Newton Hy-Vee’s new director brings energy

At midnight, Newton’s Hy-Vee is still an active place. The aisles are littered with organized stacks of freight with workers in Hy-Vee polos and T-shirts unstacking pallets of the merchandise, freshly shipped from the company’s Chariton warehouse. Customers still leisurely shop and browse through products.

Recently, a new face can be seen walking out the double doors late at night. The store’s new director, Jason Crocker, leaves after a 15-hour day. Still with energy and white shirt pressed, the Newton Hy-Vee’s new boss has been pulling some late nights learning his new territory.

“That’s not typically asked of directors, but it’s either that or the hotel,” Crocker said, who has not fully finished moving his family to Newton. “I would much rather be here, and it gives me the opportunity to see all my people at all times of night and in different shifts.”

Crocker has been a Hy-Vee employee since he was 14 years old. He graduated high school in Cherokee, Iowa and earned his business degree from Wayne State University in Nebraska. During and after college, he continued his climb up the Hy-Vee ladder, working for a store in Norflolk, Neb. Six years ago, he “had the privilege” of opening Dubuque Hy-Vee No. 3. It was there that he cut his management teeth, working in all three upper management positions and leaving last month as the store’s manager of perishables.

Devoted to his business, Crocker said his real pleasure in life is family. The Newton Hy-Vee director and “avid Hawkeye fan” is married with a 13-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son. He still is commuting on the weekends to see the trio in Dubuque until they settle in Newton. Crocker said his entire family is athletic, and he plans to coach his son on the third and fourth grade tackle football in Bondurant’s Youth Tackle Football League.

“Family time is really where you find me doing everything,” he said.

During normal business hours, Crocker sits behind his cherry-stained wooden desk in the store director’s office and is still energized. He has made the room his own after former director and Newton Chamber of Commerce President Mike Winbalde left to head a store in Mason City. A container of whey protein sits nearby, resting next to a freshly washed sports bottle drying on a paper towel. Crocker is an avid weight lifter, or in his own words, “I would just say, I love to dabble in weights.” With his family still in Dubuque, Crocker leaves the store for an hour or so each day to get in some gym time.

It’s this attitude that has helped Newton’s new director embrace Hy-Vee’s growing philosophy of healthy living. He said that the company’s new programs can benefit the Newton community.

“Healthy eating is the new thing,” he said. “And as people get more conscientious about their health and care more, it’s not going away.”

Crocker said, in addition to the knowledge of Newton Hy-Vee Dietitian Jenny Thompson and the NuVal system, the store on First Avenue East will eventually be adding a health market similar, yet smaller in scale, to some of the newest state-of-the-art Hy-Vee’s being built throughout the Midwest. Crocker said the store will maximize its limited space to offer top health food brands.

“It’s important because we need to educate our customers more on how to eat healthy and what healthy options to use,” he said. “Hy-Vee has taken that initiative pretty seriously with partnering with other businesses and the governor (Terry Branstad) with the Healthiest State Initiative.”

Crocker also plans to keep Hy-Vee active in the Newton community, partnering with local schools. He hopes to implement a community garden where kids can help plant and learn about the variety of healthy foods available and gain an understanding of what it means to eat healthy.

But for the fresh store director, the challenge of running one of the largest businesses in the community, employing 270 workers, is what points his helpful smile at the future.

“The thrill of being able to call all the shots, being able to come into a new community and meet a whole bunch of new people is exciting,” he said. “It’s very tough. I have a very big Hy-Vee family in Dubuque. It’s a pretty big adjustment, but any time you can go somewhere and make all these new friends, it just makes you really strong.”

Mike Mendenhall can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 422 or via email at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com.