Nick Kelso’s versatility is his virtue

Nick Kelso is making his way towards the top of the supermarket leadership chain.

Kelso, 42, was recently named vice president of store operations at B&R Stores Inc., a Lincoln, Neb.-based grocery company with 34 outlets in Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. 

Kelso has worked for B&R for 23 years after starting as a part-time dairy clerk with the family-owned business, which operates such banners as Russ’s Market and Super Saver.

Rising through the ranks and serving in leadership roles like store director and district manager has made Kelso increasingly versatile and valuable.

“There probably isn’t anything inside a grocery store that I haven’t at least tried my hand at,” Kelso said. “No one grows up saying they want to be a grocer. It just happens. It put its hooks in me and has not let go.”

Kelso said he benefits from never being afraid to work hard and always seeking to learn more about an operation. “When I see a position, I want to know what it takes to do that job,” he said. “As a store director, I prided myself that I would be able to fry donuts, grind hamburgers, stock cases, check on the front end, you name it.”

Having that kind of diverse background has generated a mixed reaction from his subordinates, Kelso said.

“When I was promoted from store director to district manager, our store managers liked the fact that there was a store guy moving into the position,” he said. “But they also hated the fact I was a store guy because they couldn’t B.S. me when I pointed out that something wasn’t right within an outlet.”

Managing associates is both the trickiest and most rewarding part of the business, Kelso said. “It is important not to impose your will on people and say, ‘It is going to be this way or no way.’ You must respect and work with them and understand that it will take different things to motivate different people.”

Such respect for the associates is Kelso’s greatest attribute, said Mark Griffin, B&R president and chief operating officer.

“Nick is first and foremost a servant leader and loves to roll up his sleeves and work alongside people in our stores,” he said. “There is nothing that anyone in the company does that Nick wouldn’t be willing to do or hasn’t already done.”

Because of his longevity with the company, Kelso excels at teaching others and has extreme patience, Griffin said. “Nick is compassionate but not to a fault,” he said. “He is very strong with accountability.”

Griffin added that Kelso is on a path that may eventually result in his becoming company president. “In the next three years, Nick will probably assume my responsibilities and will be very qualified and capable of doing so,” he said. “We haven’t found what his ceiling is yet and have to continue to keep Nick challenged as we don’t want his aptitude to go anywhere else.”

In the meantime, Kelso said he wants to keep learning while taking steps to improve the performance of associates, stores, and the company. “If that was to take me to bigger and expanded titles, great,” he said. “But now the focus is on being smarter at what we do.”