Message to Customers Regarding COVID-19
Update: March 23, 2020
Updated Limit Policy
We remain committed to work hard with our vendor partners to ensure that items in our stores are continually available. So that we may meet the needs of as many customers as possible, we are limiting purchases on in-demand items (bathroom tissue, sanitizers, rice, eggs, water, etc.) to one (1) per customer/household per transaction.
Update: March 20, 2020
New Store Hours For All Stores Statewide - 6 a.m. to 9 pm. Daily
Beginning Monday, March 23, we will adjust our store hours at all Foodland stores statewide to open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. This change has already been in effect at our stores on Kauai in response to the island-wide curfew. Foodland’s Kupuna Shopping Hour will continue during the first hour of opening, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through April 30, 2020, and the 5% “Senior Thursdays” discount on these days/times will still apply.
“All of us at Foodland take our responsibility to serve our community very seriously as we know our customers depend on us — especially during times of crisis. With COVID-19 evolving daily, we are continually evaluating what we must do to meet the needs of our customers while also keeping our community and employees safe, ” said Jenai S. Wall, Foodland Chairman and CEO. “Adjusting our hours of operation will allow our employees more time to prepare our stores for customers and will enable our employees — who are working so hard to meet customer needs — time to rest and spend time with their families so they may continue to serve our community well. The hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. were selected to ensure the fewest number of customers would be impacted by the change.” added Wall.
We will also be making the following changes to support the community during this critical time:
Promoting Social Distancing:
Customers will be encouraged to maintain distance between each other at checkout and other areas. Employees, signs and PA announcements will remind customers to follow this recommended practice.
Reusable Bags:
In an effort to limit contact and potential spread of germs, customers who bring in their own reusable bags will be asked to bag their own groceries so their personal items are not touched by cashiers and courtesy clerks. Customers may purchase a paper bag or one of Foodland’s reusable bags (99 cents and up) if they wish to have their groceries bagged by Foodland employees.
Family Meals:
To make it easier for you to eat and enjoy dinner together as a family, we are now offering pre-cooked meals that serve a family of four. Visit Foodland.com for more information.
Supporting Local Farmers:
Foodland has reached out to local farmers whose business has been impacted by the closure of restaurants and farmers markets to purchase more of their products for its stores. We believe this initiative can be a win win win for farmers, customers and the community.
We are currently exploring expansion of grocery delivery and curbside pickup service at more locations statewide very soon. Stay tuned for more information.
We will continue to post any updates related to COVID-19 on this landing page.
Update: March 17, 2020
Special Shopping Days and Times for Seniors
In efforts to create a safe environment for our kupuna to grocery shop, we will set aside the first hour of business on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to serve only seniors (age 60 yrs. and above) and an accompanying caregiver or assisting family member at all stores statewide. In addition, seniors will be offered our “Senior Thursday” 5% discount on these days and times. The special shopping days/times and accompanying discount for seniors will start this Thursday, March 19, and will continue until further notice.
“We know that many of our seniors are concerned about their health and safety during this current crisis, and we want to provide them an opportunity to shop with us in a less-crowded environment,” said Jenai S. Wall, Foodland Chairman and CEO. “We appreciate the understanding and cooperation from all of our non-senior customers in delaying their shopping by one hour after our stores open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”
Store opening times vary by store (either 5 a.m. or 6 a.m.). To see your Foodland’s store hours, visit https://www.foodland.com/store-locations
Store Updates
Mahalo for your cooperation and understanding as we work hard to continue to serve you during this challenging time for our state, country and world. As the situation evolves, we will continue to make changes at our stores to ensure we do our best to support our customers and employees through this difficult and sensitive time. We remain committed to doing what we can to keep our environments, our customers and our employees as safe as possible so that we may continue to serve our island communities and provide people with the goods they need to ensure they and their families are well cared for. Below are the more recent updates to processes and policies in our stores:
Raincheck Revisions
Due to limited supplies of items at our stores, we will not be issuing rainchecks at this time.
Return Policy Revisions
In an effort to discourage excess hoarding and eliminate the possibility of additional potential exposure that might occur to customers and employees when goods are returned, we will no longer allow returns on the following items:
- Rice (all brands and including microwave rice)
- Ramen noodles (all brands)
- Spam
- Vienna Sausage Club Pack
- Soup
- Dry Pasta (all brands)
- Bath tissue (all brands and sizes)
- Paper towels (all brands and sizes)
- Facial tissue (all brands and sizes)
- Canned Pasta (Campbell’s, Chef Boyardee)
- Sanitizing wipes
- All Purpose Cleaners (Lysol, Clorox)
- Bathroom Cleaners (Lysol, Tilex, Clorox)
- Liquid Bleach
- Dishwashing Liquid
- Rubbing alcohol
- Airborne
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Wet Ones
- Purell, Purell Wipes and all hand sanitizer
- Baby wipes and diapers
- Gloves
- Analgesics
- Hand soap
Print Ad Cancelled
Beginning March 25, we will temporarily stop printing and creating a weekly ad. We will still be offering the same number of items on Maika’i special each week throughout our stores. Please look for the Maika’i tags when you shop. Items on weekly special are marked with “Weekly Special” on the tag.
