Building Trust at the Grocery Store Checkout

For some eligible SNAP participants, the win-win nature of Double Up Food Bucks in Michigan and other incentive programs is almost too obvious — it seems too good to be true.

“If I tell someone that, if you spend $20, we’re going to give you another $20 — they think that’s crazy,” says Tabitha Ramos, manager at Peaches + Greens, a Double Up location in Detroit. “They don’t believe you. I had a senior in just the other day and I helped her open up her phone to see that Double Up is right there, online, and other stores accept it, too!”

In-store signage and advertising at strategic locations accompany the launch of Double Up in any new site, but the growing awareness that grocery cashiers serve as frontline ambassadors for the program has encouraged the Double Up team to leverage this essential resource to help inform customers of the program, educate them about healthy food options through Double Up Food Bucks, and ultimately increase program participation.

“Cashiers talk to the customer last,” says Charles Walker, Retail Specialist for Double Up Food Bucks. “They’re important to Double Up’s success because they can be champions for the program, talk about the program, and build trust that it’s not a gimmick — it really is free money to stretch your food budget every month.”

Because cashiers are so integral to the program’s success, Walker and the Double Up team started a cashier engagement initiative to optimize positive interactions between cashiers and customers and create frontline opportunities to promote the program. Integral to the initiative have been efforts by the team to reinforce training and increase program knowledge to ensure that cashiers at Double Up locations can answer customers’ questions and speak confidently about the program. Equally important has been showing appreciation for partner sites and cashiers, and for the extra time and effort it takes to implement the Double Up program. “Cashiers get more comfortable talking about the program with the engagement initiative,” says Walker. “And when they can speak confidently about the program, the customers see that it really is a no-brainer.”

To get cashiers to a place where they’re confident explaining how nutrition incentives work, the Double Up team provides them with incentives of their own. “Cashiers are not always recognized as professionals, and we want to change that,” says Emily Case, Incentive Technology Program Manager for Double Up Food Bucks. “Our engagement program offers gift cards and trivia and other chances to win rewards like shirts and hats, as well as cash prizes for winning cashier competitions.”

In turn, cashiers who are sold on the program do a much better job of selling the program to customers, and the Double Up team strives to showcase the important contributions that these program champions make. “The COVID pandemic underlined how essential frontline workers are — but to the Double Up program, cashiers have always been essential,” says Walker. “When Double Up launches at a new location, or when sales begin to drop at an existing location, we’ve found that a little friendly competition builds enthusiasm among the staff, and that enthusiasm is reflected in the way they present the program to customers,” says Case. “It gets people talking about the program.”

For Pauline Dobson, a longtime cashier at Oakridge Supermarket in Fraser, MI, where the Double Up program was recently launched, the benefits of the program are clear. “I’ve been in supermarkets for 20 years, but I’ve never seen anything like Double Up Food Bucks before — and I think it’s great,” she says. “We’re making customers happy and helping families by basically giving them money and helping feed their children more fruits and vegetables.”

Fair Food Network’s cashier engagement initiative will kick off the 2025 season with cashier and manager training and Double Up promotional events planned to build visibility at four Harding’s Markets in Western Michigan in March. “The engagement program helps create a goal for the store and pushes [cashiers] to practice and learn an elevator pitch about Double Up so they can educate and build trust with the customers,” says Walker. “We’ve found that, once they can build that trust, the Double Up program really does sell itself.”

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