Kale-ing Me Softly: Meet 'Register 7,' The Castro Whole Foods' Employee Band

Kale-ing Me Softly: Meet 'Register 7,' The Castro Whole Foods' Employee BandSara Brody, left, and Spenser Steinman, right, of the up-and-coming band 'Register 7 and the Whole Foods Groove.' | Photos: Sara Brody/Hoodline
Shane Downing
Published on February 27, 2017

Step aside Karl the Fog, a new inanimate San Francisco personality is here: Register 7.

“Register 7 is truly the most wonderful cash register I’ve ever met,” said Sara Brody, Register 7’s self-identifying publicist. Brody also happens to work at the Whole Foods Market where Register 7 is located (although the grocery store isn’t affiliated with the cash register’s persona).

There are 14 cash registers at the Market Street Whole Foods, but Brody felt connected to the seventh register ever since she began working at the grocery store last May.

“For some reason, I just gravitated to it,” Brody said. “It’s not the most beautiful register and the lights don’t always work and the screen is janky, but Register 7 has a lot of character.”

Register 7 and the Whole Foods Groove.

Early this year, Brody brought Register 7 to the tweetosphere and created a band: Register 7 and the Whole Foods Groove.

Brody is the band’s lyricist and her coworker, Spenser Steinman, is the band’s lead singer and guitarist.

“We see a lot of emotion at Whole Foods,” explained Brody, “and Register 7 made us want to make art.”

Register 7 and the Whole Foods Groove’s first song — “The Aisle of Disdain” — captures the emotions of “love and loss at Whole Foods,” said the Noe Valley resident. “Our next song to be released will be called ‘Kombucha Blues.’”

Brody described her band’s music as “kale rock," and kale plays a prominent role in Register 7’s personality. Not surprisingly, kale is one of Whole Foods’ most popular produce items, said Brody.

“It’s a leafy green with a  lot of depth,” she said, “just like Register 7.”

With that in mind, the band’s yet-to-be-released album will be entitled Kale Dreams. The title song is about kale in the time of President Donald Trump.

“It’s definitely a more political song,” Brody said. “But even when the world is in a state of collapse, Register 7 reminds us that we can still dream.”

Steinman recording one of the band's songs.

When asked if she’s ever assigned to work at other cash registers besides number seven, Brody said that it rarely happens, and when it does she tries to swap with her coworkers. She also admitted that if Register 7’s light and screen were somehow permanently fixed, she would continue to write powerful songs.

“I could see the parallels with Adele,” Brody said.

If you’ve never visited the Market Street Whole Foods or used the seventh register, Brody assured us that no music is played during checkout.

“I tell people about our Twitter handle and our band,” Brody said, “but I don’t make it a monologue or anything.”

For now, Brody and Steinman are just having fun.

“Register 7 doesn’t really have any in-store competition,” Brody said. “Although someone anonymously made a Twitter handle for Register 12.”