Columinate is proud to welcome Dana Tomlin as a new consultant. Dana is a resourceful leader with extensive independent grocery experience gained from more than 18 years working with Wheatsville Food Co-op in Austin, Texas. As a Columinate consultant, Dana plans to utilize her experience and expertise to help organizations and stores both plan for the future and improve day-to-day operations.

Dana joined Wheatsville initially as a cook in 2003, but by the end of her time there, she had played a role in nearly every aspect of the operation. While at Wheatsville, Dana refined hiring practices and trained staff, and managed massive store restorations while maintaining revenue.

“Weird things happen around me, and as opportunities presented themselves, I stayed open to saying yes,” reflected Dana. “My scrappy can-do attitude got my foot in the door, but each subsequent role and project success truly set the path to me realizing that I’m passionate about managing and fostering people and organizations through growth, change, and crisis.”

One such crisis was the COVID-19 pandemic. This demanded a quick response from essential businesses, like retail grocers. As part of the leadership team that transitioned Wheatsville into its pandemic operating procedures, Dana saw how proactive and tailored responses were necessary. “We took the bits and pieces from the CDC, WHO, and other workplace policies and combined them into something that would work for us…and it was amazing! There was not a single case of internally spread COVID among our employees.”

While undoubtedly a challenge, the pandemic was also a teaching moment for Dana. The pandemic reinforced her belief that independent and co-op grocery stores need to stay agile to stay competitive. The pandemic forced grocery retailers to change gears quickly and to seek creative solutions to roadblocks. This is something Dana wants to see become the norm for independent and co-op grocers. “We get so stuck in the day-to-day and have limited resources to have future-oriented teams, but we must be intentional about our next steps,” says Dana. “Part of this, means, we [independent grocers] need to be willing to pivot quickly and be open to a new way of doing things.”

As a consultant with Columinate, Dana is excited to work with teams and organizations to ensure their staff can dedicate time to future-oriented planning while executing their daily tasks well. She is particularly interested in supporting deli departments, which she worked in directly for over eight years, through deli assessments and leading quarterly deli promotional and planning seminars. Her other areas of expertise include staff development, operations management, and program and procedure development. Having benefited from Columinate consultants during Wheatsville’s renovation project as a client, Dana is eager to be a similar resource to others.

For Dana, all of her work is in service to the customers at the end of the day. The people, the relationships developed, and the community built is the reason she’s stayed in retail grocery for nearly 20 years.

“Anyone who works in customer service will be honest that it’s a love/hate relationship. But even in those challenging moments, I love knowing that I have made a real impact on someone’s life. I’ve helped them make a plan to feed their family or offered substitutions to address a new dietary restriction. But, the greatest win is helping a grumpy customer and seeing their whole day turnaround!”

Welcome to the community, Dana! Columinate is lucky to have you.

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 If you’re interested in working with Dana, visit her profile to learn more.