Walmart Needs Fresh Food Associate in Hickory | Hiring

Local Job Overview: Hickory

Primary Details

• Position: Fresh Food Associate (Flexible/Contract, Hickory)
• Company: Walmart
• Worksite: Hickory, NC
• This Hickory-based role is an excellent opportunity for professionals skilled in relevant skills.
• Our Walmart team in Hickory, NC is growing.
• Benefit from working in Hickory, a key hub for the Retail And Grocery industry.

What You Get

• Pay: $17-$24/Hour (approx. $24.8k/Year)
• Benefits: This role offers competitive pay.
• Flexible contract/gig opportunity in Hickory.

Day-to-Day

• Core objectives involve your professional skills in Retail And Grocery.

About Walmart Fresh Food Departments

Walmart's fresh food departments — Deli, Bakery, Produce, and Meat — are where the company competes most directly with traditional grocery stores and specialty food shops. Fresh Food Associates are the culinary-adjacent team members who prepare deli meals, decorate bakery cakes, trim produce displays, and stock meat cases with the presentation quality and food safety discipline that builds customer trust. These departments require hands-on food handling skills and strict adherence to temperature control, sanitation, and HACCP compliance standards.

Position Overview

Walmart is hiring Fresh Food Associates to work in Deli, Bakery, Produce, and Meat departments at Supercenter and Neighborhood Market locations. You will prepare food items for sale, maintain department presentation standards, ensure cold chain compliance, and provide friendly service to customers at the deli counter, bakery display, produce section, or meat case. Food safety certification training is provided by Walmart.

Key Responsibilities

• Prepare deli meals, slice meats and cheeses, decorate cakes, trim produce, or stock meat cases depending on your department assignment.
• Maintain strict food safety and sanitation standards including temperature monitoring, handwashing protocols, and HACCP compliance.
• Rotate product using FIFO principles ensuring freshest items are displayed and expired products are pulled and disposed of properly.
• Assist customers at department service counters taking custom orders, answering product questions, and offering samples when applicable.
• Maintain department cleanliness including display case cleaning, floor sanitation, and equipment washing per health code requirements.

Qualifications & Benefits

Must be 18+ years of age for positions involving equipment operation (slicers, ovens, grinders). No prior food service experience required — Walmart provides food safety certification and department-specific training. Must stand for full shift and work in refrigerated environments. Walmart offers competitive fresh food associate pay (often higher than general sales floor rates), flexible scheduling, associate discount, 401(k), stock purchase plan, health benefits, and advancement into fresh food team lead and department coach positions.