60Jeb A. Kratzig is a general manager with almost twenty years of leadership experience in high-volume retail operations. He has built his career on the principles of accountability, structure, and trust, which allow him to create teams that operate consistently and confidently. Over time, he has guided multiple store teams, promoted employees into leadership positions, and improved profitability through planning and disciplined execution. His work has earned recognition for transforming struggling teams, retaining talent, and maintaining stability in an industry where constant change is the norm.
He was born in 1978 in Bellingham, Washington. From a young age, he was active in athletics, which shaped much of his early discipline. In high school, he earned recognition as the 1996 Bellingham Herald Football Player of the Year. The following year, he was honored as an All-State Quarterback. These achievements reflected his ability to lead and his dedication to high performance. The lessons he gained from sports—teamwork, accountability, and resilience—would later play a central role in his approach to leadership.
In 2008, he began his career in the grocery and retail industry. Within a year, he moved into a leadership role, starting a path of growth that would define his professional journey. From 2009 onward, he managed operations in both Washington and California, gaining valuable experience with employee development, scheduling, and customer service challenges. These roles prepared him for higher levels of responsibility and helped shape his leadership style.
Since 2014, Jeb Kratzig has served as a General Manager, a position he still holds today. He is currently responsible for a large retail operation in Cathedral City, California, where he oversees a workforce of more than 90 employees across multiple shifts. His role requires scheduling expertise and the ability to guide several layers of leadership. Working closely with assistant managers, senior crew members, and floor leads, he ensures that goals are clearly communicated and that day-to-day operations align with long-term objectives.
He is highly effective at managing operations across multiple departments. He avoids isolating teams by promoting strong communication between them, ensuring that all areas of the store function as part of one system. This cross-functional approach reduces barriers and supports smoother operations, even during heavy customer traffic or unpredictable challenges.
Team retention is one of the areas where Jeb’s leadership has had the most visible impact. His stores consistently experience lower turnover rates compared to national averages. He attributes this success to a leadership model based on presence, accountability, and trust. Over the course of his career, he has promoted more than 15 employees into leadership positions. He identifies potential early, provides coaching through everyday execution, and helps employees prepare for greater responsibilities by offering direct feedback and clear expectations.
Operational discipline is another focus for Jeb. He believes strong systems are the foundation of dependable results. He is actively involved in inventory management, wage modeling, seasonal ordering, and merchandising execution. He has consistently reduced waste and improved efficiency by tightening scheduling to match customer demand, refining labor models, and improving inventory accuracy. He also incorporates quarterly performance data into forecasting, which allows him to plan for seasonal shifts and high-volume periods with less reactivity and more precision.
Kratzig is recognized for his ability to communicate clearly and coach effectively. He addresses problems directly, explains the reasoning behind his decisions, and creates opportunities for dialogue while maintaining accountability. His coaching method combines real-time feedback with scheduled development discussions, always with performance goals in mind. He also integrates de-escalation training into employee development, giving teams the skills to handle customer interactions with professionalism and composure.
2017 Jeb was honored as Captain of the Year, a company-wide award recognizing his leadership and team results. His repeated nominations for the prize in other years highlighted his consistent impact and long-term contributions.
Retail operations are often unpredictable, yet he has shown an ability to maintain steady performance without adding unnecessary complexity. He sets clear standards, trusts his employees to meet them, and avoids micromanagement. This approach gives team members ownership of their work while ensuring consistency and accountability. His teams remain flexible, prepared to adapt without panic, and capable of delivering reliable results during routine and high-volume periods.
Beyond his career, Jeb lives in La Quinta, California, with his wife, whom he married in 2016. He maintains a strength training routine and closely follows football, supporting the Washington Huskies and the Seattle Seahawks.
Throughout his career, Jeb Kratzig has shown that leadership built on accountability, structure, and trust creates strong teams and stable results. His commitment to developing people, refining systems, and guiding operations continues to define his success as a general manager.