Shownotes
Recorded live at FMI 2026, Omni Talk Retail hosts Anne Mezzenga and Chris Walton sit down with Alyssa Vescio, Chief Merchandising Officer at The Fresh Market, from the Simbe booth.
In this conversation, Alyssa shares her career journey from Target to Whole Foods Market and now The Fresh Market, and how each chapter shaped her approach to merchandising, leadership, and purpose. She discusses why healthy discontent has fueled her career, how purpose driven retail can scale responsibly, and what excites her most about The Fresh Market’s brand, people, and potential as she looks ahead to 2026.
The discussion explores how merchandising sits at the center of guest experience, supplier relationships, and long term business impact, especially in food retail where quality, freshness, and human connection matter most.
Key Topics Covered
- Alyssa Vescio’s path from Target and Whole Foods to The Fresh Market
- Building strong merchandising foundations across disciplines
- Purpose driven retail and the stakeholder model
- Why food is a powerful human connector
- Approaching the first 90 days in a new leadership role
- Unlocking brand love, discovery, and differentiation
- Accessibility and expanding access to high quality food
For more conversations from grocery and retail leaders, continue following Omni Talk Retail’s live coverage from FMI 2026, recorded at the Simbe booth.
#FMI2026 #OmniTalkRetail #GroceryRetail #Merchandising #FoodRetail #RetailLeadership #TheFreshMarket #Simbe
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcripts
Hello.
Speaker B:Welcome back to day three of fmi.
Speaker B:This is Omnitalk Retail.
Speaker B:I'm Anne Mazinga.
Speaker C:And I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker B:And we are coming to you live from the simbi booth, number 118 in the FMI tech section.
Speaker B:And we are kicking things off for day three with the woman standing between us here, Alyssa Vesho, the chief merchandising officer at the Fresh Market.
Speaker B:Alyssa, welcome.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:Thank you for having me.
Speaker B:Yeah, we're excited you made the time to stop by with all of the things going on here.
Speaker B:So thank you.
Speaker A:I'm happy to be here.
Speaker A:I know we've wanted to chat for a while.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:I was just gonna say that I think for every grocery conference, you've been on my list to be like, are you going to be there?
Speaker C:I want to try to talk to you.
Speaker C:And we finally made it happen.
Speaker C:So explain to the audience why that is.
Speaker C:Because you and I used to work together.
Speaker C:You used to work at Target and used to work at Target, too, so.
Speaker C:But explain to our audience who you are, what your background is, because it's really interesting when you get right down to it.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:I mean, I think I'll start by sharing just a little bit about who I am.
Speaker A:I'm originally from Minnesota.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker A:I'm an oldest child.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Virgo.
Speaker A:These are all things that say a lot about who I am.
Speaker B:We've got birth order, numerology, all the.
Speaker A:Things give you a little context of who I am.
Speaker B:Appreciate it.
Speaker B:Appreciate it.
Speaker A:I'm also, you know, a wife and a mom.
Speaker A:And one of the things that has been a key motivator for me in life, but also in my career is discontent.
Speaker A:Like, I'm a very optimistic person.
Speaker A:I like to spread positivity, But I'm also fueled by this healthy sense of discontent.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And that's been a key driver of my career.
Speaker A:So I started working in retail stores when I was 16.
Speaker A:You know, prior to that, I was babysitting, but Once I turned 16, I started working in stores.
Speaker C:That would give you an appreciation of discontent.
Speaker C:Yeah, pretty quickly.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Both of those things.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Babysitting, too, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:But from there, when I was getting my undergrad degree at a small liberal arts school in Minnesota, I started working at Target at a call center, actually doing guest relations and store support calls.
Speaker A:And that, I would say, is when I really kicked off my career in retail.
Speaker A:From there, I moved over to merchandising.
Speaker A:In total, I spent over 17 years at Target, as you know, really.
Speaker A:Across multiple disciplines.
