a timely manner.
November 2013 Above and Beyond…
Grocery Qualified:
Perishable Qualified:
Abel Rico
Jasmon Washington
Ryan Montes
Jorge Lara
Ericka Ramirez
Steve Torres
Tyler Miller
Juan Barrera
Enrique Lopez
Cristobal Barrera
Jesse Washington
Adam Ochoa
Corey Escamilla
Grocery Top Pay:
Terry Montgomery
Tony Sexton
Joewil Toro Sanchez
Rigo Zepeda
Steven Russell
Perishable Top Pay: cont.
Codie Hoopes
Rafael Flores
Carlos Gonzalez
HBC Qualified:
Anita Frausto
Patricia Flores
Misette Vasquez
Angelita Davis
HBC Top Pay:
Perishable Top Pay:
Hilda Mejia
Shaina Quinn
Melody Verde
Carlos Oliva
Paul Ponce
Courtesy of Jimmy Ross / Director of Warehouse Operations, David Trimble / Assistant
Director of Warehouse Operations, Enrique Barreras / Dry Grocery Supervisor, Ralph
Telles / Perishable Supervisor and Preston Haberman / HBC Supervisor
4
Plains Dairy Announces Awards
(L) Dub Garlington, President, (M) Benita Bustos –
Filler Operator, (R) Roy Mende, Plant Production Mgr.
(L) Greg Meador, Vice President (R) Oscar
Saucedo – Forklift Driver
(L) Greg Meador, Vice President (R) Anthony Ray – Route Driver
Courtesy of Mary Reed / Plains Dairy
Tough Mudder Competition - Dallas 2013
On October 26th, Team “Ninja Please”
competed in the Tough Mudder competition held in Dallas, TX. After many
wounds, getting electrocuted, tons of pain
and some serious sweat, they successfully
finished the course in 3 ½ hours..
(L to R) Neysia Staggs, Tobi Pogue,
daughter of Venus Fairchild, AFI Help
Desk and Matt Pogue...
“Tough Mudder” events are hardcore 1012 mile obstacle courses designed to test
your all around strength, stamina, mental
grit and camaraderie. With 25 of the most
innovative courses, over one million inspiring participants worldwide to date,
and more than $6 million raised for the
Wounded Warrior Project. The competition is hailed as “Probably the toughest
event on the planet®” referenced from
their Website... www.toughmudder.com.
Courtesy of Venus Fairchild, AFI Help Desk
5
AFI Bakery Deli News
Happy Thanksgiving
Everyone has something to be thankful for this holiday season. All of us
will have family gatherings to give
thanks to God’s blessings. We tend to
celebrate this day with large groups
of family, friends, kids, turkey, food,
desserts, drinks, and football.
Deli and Bakery items are just price
less. Have deli tray flyers available,
push cheese trays, deli meat trays,
vegetable trays, and chicken wing
trays get creative. Push your salads
and desserts partner up with the bakery department and offer suggestions
work together as a team.
Traditionally families feast on turkey, ham, and other family dishes but
keep in mind that people have to
work and sometimes don’t have the
time to cook, this is where our deli/
bakery departments can help. Get
ahead and talk to your customers inform and tell them what you have
available for this great holiday. Sample, make suggestions, take special
orders and push for extra sales.
God Bless you and your families and
have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank You
Bobby
Well November is here. This is the biggest month of the year for the bakery.
You all need to plan correctly and have
a big display for Thanksgiving. By now
I am sure that you all made your pie
orders. You need to be ready even with
the economy like it is, we are going to
have big sales I guarantee you, but you
need to be ready. I am sorry I can’t go
to every store and help make the display
for everyone; this is impossible, but you
can do it.
of new product. This is another way
that I mean to go back to the basics.
We need to go back to basics and take
care of our customers first. We need to
provide the best quality of service and
products to our customers. Remember
the customers are always right; then we
need to go back and analyze our dates
on the product for the shelves and showcases. For example your cookies; they
have a 7 days shelf life, but the day that
we over bake them, then we need to
reduce the shelf life; this is what I mean
about going back to basics. We need to
make and prepare all products correctly.
If a product is not baked correctly then
we don’t need to put them out for sale.
You need to constantly be on top of the
sales for your bakery/deli; you need to
reinvent and change the bakery look
almost every month. If you see or observe the calendar during the year, you
can see there are a lot of festivities or
celebrations like Secretaries’ Day, Bosses’ Day, Grandparents’ Day. You need
to prepare something for every one of
those holidays or celebrations. Of
course don’t forget all the football
games on the weekends and decorate
displays according to your area. Remember the colleges, universities, and
high schools in your area in addition to
the professional football games. You
need to take advantage of all these opportunities and go for more sales.
