Growth Mindset

Jason Postl, owner and CEO of Fresh & Easy Markets, is a natural entrepreneur. When he started his Glendale, Ariz.-based company in 2022, his goal wasn’t to just create a micro market company — it was to create the best micro market company in the area. Despite having no micro market experience prior to opening Fresh & Easy Markets, Postl has already created a successful company. A strong management team, an eye for innovation and constant improvements have led Fresh & Easy Markets to grow to 100 micro markets, 15 employees and $4.5 million in annual revenue in less than three years.

The courage to fail and try again

Although Postl was new to the industry when he opened his first micro market in 2022, he wasn’t new to business. Prior to moving to Arizona, he had operated a business in California, manufacturing skateboards, surfboards and snowboards. “We had our own brands and did OEM work for others, but ultimately, I didn’t make the right decisions, and I failed.” The business closed in 2008.

Postl remained undeterred. He moved into the healthcare industry, leading a post-acute hospital and starting a medical transportation company. The company grew to multiple states and $30 million in annual revenue when Postl sold his portion to his business partner.

In 2022, he realized he was ready to return to business. “I knew that I wanted to get into something that was convenience-based,” said Postl. “Everyone’s looking for more convenience, not less.” He looked into different industries to start his next business, but nothing seemed to be the right fit until he discovered micro markets.

Postl’s prior business experience led him to believe that he could succeed in micro markets. “When you’ve [started a business] before, some of the fear is removed because there are more knowns,” he said. “My philosophy is that if someone else is successful at something, then I can be successful at it, too. To me, that just takes a lot of the pressure away starting a new business.”

Success hinges on great employees, partnerships

One thing Postl learned from experience is that having great employees is the key to success in any business. “If you have better employees than your competition, you’re going to win,” he said. Prior to opening his doors, Postl hired five core leaders who were in place on day one. “I did not take a slow approach,” he said. “We built everything on the platform of a scalable business instead of piecing things together.”

The company’s largest weakness at the very beginning also became its greatest strength: No one within the leadership team had ever worked in micro markets or vending before. “One big disadvantage is that none of our leadership team had worked in this industry before. The big advantage we had was that none of us had worked in the industry before,” said Postl. “We had no preconceived notions of what works and what doesn’t. But I knew if I had great leaders that were pushing me and I was pushing them, we’d have success.”

The team also leaned on industry contacts to learn the ropes. Postl traveled to Houston to shadow Jeff Crowder, owner of Texas Snack Company. He also relied on advice from vendor partners. “I have asked our vendors, ‘If this was your company, what would you do?’ and then I implement their suggestions,” said Postl. “We skipped a lot of the pitfalls that we would have otherwise had to go through just because we were humble enough to ask for help.”

Postl learned from one industry contact to never sacrifice margins. “We’ve taken that to heart,” said Postl. “That goes against everything we would have done, but the reality is that I’m not my own customer.” If Fresh & Easy Markets has to procure an item at a price that is higher than they want to pay, that margin is passed on to the customers. “We don’t fear that someone’s not going to be willing to pay what we charge,” said Postl. “The reality is that if somebody wants that item and it’s convenient for them, then they’re grateful for the opportunity to buy it. If that allows me to stay in business, then that’s mutually beneficial.”

100 markets and growing

Today, Fresh & Easy Markets is comprised of 80% micro markets, 10% office coffee service and 10% pantry service. The company sold two micro markets in the early days, but the rest of their micro markets have been gained from reputation alone. Proudly, Postl notes that they’ve never lost a client. “If our customers are happy, we retain them. If our customers are happy, they refer us,” he said. “So, if we continue to focus on the quality, we’re going to continue to grow.”

Fresh & Easy Markets’ service area includes Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson and Yuma. Postl has future acquisition plans that will also expand the company into traditional vending as well.

Their success in micro market growth lands on the company’s ability to focus on the clients’ needs and match those needs to their budget. “We find out what the client’s vision is and then what their budget is,” said Postl. “We can do anything they want within their budget.”