Self-Service Food Area Changes
Items from our Hot and Cold Bars and any other “self-serve” areas will now be pre-packed for your safety.
Bar Updates (Foodland Farms Ala Moana and Pearl City)
Our bars at Foodland Farms will be closed until April 1.
Employees May Wear Masks
If you see employees wearing masks, it is because we have allowed them to do so at their request. Masks are used primarily to prevent employees from touching their noses/mouths with their hands, and not because they are sick. We believe this is an important way that we can help our employees to feel comfortable continuing to serve you. Please know that employees who are feeling sick or appear I’ll are not allowed to work in our stores.
Feeling ill? Please Refrain From Shopping
If you’re feeling sick, we ask that you stay home and perhaps ask a friend or family member to shop for you, or consider Foodland To You (grocery delivery and pick up, available at select Oahu locations). Our employees are working hard to keep our stores open and in stock for our community and we hope we can count on you kokua to keep them and our other customers safe.
Update: March 16, 2020
All stores remain open with normal business hours. This includes Foodland Farms Ala Moana. We will post any updates on Foodland.com and social media.
Update: March 12, 2020
To Our Valued Customers,
At Foodland, serving you is the most important thing we do, and your health, safety and well-being remains our top priority. As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 begins to impact our community and daily lives, we want to assure you that we are monitoring developments very closely and taking action at our stores and company on a daily basis to protect and support our family of customers and employees.
This is what we are currently doing at our stores to help ensure your safety:
Increasing Hard Surface Area Cleaning
Our stores have increased the routine cleaning of high-touch, hard surface areas such as shopping cart and basket handles, pin pad and other checkout surfaces, counters, etc.
Providing Disinfectant Wipes at Store Entry
We encourage you to use our disinfectant wipes to clean your shopping cart and any surface areas mentioned above to help you feel safe and comfortable shopping in our stores. We are working hard to continually keep these wipes in stock for you.
Ensuring Safe Food Handling and Hygiene Practices
We are being vigilant about ensuring employees are following our standard safe practices for food handling and hygiene, and have increased our supply of gloves and hand sanitizers for employees.
Temporarily Discontinuing Sampling
Employees have been asked to suspend our practice of offering food samples to customers. However, if you would like to sample an item from our poke or deli departments, please ask and employees in these departments will follow safe practices to provide your requested sample to you.
Monitoring Self-Serve Food Stations
Employees will be continually changing serving utensils, sanitizing, and monitoring all self-serve food stations such as hot/cold bars, bulk bins, donut cases, etc. We ask customers to please use utensils provided to handle all food. Gloves will be provided upon request if you wish to handle utensils this way.
Doing All We Can to Stay in Stock
Our buyers are working hard with our vendor partners to ensure the items that you want most – hand soap, toilet paper, disinfectant wipes and cleaners are continually available. If we do run low or out due to the current increase in demand, please know we will be working with urgency to replenish our supply. We ask that you follow our limit of three on these items so we may meet the needs of as many customers as possible.
Increasing Resources for our Online Delivery Service – Foodland To You
As we know that some customers may choose to have their groceries delivered to their door, or choose to pick up groceries at curbside, we are providing additional resources for our delivery program, Foodland To You. This service is available at select locations on Oahu. Please visit shop.foodland.com for more information.
Monitoring and Communicating with Employees
Employees have been instructed to take increased precautions to ensure they keep themselves and everyone around them healthy. This includes staying home from work if they are feeling ill and notifying us and staying home for 14 days if they have been in close contact with anyone being monitored for COVID-19. New company guidelines for sick time have been established to ensure employees are supported if quarantine is necessary for themselves or loved ones.
Please know that we are committed to taking every measure possible to keep our customers and employees safe and healthy so you will continue to feel comfortable shopping with us. We will also be communicating with you if and when we have additional updates or information to share. You may also check our website, foodland.com for information.
Thank you for being a loyal Foodland customer,
Jenai S. Wall
Chairman and CEO
Foodland Super Market, Ltd.