Also some of the basics that we need to
concentrate on is the mark up. I see
some stores increase the % markup of
the thaw and sell products. Well I am
going to tell you that if you mark up
between 30 to 40%, you may sell all
those items. If you mark up more than
40% (I have seen some stores mark up
all the way to 50%) then you will throw
a lot of product away or have a lot of
shrink. When you have a full bakery and
do a lot of bake-off product, you can
have shrink of 4% cost, but if you try to
cut corners and sell them to your customers this will affect your efficiency
because you sell stale product, instead
6
You need to evaluate your bakery. The
bakery and deli are very sensitive and as
soon as you don’t take care of your customers, you may lose them to the competition. The customer doesn’t always
understand if you are short-handed today or if the truck delivery is late. You
need to be consistent and effective; you
need to deliver a fresh good quality
product as part of the everyday basics.
As for November, the 11th is Veteran’s
Day and we need to make a patriotic
display for all the veterans, some of
which may work in your stores. Take
time and thank them for the service to
their country and honor them and all
veterans by having a patriotic display of
cakes, cookies, and
cupcakes.
Thanks to everyone for all
their hard work during the
upcoming holidays and have
a Happy Thanksgiving!
Jaime
Jaime Ortega / Sales Manager
/ Bakery/Deli
jortega@afiama.com
806-681-9238
Bobby Pena / Deli Specialist
rpena@afiama.com
806-392-6416
EMPLOYEE: November Employee of the Month...cont. from page 1
Arturo’s favorite food is Seafood Soup and his favorite movie is “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood.
The most influential person in Arturo’s life has been his grandmother. She taught
him to be respectful and a gentleman. Arturo says his experiences at AFI have
been great. Arturo takes pride in doing a great job and really appreciates the opportunity to serve. Arturo says he has always dreamed of retiring in a couple of
years but he’s having such a great time he’s going to have to reconsider.
He selected gift certificates from Jorge’s Mexican Bar & Grill. Arturo will also receive an additional 250 Safety Bonus Points. Congratulations, Arturo. Thanks
for all you do!
The following employees were also nominated this month. Congratulations to all!
Pablo Chavez
Larry McDuff
Juan Ramirez
Jose Rodriguez
Employee of the Month for November 2013
Arturo Castillo
Courtesy of Rita Koontz / Human Resources
Psalm 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto Him, and bless His
name.
What are you thankful for, today?
Funny Bird
A turkey is a funny bird,
Its head goes wobble, wobble,
All it knows is just one word,
"Gobble, gobble, gobble."
- Anonymous
Reference:
http:/thanksgiving.fundootimes.com
Spotlight On the Warehouse
Newcomer of the Month:
Jeremiah Grizzle
Jeremiah works in the Dry Grocery Shipping Department under the supervision of Enrique Barreras. He
has been at AFI since September 3, 2013.
Enrique commented, “Jeremiah is always ready and
willing to help out with anything needed. He has a
really great work ethic, and does no mind the hard
work.”
Courtesy of Jamallh Clark, Recruiter
7
It’s November 27th………….
Do you know where your
Turkey is????????????????
Turtle Cake from Scratch
Cake:
1
2/3 c.
1 c.
2 c.
11/3 c.
1/2 c.
1 tsp.
1 Tbsp.
1 c.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Shurfine Egg
Shurfine Vegetable oil
Shurfine Buttermilk
Shurfine Flour
Shurfine Sugar
Shurfine Cocoa
Shurfine Salt
Shurfine Baking Soda
(Hot) Shurfine coffee
Frosting:
1/2 c.
1 c.
6 Tbsp.
2 c.
3/4
1 1/2 c.
Shurfine Milk
Shurfine Sugar
Shurfine Butter
Shurfine semi-sweet
Chocolate chips
Shurfine melted caramel
Shurfine Pecans, toasted
Cake: Preheat oven to 350º F. Get 3 round cake pans ready,
spray with baking spray. Use parchment paper on the bottom of
the pans, cut into circle…(Parchment paper is NOT...wax paper!)
You will need 2 bowls. Combine egg, oil and buttermilk in one,
and mix flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda in the other.
Gradually add wet ingredients to dry mixture, mix well. Gradually
add in the coffee (leave about 1 to 2 tsp. for the frosting). Pour
into pans.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center
comes out clean. Let cake rest, turnout to wire racks to cool.
Frosting: Mix sugar and milk in a saucepan, add butter, bring to a
boil. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips. Whisk until smooth.
If frosting is too thick or grainy, add
left over hot coffee, 1 tsp. at a time.
Courtesy of Val Clawson / DeJarnett and Western Family
1.
Assemble Cake: Place the 1st layer of cake on a cake plate.
Spread 1/3 of frosting on the top, letting the frosting drip
from the sides. Sprinkle with 1/2 c. of pecans, drizzle with
caramel. Place the second layer top side down, repeat,
frosting, pecans and caramel drizzle...Add 3rd layer repeat
once more frosting, pecans, and drizzle…….
What a wonderful addition to your Thanksgiving
desserts. Watch and see your turkeys make tracks to
this cake!!!
A Note of Thanks!
“THANK YOU” to all who have contributed to the success of the Newsletter”!
A special thanks to Dale Thompson and Kevin Fortenberry for their continued support and help!
The Affiliated Family News
Cathy Gallivan / afinews@afiama.com
If you have any thing to contribute please e-mail the “AFI Family News” @ www.afinews@afiama.com
1401 Farmers Avenue
Amarillo, TX 79118
806-372-3851
8