5 Stater Bros Systems Employees Wish Californians Understood

Stater Bros. built its rewards program around a 10-digit phone number instead of a card, and it has run that way since 2013.

Nothing gets scanned at all.

These are the Stater Bros systems employees wish Californians understood.

1. Custom Cuts at the Meat Counter

Certified meat cutters work behind the counter at Stater Bros. stores, not just clerks restocking a case.

A shopper can ask that butcher to grind a cut fresh, trim off extra fat, or turn a roast into steaks cut to the thickness a shopper wants.

Many shoppers walk straight to the case and grab whatever’s already wrapped, without asking what else the counter can do.

Just ask.

The meat case itself carries U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Choice grade and Certified Angus Beef.

2. No Card, Just a Phone Number

Stater Bros. calls it Digital Deals, and it’s keyed to a phone number rather than a card.

A shopper who selects offers online types that same 10-digit number into the keypad at checkout, and the savings print on the receipt without anyone scanning a thing.

There’s nothing to forget.

Stater Bros. rolled the program out to every one of its supermarkets at once in 2013, not store by store, so that same phone number works at any Stater Bros. location.

3. Bakery’s 48-Hour Rule

Stater Bros. bakes custom cakes to order, but the bakery needs lead time to do it, not a same-day request.

The chain’s bakery asks for at least 48 hours before pickup.

Order a custom cake the morning of the party, and that 48-hour window is already gone.

Plan ahead.

A shopper who calls the service deli two days out gets the design they pictured, while someone who walks in that same afternoon gets whatever the case already has.

A shopper skipping the wait can also choose straight from the bakery’s existing cake catalog instead of requesting a custom design.

4. The Digital Deals Clip Requirement

Stater Bros. doesn’t apply Digital Deals savings just because a shopper created an account.

Every offer has to be selected online before the trip.

Signing up alone does nothing at the register.

Stater Bros. added about 100 coupons when Digital Deals launched in 2013, and new ones load into the account every week.

Whatever a shopper clips but doesn’t use stays there until it expires.

That’s easy to miss.

Stater Bros. also tracks how much a shopper has saved that way over the year.

5. Pickup-Only Catering

Catering orders at Stater Bros. never leave the store by delivery, and nobody carries a tray out to a shopper's car either.

A shopper has to pick up every party tray and deli platter in person at the bakery or service deli counter.

Pickup only happens during regular store hours, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

A shopper can still change or cancel a catering order up to two days before the scheduled pickup.

Stater Bros. doesn't charge the card on file until pickup day.

That leaves room to change plans without a fee.

No customization is available on the standard trays, either, so the tray a shopper picks up looks exactly like the tray pictured on the order sheet.

The trade-off is speed.

A pickup-only order skips the delivery windows and service fees that come with a regular grocery order through Instacart.

Stater Bros. runs its catering program apart from that delivery partnership.

A shopper who wants that tray delivered has to arrange the ride themselves.

No exceptions.

The Warehouse Behind Every Stater Bros. Store

Stater Bros. opened its first store in Yucaipa, California, in 1936, and has grown to 168 supermarkets across Southern California today.

The company's headquarters and its distribution operation share one campus in San Bernardino: 2.3 million square feet on 200 acres, called the Norton Distribution Center.

Stater Bros. also employs about 18,000 people and rings up nearly $4 billion in annual sales, by its latest count.

Stater Bros. moved into the complex in 2007.

Stater Bros. is the largest privately-owned supermarket chain in Southern California and the largest private employer in both San Bernardino and Riverside counties, according to its history page.

The company was also named America's Retailer of the Year twice, in 2001 and 2004, and made the Fortune 500 for the first time in 2005.

Executive Chairman Jack H. Brown is a 60-year supermarket veteran.