Produce Clerk Job Description Templates
Free produce clerk job description templates for independent grocery stores, co-ops, and markets, with duties, pay, and child-labor guidance.
Produce Clerk Job Description Templates
5 templates by store type and shift, with pay and child-labor guidance. Download as DOCX.
Most produce clerk templates online give you one generic duties list and skip what actually matters when you hire for this role at a small grocery store: that it is an hourly, high-turnover job where you will often hire students and teens, which brings child-labor rules into play, and where a fast, repeatable onboarding beats a polished one-off. The copy-paste templates leave all of that out.
At FirstHR, we build templates by store type and shift with that practical guidance built in. The five below cover standard, small independent and co-op, supermarket, senior and lead, and part-time and student roles, with the pay, classification, and child-labor notes most templates skip. Pick the one that fits, fill in the brackets, and post, and the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
What Is a Produce Clerk?
A produce clerk keeps a store's produce department stocked, fresh, and well-presented: stocking and rotating produce, trimming and prepping, building displays, removing spoiled product, monitoring freshness, and helping customers. The role is hourly, entry-level, and non-exempt, which makes it accessible to first-time and part-time workers. In federal data it maps to stockers and order fillers (SOC 53-7065), who stock shelves and fill orders.
For the employer writing the posting, the store type defines the role: an independent grocer or co-op, a supermarket with a produce team, and a part-time student schedule each shape the duties differently. The five templates split by setting so the document matches the real job.
Produce Clerk Duties and Responsibilities
Produce clerk duties cluster into stocking and rotation, quality and prep, customer service, and safety and cleanliness. The emphasis shifts by store, but these areas hold across the role.
A strong posting grounds these in your specifics: your store, your produce volume, your shift needs, and your minimum age and food-handler requirements. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by store type and the role's scope. Each carries the duties for that setting. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Produce Clerk Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: store summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, FLSA status, and hourly pay, with an EEO statement. Fill in the brackets and post.
Template 1: Standard Produce Clerk
The base template: stocking, rotation, trimming, displays, freshness, and customer service. Non-exempt and hourly. The starting point for any produce role.
Template 2: Small Independent Grocery / Co-op Produce Clerk
For an independent grocery, market, or co-op where the clerk reports to the owner and pitches in across the store. The most common small-team version.
Template 3: Grocery Store / Supermarket Produce Clerk
For a store with a produce department: adds ordering, receiving, inventory levels, and discrepancy reporting under a produce department manager.
Template 4: Senior / Lead Produce Clerk
For promoting an experienced clerk: leading daily work, training new hires, overseeing quality, and supporting ordering, with a classification note built in.
Template 5: Part-Time / Student Produce Clerk
For part-time and student hires with flexible scheduling, including a built-in note on the federal child-labor rules that apply when you hire workers under 18.
Skills and Qualifications
A produce clerk role is entry-level and weighs reliability and physical capability over formal credentials.
| Type | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Physical | Lift up to ~40 lbs; stand and walk full shifts |
| Environment | Comfortable in cold and wet areas |
| Skills | Safe use of produce knives and tools; attention to freshness |
| Attitude | Reliable, punctual, customer-friendly |
| Food safety | Food handler card (required or provided by store) |
| Age | Minimum age per store policy and child-labor rules |
Keep requirements realistic and job-related, since the EEOC prohibits job advertisements that show a preference based on protected characteristics. State the minimum age and any food-handler requirement clearly, and avoid over-specifying experience for an entry-level role.
Produce Clerk vs Related Roles
Produce clerk and produce associate are the same role; associate is just a more modern title. The clearer distinctions are with other grocery roles. A grocery clerk works across multiple departments rather than just produce. A produce stocker focuses mainly on stocking and rotation. A produce department manager runs the section, including ordering, scheduling, and supervising clerks, a step up in responsibility and pay.
For a related but distinct role, a warehouse associate or material handler does similar stocking and order-filling work in a warehouse rather than a store; both share the same federal occupation as a produce clerk. If your opening is specifically about keeping the produce section fresh, produce clerk is the right title.
Produce Clerk Pay and Employment Type
A produce clerk is an hourly, non-exempt role, usually offered full-time or part-time, and rarely salaried.
