Appendix B2_Recruitment Script - contact identified_Rev_07_20_23

Appendix B-2

Recruitment Script (contact identified)

Exploratory Semi-structured Interviews on Retail Food Loss—Wave 2

Agency: Economic Research Service

Appendix B-2: Recruitment Script (Contact identified)¹

Good Morning/Afternoon,

My name is <name>, and I am a researcher with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute. In coordination with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, RTI is conducting interviews on the topic of food loss with a small number of food retail companies. Food loss is an issue of national and global importance with implications for nutrition security, environmental sustainability, and economic growth. The purpose of the interviews is to collect information to help inform the design of a potential national study on retail-level food loss. [If independent operator:] To make such a study a success, we need the help of independent retailers like you.

We would like to set up a short 30-minute interview with the person at [COMPANY NAME] who is most knowledgeable about how your company tracks food loss and maintains data on product flows. Participation is voluntary and confidential. Would this be you by chance? [If no response or they don’t know:] Or would that be someone in operations, finance, supply chain management, or procurement? Or possibly someone in sustainability or food waste reduction?

[IF YES, BEST PERSON] Great! Would you have 30 minutes sometime in the next couple of weeks that we can schedule an interview? We can schedule the interview now or would it be better if I followed up by email?

We have the following days/times available:

May I have your email address and phone number?

[RECORD INFORMATION]

Thank you, I will follow up by email (to schedule interview/confirm interview) and provide additional information about the interview. Please feel free to invite other individuals from your company to participate in the interview.

[IF NOT BEST PERSON] Who do you suggest I contact? Can you please provide me with their email or phone number?

[IF CONTACT RECOMMENDED, RECORD CONTACT INFORMATION AND WAIT TO BE TRANSFERRED] Thank you, have a nice day. [REPEAT SCRIPT FOR IDENTIFED INDIVIDUAL]

[IF NO CONTACT RECOMMENDED] Thank you for your time.

Interview Topics (Reference for Interviewer If Needed)

• General information about company

• If and how your company currently tracks food loss

• Process for receiving product shipments (i.e., from store-owned distribution centers vs. direct shipments vs. wholesalers) and tracking shipment information

• Information on unsold product removed from shelves

• Information on donated product

• Data maintained on product shipments: level of detail (e.g., product code vs. department), time period, information maintained (e.g., units, value, weight)

• Data maintained on product sales: level of detail, time period, information maintained

• Whether stores cut, grind, or repackage meat, poultry, or seafood in the store and sell as random-weight products and, if so, data maintained on shipments and sales for random-weight products

• Whether stores do intra-store transfers (e.g., using raw chicken from the meat department to make chicken salad in the deli) and, if so, data maintained on intra-store transfers

• Data management and software systems

• Availability, willingness, feasibility, and estimated amount of time to provide requested data

• Feedback on proposed benchmarking report as benefit for participation

• Feedback on data security and confidentiality procedures.

NOTIFICATION TO RESPONDENT OF ESTIMATED BURDEN: Public reporting burden for this Recruitment Script is estimated to average 5 minutes per response. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is #0536-0073. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: Linda Kantor, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (linda.kantor@usda.gov).

1 We will use this script if a contact was available from online sources or if we identified a contact using Appendix B-1 call script.