First, they determine what the micro market will be used for, whether it’s recruiting, retention, a reward to employees, to boost productivity, or something else. Next, they design a space and get product options to the clients.

There are several ways in which the company offers products to the client, says Postl. “First, we hand them our product list and they go highlight exactly what they want,” he said. “Only one customer has ever wanted to do that.” Most people give Fresh & Easy Markets the authority to choose which products are featured in their market, and Postl’s team uses their best judgment based on similar location demographics. The company also places a QR code on all units, allowing people to submit their requests directly to Fresh & Easy Markets. No matter what, the company makes a point to diligently review planograms and rotate and adjust them every few months.

“We don’t put items in the market that we want,” said Postl. “We place products the customers want.” If the customer doesn’t know about a product, Postl says they won’t put it in a market — a lesson learned from experience. “I purchased several boxes of an item that I liked, and put them in every single market, but nobody had heard of them, and we didn’t sell any. So, the lesson for us was that it doesn’t matter what we like,” said Postl. “It’s not our job to teach the customers what they want. It”s our job to provide the customers what they want.”

Overall, Coca-Cola is the number-one selling cold beverage, with Dr Pepper coming in second. Fritos’ Chili Cheese is the number one selling chip, which surprised Postl’s team. “We didn’t even stock it initially,” he said. “And then one of our customers asked for it, and now it’s our top seller.”

Building on a strong foundation

When he looks toward the future, Postl’s biggest challenge is a good one — keeping up with the growth. The company has already outgrown its current warehouse space and will be moving into a larger one. “Everything else I don’t really look at as a challenge because it’s just part of the system,” said Postl. “The hard part is already done. We have already built out systems, a team, policies and procedures, so now we’re just continuing to find new ways to innovate.”

The company has already moved from offering 16.9 oz sodas to 20 oz sodas, and now they will be switching to the XVL chips rather than the LSS. Going forward, Fresh & Easy Markets plans to expand its fresh food program once it's able to install a walk-in refrigerator in the new warehouse. Currently, the company uses 12 refrigerators lined up next to each other to store its fresh food. A walk-in refrigerator will enable them to expand their offerings.

Postl believes his recent entry into the micro market field has been a competitive advantage for his company, and the numbers don’t lie. In less than three years, he has grown the company to $4.5 million in revenue. “I don’t want to just settle or to just make ends meet,” he said. “I’ve come into this industry having been in different businesses with some very ambitious partners that have pushed me and helped me see things in different ways.” Postl has big plans to continue to grow Fresh & Easy Markets’ footprint.

The main factor in Fresh & Easy Markets’ ongoing success, Postl believes, is its innovation. “Every day we have an obligation to try to get better,” he said. “I encourage my team to ask, ‘Are we doing something because that’s how we’ve always done it, or are we doing it because it’s the best way?’ If we are doing something because that’s the way we’ve always done it, then I believe there’s an opportunity to make improvements that benefit the customer, the vendors, the employees and the bottom line.”

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A different approach to theft

Theft can scare even the most skilled operators away from profitable markets. Rather than letting potential theft deter him from a market, Postl simply plans for it. And in many cases, he asks the customer to pay for the theft.

“In the beginning, I thought I just had to eat the theft we were experiencing in the markets,” he said. “That’s just untrue.”

Postl and his team used to take on all of the responsibility of finding the theft. They would watch dozens of hours of footage across different markets, and then send the footage to clients, who oftentimes did nothing with it. “So, we just wasted a lot of time and money finding theft that goes unresolved,” said Postl.

He decided to take a different approach. He decided to stop assuming his clients wanted things for free. Now, he puts the responsibility of video monitoring on the client. “I’ll ask the clients, ‘Would you like me to put in a camera system for you at my expense for you to be able to monitor your market?’ And now that they have access to their own market footage, they find out that sifting through video is really tedious,” he said. “Many times, they just give up and pay the theft bill.”

Many locations have declined to even have a camera system and just contractually agree to pay for the theft that occurs. “We put no camera system up and every month we just send them a theft bill,” said Postl.