Because the role is non-exempt, total earnings depend on hours and overtime. Grocery roles tend to mix full-time and part-time hourly schedules, and union representation is common at large chains but less so at small independents. For your posting, anchor the hourly range to your local market and minimum wage, and state the schedule and employment type clearly.
Food Safety, OSHA, and Child Labor
Three compliance areas matter for a produce clerk, and they are easy to build into hiring and onboarding.
On food safety, a produce clerk handles fresh food, so basic food-safety and handling training (such as a food handler card) is standard, and the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act sets the produce-safety backdrop. On workplace safety, the produce department carries real OSHA-relevant risks: wet floors and slips, lifting, cold storage, and sharp knives and corers, so safety orientation belongs in onboarding. This is general guidance, not legal advice; confirm the rules that apply to your store.
Hiring a Produce Clerk for an Independent Grocer
A produce clerk is a core hire for independent grocers, markets, and co-ops, and it comes with a couple of practical realities worth getting right. Here are the three that matter most.
After You Hire: Onboarding a Produce Clerk
A produce clerk is usually an hourly hire in a high-turnover role, so a quick, repeatable onboarding saves real time. Send the offer with the hourly rate and the non-exempt classification, collect the signed offer, and complete Form I-9 and tax forms as part of the new hire paperwork.
Then handle the role-specific steps: food-safety and handling basics, an orientation to the produce department and equipment, the safety rules for knives, wet floors, and cold storage, and, if you hired someone under 18, a review of which duties they can perform. Keep the signed onboarding documents and any food-handler card in one place, and the offer letter template covers the terms, with the onboarding checklist and a new hire training plan giving you a repeatable process. If this is among your first hires, the guide to hiring your first employee covers the steps around the posting itself.
FirstHR fits this hire directly: e-signature for the offer and I-9 and W-4 paperwork without printing, an onboarding workflow and AI onboarding wizard that run the same food-safety and orientation steps for every hire, training modules for food and workplace safety, and document management for food-handler cards and signed acknowledgments. Because grocery turnover runs high and pricing is flat rather than per seat, a store that hires and re-hires hourly staff all year pays one rate no matter how often the roster turns over, where per-seat tools charge you more for the same churn. FirstHR does not run payroll, administer benefits, or provide legal advice, so pair it with your payroll and compliance resources. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a produce clerk do?
A produce clerk keeps a store's produce department stocked, fresh, and well-presented while helping customers. The core duties are consistent across stores: stocking and rotating produce so older stock sells first, trimming and crisping fruits and vegetables, building and maintaining displays, removing spoiled or damaged product, checking freshness and monitoring temperatures, assisting customers, and keeping the department clean and safe. Some roles add weighing, pricing, and labeling, and in larger stores the clerk may help with ordering, receiving, and inventory. The setting shapes the rest. At a small independent grocer or co-op the clerk often pitches in across the store, including at the front end; at a supermarket with a dedicated produce team the role is more specialized and may include inventory work. In federal data the role maps to stockers and order fillers (SOC 53-7065). The role is hourly and entry-level, which makes it accessible to first-time and part-time workers, including students.
What is the difference between a produce clerk and a produce associate?
There is no real difference; the two titles describe the same role and are used interchangeably. Produce associate is simply a more modern way of writing produce clerk, and many employers use the terms as synonyms in their postings. Both refer to the person who stocks, rotates, trims, displays, and sells fresh produce while helping customers. If you prefer the word associate in your postings, the templates on this page work just as well with that title; only the heading changes. The more meaningful distinctions are with other roles. A grocery clerk works across several departments rather than just produce; a produce stocker focuses mainly on stocking and rotation rather than the full range of produce work; and a produce department manager runs the section, including ordering, scheduling, and supervising the clerks, which is a step up in responsibility and pay. For your posting, pick whichever of produce clerk or produce associate matches your store's language.
Is a produce clerk exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
A produce clerk is a non-exempt role under the FLSA, which means the position is paid hourly and is eligible for overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The reason is the nature of the work: stocking, rotating, trimming, and displaying produce is hands-on, manual, entry-level work that does not meet the duties tests for the executive, administrative, or professional exemptions. Pay must be at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or your state or local minimum if it is higher, which in many places it is. This non-exempt status holds even for a senior or lead produce clerk who mostly performs the same hourly work, since leading by example and training others does not by itself make a role exempt. Structure the role as hourly, track hours accurately, and pay overtime when it applies. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm classification for your specific situation.
