NASHVILLE, TN - I caught Logan Bohannon, Produce Supervisor at Town & Country Supermarket, between stores—literally.
Dialing into our call from his car, the moment is the epitome of the produce buy-side life; it never stops for anything. Having covered a produce manager's shift at one of his farthest locations before a two-and-a-half-hour drive home, Logan points out it’s all in a day’s work.
"There are some weeks where my job ends up being less about produce," Logan said, and it highlights the commitment and coordination necessary for his position in SEPC's STEP-UPP retail program. "To be able to go on the trips, or even be able to sit down for a couple of hours and do some of the coursework that we have, allows me to step back and focus on produce in the moment. That's definitely been the biggest return—just visiting the growers, visiting the packers, and being able to learn so much about their businesses."
And what's stayed with him most, Logan said, is the welcome extended by the growers and packers hosting the class.
"The gratitude—all of the growers and packers, and the hospitality that they've shown us—they've been so excited to have us at their facilities and show us their businesses," Logan said. "It's been really, really cool to see, and everybody's been so welcoming. It definitely makes you appreciate the community that SEPC has fostered, and makes me want to be able to give back into that as much as I can wherever I can."
Logan first encountered SEPC last year at the organization's spring show in Orlando, where the STEP-UPP program's presence was hard to miss.
"Since getting accepted, the one thing that's really stood out to me is just being able to connect with everybody in the class—everybody from different wholesalers and retailers, and their perspective of the business, in addition to the growers," Logan said. "That was definitely something I wasn't expecting."
Coordinating that time away hasn't been simple. With just himself and Town & Country's Produce Director covering 29 stores, every multi-day trip means leaning on others to help cover the department, not to mention coursework online in between.
"There's definitely been some crazy weeks," Logan said. "That’s produce; it is what it is! But I'm also mindful of the fact that it's just this year—this is the only time I'm going to go through the program. While it may be a little bit of an extra commitment at times, I was also aware of the time until it was over."
Nine years into a produce career that began almost by accident, Logan said the classmates and connections he's picked up along the way have become as central to the experience as the fields and packhouses on the itinerary.
"It's crazy because it's really not that much time that we've all spent together," Logan said. "But definitely some long days on the bus and dinners that have helped us become a little family."
It is a description I have heard from every participant in this year’s class.
As the 2026 STEP-UPP graduates prepare to cross the stage at SEPC's Southern Innovations in Nashville, TN, this September, Logan said the return on the commitment has already made itself clear.
"It is so worth it to get out there and experience everything that they've shown us and build those relationships," Logan said. "I'm grateful for it."
Congratulations to Logan and all the buy-side members moving into a new chapter of their produce careers from the launch point of the 2026 STEP-UPP!
