Executive summary
When Kevin Miller became Chief Marketing Officer at The Fresh Market, the grocery chain was struggling. Sales, traffic, and margins were down, and on Glassdoor, it had been rated the worst company in America to work for. Within a year, that same brand would be named America’s Best Supermarket by USA Today.
In this episode of In Other Words, Kevin joins host Jason Hemingway to share how he and CEO Jason Potter led one of retail’s most remarkable turnarounds. The secret wasn’t a gimmick or a new slogan. It was a strategy built on customer obsession, cultural transformation, and what Kevin calls “quantifying love.”
From building a loyalty program that gained over a million members in seven months to redefining “brand health” through emotion-led metrics, Kevin’s approach blended data precision with human empathy. His message for today’s leaders: understand your brand’s DNA, align with finance, and treat the customer as your north star… the profits will follow.
Turning around a brand through love and discipline
When Kevin Miller joined The Fresh Market, the mandate was clear, “fix the brand, fix the business”. The company’s private equity owners wanted a turnaround, but Kevin and new CEO Jason Potter believed that success would come from the inside out, starting with the brand.
(Fresh Market CEO) Jason’s vision was to make The Fresh Market America’s most loved brand. That was spectacular not just because it was ambitious, but because it started with a human emotion: love.
– Kevin Miller
To measure progress, they adopted Morning Consult’s Most Loved Brand framework, tracking four key indicators: Net Promoter Score, trust, favorability, and community impact. Those metrics became the company’s north star.
“It gave us the ability to quantify love… Once we could measure it, we could design programs, products, and experiences to move the needle.”
– Kevin Miller
Building loyalty the right way
For 38 years, The Fresh Market had operated without a loyalty program. Kevin saw both a gap and an opportunity. “If you want more customer data, you have to give them something in return.”
Instead of adopting an off-the-shelf solution, his team partnered with Deloitte to analyze best-in-class programs across industries, from hospitality to finance. They combined those insights with customer research to create what would become The Ultimate Loyalty Experience.
Within seven months, membership surpassed a million. “It was like Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will come,” Kevin said. Today, the program exceeds 2.5 million members and continues to outperform KPIs across all cohorts from Gen Z to Baby Boomers.
Its success earned The Fresh Market a Silver Reggie Award from the Association of National Advertisers for marketing effectiveness. “We built it from the customer up, not the company down,” Kevin explained.
Quantifying impact: marketing and finance in sync
Throughout his career from Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to Natural Grocers and The Fresh Market, Kevin learned that marketing only earns credibility when it’s tied to the numbers.
“Business operates on the bottom line… If the financial team doesn’t believe marketing impacts profitability, you’re wasting your time.”
– Kevin Miller
At The Fresh Market, his marketing and finance teams co-owned a “loyalty scoreboard” modeling every cohort, spend level, and traffic segment to predict return on investment. That alignment not only proved marketing’s value but secured the CEO’s and board’s ongoing buy-in.
“It’s critical to have that conversation weekly, not just at budget time,” he said. “When you can show the causal link between marketing spend and margin growth, everything changes.”
Technology with a purpose
For all his enthusiasm about AI, Kevin cautions against using it as a shiny distraction.
“Too many companies start with the tech. You have to start with your brand DNA and your customer problems, then figure out how technology helps you get there.”
– Kevin Miller
Generative AI, he believes, offers a real chance to personalize at scale, but only when it’s grounded in purpose. “AI gives us the tools to reach the right customer at the right time,” he said. “But it’s useless without clarity on what value you’re providing and why.”
Culture, alignment, and leadership in transformation
At The Fresh Market, change was as much about culture as it was about strategy. The company that once ranked lowest in employee satisfaction needed a new sense of purpose.
“The turning point was giving people something to believe in,” Kevin said. “Marketers are creative, innovative people; they want to win. So give them a big goal, communicate how they fit into it, and then give them room to fail and succeed.”
A year later, that renewed culture helped transform The Fresh Market into USA Today’s Best Supermarket in America. “We had great leaders, a clear vision, and the courage to focus on what mattered most: the customer,” Kevin said.
Translating love across markets
While The Fresh Market is U.S.-based, Kevin emphasized that brand relevance within diverse domestic markets mirrors the challenge of global expansion.
“Every region, every demographic, is its own market. Understand what’s truly diverse about your audience and how that diversity contributes to your bottom line.”
– Kevin Miller
The key, he added, is financial alignment: “If you can show that a diverse or regional segment drives profit, the CEO and board will back you.” From there, he recommends partnering with local experts who can bring that strategy to life authentically.
Lessons in loyalty and leadership
Asked what advice he’d give his younger self, Kevin smiled: “Fish deep while others sleep. Work harder. Understand your business better than anyone else.”
He also believes in “talking to frontline employees”, the people who see what’s really happening in the business. “They know more than the CEO sometimes,” he said. “That’s where the real ideas are.”
His final leadership takeaway:
You can’t do this alone. Build cross-functional bridges. Win as a team.
– Kevin Miller
Closing reflection
Kevin’s turnaround at The Fresh Market was about more than marketing. It was about culture, courage, and connection. He proved that love can be quantified, but only if it’s lived.
As he put it, quoting Ray Kroc: “When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you rot.”
For Kevin, growth means listening to the customer, empowering the team, and never mistaking data for understanding.
Hear more
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