Lucky supermarket corporate policy hoodwinks low-income immigrant community?

Lucky supermarket corporate policy hoodwinks low-income immigrant community?

By Lynda Carson -- July 17, 2011

Oakland - Local residents shopping at the Lucky supermarket store on E.18th St., near Lake Merritt have noticed that their cuts of meat have much more bone and fat attached to the steaks and chops they have been buying during recent weeks, and are complaining.

As an example, T Bone steaks now have a much thicker piece of bone at the top of the steak (inch to two inches), and boneless New York steaks and Rib Eye steaks now have a thick band of fat on the sides of the steaks that never used to be there before, according to the complaints.

The poor quality cuts of meat are a direct result of the shady corporate policies meant to hoodwink the un-lucky customers into paying for unwanted fat and bones, during a time of shrinking wages and budgets.

Indeed, word has leaked out from sources at the Oakland store being managed by Jack Fong that a new policy from the corporate office went into effect in recent weeks demanding that the butchers are to sell their cuts of meat with much more fat and bone attached, than there used to be.

The store serves the low-income immigrant communities of east Oakland, and the policy came to light during a time that health officials are expressing grave alarm over the dangers of poor diets and obesity that plague communities all across the nation. http://www.luckysupermarkets.com/index.php?req=bins_view&id=29

Allegedly, pressure has been mounting on the butchers at the store to comply with corporate policy according to sources at the store, and anyone getting caught disobeying corporate policy is being reprimanded, and punished for not sticking the customers with the extra unwanted fat and bone, on their cuts of meat. "There are some old style chinese butchers in the meat department who know what a good cut of meat looks like, and they have been upset and complaining about the new policy," sources say.

In a call to Lucky store manager Jack Fong during the week of July 11, Fong did not deny that the corporate policy exists to pressure the butchers into leaving larger amounts of bone and fat on their cuts of meat sold at his store recently, but repeatedly stated that he did not want to talk about company policy.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com