Speaker A:And categories.
Speaker A:A lot of my time was based in food, but I got to do everything from inventory planning to space planning to category management to private label.
Speaker A:So in total, again, over 17 years there.
Speaker A:Yeah, I spent the last eight years at whole Foods Market really helping build a merchandising function from the ground up.
Speaker C:And you started there the first week that.
Speaker C:Your first week there was the week that Amazon acquired Whole Foods, right?
Speaker A:Is that right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:My very first week was the week that the Amazon acquisition was announced, which was a really interesting moment.
Speaker C:I can only imagine.
Speaker A:So being a part of the Amazon family was really the experience that I had at Whole Foods.
Speaker A:But it was a really incredible opportunity again, to take this very purpose driven retailer to build a merchandising function and to ensure that it was positioned to be able to scale and sustain over time.
Speaker A:And then in November, I joined the Fresh Market.
Speaker A:And I could not be more excited to be here and be part of this team.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Well, you've held quite a few roles.
Speaker B:You mentioned that discontent.
Speaker B:That's what kind of drives you to make change and to continue to be driven by the work that you're doing.
Speaker B:What would you say are some of the things that you've learned that have really helped you as you kind of have moved through each of these positions across a really large variety of retailers, from Target to Whole Foods and Amazon and now to the Fresh Market?
Speaker A:Yeah, at Target, I would say I learned a lot about the foundational disciplines of merchandising.
Speaker A:Again, getting to see the business from a lot of different angles and recognizing how important each of those disciplines are in creating an incredible guest experience.
Speaker A:I also learned a lot about the sense of ownership and satisfaction that comes from running a business, owning a P and L. And then Target really taught me about collaboration.
Speaker A:It was where I learned that I love to be a merchant, that balance of art and science.
Speaker A:And I love to work with other people, suppliers in particular, to be able to bring that vision to life.
Speaker A:So Target for me was really laying the foundation.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Whole Foods was where.
Speaker C:I can't wait for this.
Speaker C:I can't wait for this.
Speaker A:Whole Foods was where I learned about purpose.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:I mean, Whole Foods purpose is to nourish people and the planet.
Speaker A:During my time at Whole Foods, I also really came to understand my purpose, like, fundamentally what I think I was put on this earth to be.
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker A:It's to serve as a catalyst to unlock collective potential.
Speaker A:Because part of what I learned at Whole Foods is about the food System and the impact that an individual person or retailer can have on shaping the future of food.
Speaker B:Food.
Speaker A:And why merchandising and working all the way through the supply chain back to the farmers is so important.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then Whole Foods also taught me a lot about the stakeholder model.
Speaker A:I mean, really thinking holistically.
Speaker A:Conscious capitalism is a thing that's alive at Whole Foods.
Speaker A:And the stakeholder model, thinking holistically from customers to team members to suppliers to shareholders, and how ultimately you have to create wins across all of those stakeholders in order to have a sustainable business and a purposeful business over time.
Speaker B:So how are you carrying that purpose through now at Fresh Market?
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, it's been so fun to join the Fresh Market.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's a beautiful brand, a rich legacy.
Speaker A: We were founded in: Speaker A:And so when I think about the purpose and how that comes to life for us at the Fresh Market, it's about the highest quality.
Speaker A:It's about freshness.
Speaker A:It's about taste and hospitality.
Speaker A:And, you know, one of the things I've really been reminded of already and being at the Fresh Market is how fundamentally human food is like, it's the ultimate connector.
Speaker C:Talking about that yesterday.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The ultimate connector.
Speaker A:It's you bring people around your table.
Speaker A:It's how you demonstrate love.
Speaker A:It connects us all the way back to the farms and the farmers on the front end of the supply chain.
Speaker A:And I think it is the business that has the biggest opportunity to have a positive impact.
Speaker A:So coming to the Fresh Market has been a really good opportunity for me to feel that purpose in a new way.
