THE QUEEN WHO WEARS ALL HATS
Farm Connex moved into the Food Hub in early March without any interruptions to service, and has been operating out of the new facility at the Food Hub for nearly two months. They went from operating out of a space that was 19 feet wide, with just one dock, to a facility with three loading docks, and 7,000 square feet of space! Our communications team caught up with Meryl Friets, CAE’s Farm Connex Logistics Manager, to hear how the transition has been going.

CAE: What is your job here?

Meryl Friets: Logistics Manager for Farm Connex. Everyone else describes me as “the queen who wears all the hats.” In its simplest form, I make sure the product gets picked up and delivered. The farmers and food producers we work with need their product picked up and delivered in a timely fashion, and it gets complicated. You are working with humans, complicated machinery, and trucks that constantly break down; each day is a revolving door of chaos. I wrangle the chaos and make sense out of it.

Meryl Friets, CAE's Farm Connex Logistic Manager, or "the queen who wears all hats."

Farm Connex staff, Bob Duggan (left) and Neal Renaud unloading products in the old Farm Connex warehouse space. | Corey Hennessey

Farm Connex Delivery Driver, Neal Renaud, unloading pallets in the new Food Hub coolers.

CAE: What is it like being in the new space?

Meryl Friets: It's great. The consensus is: 'How did we do this in the old space?' It’s exciting to see systems we have talked about for a long time come to fruition because we have the space to make them happen now. It’s heartwarming to see the drivers and warehouse staff come together to talk about what they want the systems in the warehouse to look like, the comradery. We had it in the old space, but it’s happening even more so here because we have options in this space. At the end of the day when they are all coming back and there are three trucks on the loading docks, three drivers, and two warehouse staff; it’s already like a well–oiled machine, it’s like a school of fish: no one runs into each other.

Farm Connex staff moving products into the Food Hub coolers.

Farm Connex staff unloading and moving products from trucks into the Food Hub coolers.

Farm Connex Delivery Driver, Silas Wood (left), and Farm Connex Logistics Manager, Meryl Friets, at work in the Food Hub.

CAE: Is there anything that surprised you in the transition, or in being in this new space?

Meryl Friets: It went more smoothly than I anticipated, which is a testament to the people who work here. My work is not possible without the drivers, and they are amazing, truly. The crew we have and how well they work together; it’s a lot of personalities. Everyone brings something unique to the team, the drivers want to be included and they all have a say in how this place operates! This is a very stressful, demanding job, but I still enjoy showing up for work everyday because I love this crew; it’s all the things. They have each made me feel valued here in their own way, and I’ve worked enough places where I didn’t feel valued, and that is huge. I keep this job because of this crew: they are something special! 

Farm Connex Logistics Manager, Meryl Friets (left), with Farm Connex Delivery Driver, Neal Renaud, working in the new Farm Connex space at the Food Hub.