Refresh

The concept of “value” can be a tough sell in a natural and organics world known for premium prices and gourmet cache, and so retailers in this space have had to work hard to change consumer perceptions. Supervalu tried and failed with its Sunflower Market banner. Same with Bashas’-run Ike’s Farmers Market, which shuttered its last store in 2009. There’s success to be had, as companies like Trader Joe’s and Mike Gilliland’s Sunflower Farmers Market have proved, and now there’s one particularly precocious retailer stepping up to show how it’s done.

Sprouts Farmers Market has done a lot of growing in its seven years. Started back in 2003 in Chandler, Arizona — right in the heart of Bashas’ country — Sprouts has expanded across the southwest and California at a rate of about ten stores per year. Next week, the privately held company will hit a milestone with the opening of its 50th store.

What’s the secret behind this impressive run? The recession, which cut expansion plans for most retailers, appears to have worked in the favor of Sprouts, which banks its image on price and freshness. Its mission statement is, “Helping America eat healthier, live longer and spend less.”

Success has required the chain to master the “spend less” aspect of the business. It also actively courts its customers, plays up its ability to build jobs within communities, and serves as an effective counterpoint to Whole Foods.

“We were very fortunate in the way we were positioned,” said Doug Sanders, Sprouts’ president, in an interview with Supermarket News reporter Roseanne Harper. MORE…

We’re getting new glimpses of what to expect from the folks at Brookshire Grocery Company as they continue working on their first new concept food store. It’s called FRESH by Brookshire’s, and is scheduled to open early next year in the retailer’s hometown of Tyler, Texas.

The newest element to appear is the logo, which features the store’s name and a circular icon made of leaves that form a star-shape. It’ll be used on everything, from bags (shown) to uniforms, according to officials.

“FRESH by Brookshire’s is an entirely new concept — a food destination unlike anything else in the area — so the logo needed to reflect that,” said Rick Rayford, the chain’s president and CEO.

The logo was designed by Brookshire’s and the advertising firm of Richards/Carlberg. According to the latter, the “leaf-star icon represents the freshness of the herbs and produce that the new store will offer as well as the high-quality connotations associated with a star. In addition, the logo’s primary colors, plum and lime green, are appetizing and convey the appeal of fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Construction of the store, measuring 55,000-square feet, began in February. The finished supermarket will mark a departure for Brookshire’s in several areas. The store will feature more organic foods, bulk items, a bigger selection of health and wellness products, a pharmacy and a coffee/gelato bar.

In addition, there will be a major emphasis on fresh prepared foods, with separate bars offering everything from burritos to sandwiches, and soup and salad. Stay tuned.

(Photo credit: Brookshire Grocery Company)

If celiac disease and wheat intolerance wasn’t high on your radar before, think about your current product mix and whether you’re offering enough options to satisfy demand. May is both Food Allergy Awareness Month and Celiac Disease Awareness Month.

In one of our recent MamboTrack surveys we discovered 1 in 3 natural and organic consumers shopped for allergy-free foods. Can you guess what was at the top of the list? Gluten-free items. In our study, 25% of respondents looked for gluten-free foods. Other common allergens trailed far behind with only 9% avoiding dairy, 6% avoiding soy, and 4% peanuts.

Unfortunately, avoiding gluten is tricky. Some gluten products are easy to spot. Items like bread, pasta, and croutons are obvious products. But foods such as sauces, marinades, processed meats, imitation seafood and broth often contain gluten, too.

People with celiac disease, for whom gluten avoidance is imperative, have to get good at reading labels. They stay away from wheat, rye, barley, kamut, einkorn, spelt, and triticale. MORE…

Looking over some of the latest research on fiber can’t help but conjure the image of Rodney Dangerfield, that pudgy, bug-eyed master of self-deprecation, pulling at his collar as he says his immortal line: “I don’t get no respect!”