Speaker C:Is that what intrigued you, to take the role?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Honestly, again, because it's such a beautiful brand.
Speaker A:The number of people who have said to me, I love the Fresh Market.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker C:Oh, that's always a good sign.
Speaker A:There's so many people that just have really loved our experience, and our experience in stores is something really unique and special.
Speaker A:And then the product and also the people.
Speaker A:I mean, the people have been, like, so warm, are so passionate.
Speaker A:Teamwork is really a core value for us.
Speaker C:That's what you want to see in the first few months, for sure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then, honestly, the opportunity to have an expansive impact.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:To be able to have a larger scope and a larger impact is another thing that really intrigued me.
Speaker B:Brilliant.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, so you've been in role for just a few months here.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Anything you can share with how you approach the first 90 days?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I mean, it's been a really interesting Time, because I joined the fresh market in the middle of November, going right into Thanksgiving and holiday season, which is a crazy time to join.
Speaker A:I mean, it was a great time to learn, but I spent the first, like, 30, even 60 days, like, really getting to know the people.
Speaker B:That's a good.
Speaker A:Getting to know the business, getting in our store strategy.
Speaker A:Usually you have to learn.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:And spending a lot of time in stores to really see us when we do best at the seasons, at those special occasions.
Speaker A:So the first couple months for me has been all about learning, and now I'm moving into a phase that's more about shaping.
Speaker A:Like, really starting to craft our merchandising strategy, which I anticipate is going to have us leaning further into what makes us unique and special.
Speaker A:I mean, again, that differentiation, the highest quality, the freshness, the expertise we have in stores.
Speaker A: ally excited, as we look into: Speaker C:Got it.
Speaker C:So this is so interesting.
Speaker C:Me, too, because I think you're probably a needle in the stack of needles in terms of people we've interviewed.
Speaker C:In terms of you've actually worked in a call center.
Speaker C:You're a merchandising executive that's actually worked at a call center.
Speaker C:I bet there's not that many people that can say that.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:So I want to dig in a little bit deeper, though.
Speaker C:I want to put you a little bit on the spot here.
Speaker C: o, you know, you talked about: Speaker C:Is there anything you can tease for us in terms of your assessment now in terms of where you want to take the business?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, it's still early days, but I would say that the expectations that I had coming in have absolutely held true.
Speaker A:It is a beautiful brand.
Speaker A:There is so much brand love.
Speaker A:There is an incredible team.
Speaker A:There is supplier engagement.
Speaker A:There is so much potential.
Speaker A:So everything that I kind of expected and hoped to be true from the outside looking in has certainly proven to be true and then some.
Speaker A:And as I look ahead, I just think there is room to celebrate that bigger way.
Speaker C:Unlock it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:We're really known for discovery and helping our guests discover whether it's, like, the best quality or the own brands we're so excited about or new innovation.
Speaker A:We're also great at seasons.
Speaker A:We're great at gifting.
Speaker A:We're great at meat and seafood.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So, to me, there is something I think really special about being able to unlock that and celebrate that in a bigger way that I think will become a bigger part of our strategy.
Speaker A:And then accessibility.
Speaker A:I want to make sure that more people have.
Speaker A:Have room to be able to shop great quality food, so making sure that we're serving as many guests as we possibly can through greater accessibility.
Speaker C:Well, I know Ann and I will be watching your success very closely and hope that we get a chance to talk to you again at a conference in the future as well.
Speaker A:Let's do it.
Speaker B:Well, Alyssa, thank you so much for giving us your time.
Speaker B:And thank you for really investing in this career and finding your purpose and figuring out how that's going to continue to drive your success in your career, the fresh market success, but then also the impact that you and your team are going to have on Feeding America.
Speaker B:It's really touching for you to have shared that with us.
Speaker B:So thank you to Alyssa, thank you to Simbi for helping us bring you all of our coverage here at fmi.
Speaker B:And until the next interview, be careful out there.