Can I hire someone under 18 as a produce clerk?
Yes, a produce clerk is one of the more accessible roles for younger workers, but federal child-labor rules limit what they can do, and the limits matter in a grocery setting. Workers under 18 may not load, operate, or unload balers or compactors, equipment common in grocery back rooms, and may not operate power-driven meat slicers; 16- and 17-year-olds may load (but not operate or unload) certain scrap-paper balers only under strict conditions. For 14- and 15-year-olds, there are additional limits on the hours and times of day they can work, especially around school hours. The Department of Labor publishes grocery-specific guidance on these rules. Within those limits, younger workers can do the core produce work: stocking, rotating, trimming, displaying, and helping customers. If you hire teens or students, build the restrictions into the role and the schedule from the start, and check your state's child-labor rules too, since some are stricter than the federal ones. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
What skills and qualifications should a produce clerk have?
A produce clerk role is entry-level and prioritizes reliability and physical capability over formal credentials. The core requirements are the ability to lift produce cases (often up to around 40 pounds), stand and walk for full shifts, work comfortably in cold and wet areas, and use produce knives and tools safely. A customer-friendly, dependable attitude matters as much as experience, since this is a front-facing role with a lot of repetition. Prior grocery or produce experience is helpful but usually not required, which makes the role a good fit for first-time and part-time workers. A food handler card is sometimes required and sometimes provided after hire, depending on the store and local rules. For senior or lead roles, look for a couple of years of produce experience plus some training or quality-oversight ability. Keep the requirements realistic and job-related so you do not screen out good entry-level candidates, and state the minimum age and any food-handler requirement clearly in the posting.
How much does a produce clerk make?
Produce clerks map to the federal occupation of stockers and order fillers (SOC 53-7065), an hourly, non-exempt role. Pay is set at or above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and in practice most produce clerk roles pay above that, with rates varying widely by region, store type, and local minimum-wage laws, which are higher than the federal floor in many states and cities. Grocery and food-store wages tend to sit toward the lower end of the retail range, with experience, lead responsibilities, and high-cost metro areas pushing pay higher. Because the role is non-exempt, total earnings depend on hours worked and any overtime. For your posting, anchor the hourly range to your local market and your area's minimum wage rather than to a single national figure, and post the range, since pay is one of the first things hourly candidates screen on. A competitive, clearly posted rate also helps with retention in a role where turnover tends to be high.
What is the difference between a produce clerk and a grocery clerk?
The difference is the scope of the department. A produce clerk works specifically in the produce section, handling fresh fruits and vegetables: stocking, rotating, trimming, displaying, and helping customers with produce. A grocery clerk works more broadly across multiple areas of the store, which can include stocking dry goods and packaged groceries, facing shelves, bagging, and sometimes cashiering, depending on the store. In a small independent store, one person may effectively do both, since small teams cross-cover, but the titles point to different primary focuses. There are related roles too: a produce stocker concentrates mainly on stocking and rotation rather than the full produce role, and a produce department manager runs the section and supervises clerks. If your opening is specifically about keeping the produce section fresh and well-stocked, produce clerk is the right title; if it spans the whole store, grocery clerk fits better. The templates on this page are written for the produce-specific role.
What happens after I hire a produce clerk?
Run a quick, structured onboarding, because this is usually an hourly hire in a high-turnover role, and a repeatable process saves real time. Send the offer with the hourly rate and the non-exempt classification, collect the signed offer, complete Form I-9 within the first days, and gather tax forms like the W-4. Then handle the role-specific steps: food-safety and handling basics, an orientation to the produce department and its equipment, the safety rules for produce knives, wet floors, and cold storage, and, if you hired someone under 18, a review of which duties they can and cannot perform. Keep the signed documents and any food-handler card in one place. FirstHR handles this with e-signature for the offer and I-9 and W-4 paperwork without printing, an onboarding workflow and AI onboarding wizard that run the same food-safety and orientation steps for every hire, training modules for food and workplace safety, and document management for food-handler cards and signed acknowledgments. Because pricing is flat rather than per seat, a store that hires hourly staff all year pays one rate regardless of turnover. FirstHR does not run payroll or administer benefits, so connect your payroll and benefits providers. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.