Fiber is just that: an important nutrient that gets no respect. Studies have venerated it time and again, linking it to everything from cancer to heart disease and digestive problems. And still, most people think of it as that most boring of nutrients; something their grandmother takes with a glass of water every morning, or that you only need if you’re, um, irregular.

That’s all true of course, though in recent years food manufacturers have undertaken the admirable task of proving that fiber can be so much more. Bread companies tout fiber on their packaging, even going so far as to roll out “double fiber” varieties. Frozen meals, snacks, cereals, cookies and many other shelf-stable products boast being a “good source of fiber”. It’s a classic case of building demand around solid science.

Despite these efforts, consumers still view fiber grudgingly. According to a new study from the research firm Mintel, 27% of them think it has an unpleasant taste, and 25% think it’s only necessary for those suffering digestive problems. Thirty percent say they try to get enough fiber in their diets, but surveys show that nowhere close to that number actually do. MORE…

I love eating at Chipotle Mexican Grill. For a fast-food place, it’s tough to beat on several points: The menu is simple, the quality consistently good and the price fair. No Dollar Deal Menu here. Just solid performing Mexican-inspired fare that basically comes wrapped in a burrito or as a salad.

The chain, based in Denver, Colo., has always been keen on sourcing ingredients in a sustainable manner. The proteins are from ethically treated animals and the produce is sourced from local farms whenever possible. Just this week, the company announced an ambitious goal. It wants to have 50% of the produce items it uses — primarily lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and onions — come from local farms, up from 35% last year.

Chipotle defines “local” as anything within a 250-mile radius of its distribution centers, though it points out that most products are sourced with a 150-mile radius.

That’s how Chipotle defines local. What about supermarkets? It just so happens that those unstoppable number crunchers at the USDA’s Economic Research Service issued a report on local foods, a much-needed update that will hopefully guide the food industry in moving towards a common definition of local. MORE…

Last summer was a good one for grilling. Encouraged by poor attendance at steakhouses and other high-end restaurants, supermarkets ramped up their selection of premium quality meats at affordable prices. Some of the stories included USDA prime cuts selling for $8.99/lb. at Costco, and Wagyu beef, which normally goes for around $40/lb., selling for $14.99 at Seattle’s Metropolitan Market.

Madness! Delicious, delicious madness. As much as shoppers would like this trend to last, the reality is that it won’t. Feed costs are up, the economy is rebounding, and health and environmental concerns are transforming the meat case into the latest battleground of ideals.

What are some of these concerns? The use — some would say overuse — of sub-therapeutic antibiotics on livestock, for starters, has become a hotly contested issue. According to research out of West Texas A&M University, one-third of consumers believe that eating meat from animals treated this way will make them resistant to antibiotics. There’s also the issue of humane treatment, with 57% of consumers who believe mistreatment is widespread in the industry, according to the same study.

And then there are those who are cutting out meat entirely — or for one day, at least. Meatless Mondays, a grassroots effort that asks people to skip meat one day out of the week, is expanding across schools and households. It addresses the concerns that many people have over meat’s — especially red meat’s — saturated fat content, as well as the environmental impact of livestock processing.

All of this adds up to create some major red flags for the meat industry. But they’re not just watching all of this happen; they’re using their marketing muscle to play up the healthy side of the market MORE…

Plastic has slowly, but steadily been gaining acceptance as a wine vessel as more people understand that plastic — PET bottles, screw caps and corks, and bag-in-box containers — can be better for the environment. And when it comes to the discerning palette of a wine drinker, and their strong affinity for lush orchards and fields of grape arbors, the environment is an important element of the business.

The statistics I read vary, but all the numbers point to reduced costs in both manufacturing and transportation (which lessens the impact on the environment). On average, wine makers can lower shipping costs up to 33% less by using plastic; conversely, they can load about 67% more wine on a truck.

“Lighter bottles mean less fuel used in the shipping process,” reads a post on Mother Nature Network. “This is where the environmental benefits come in. The plastic bottles weigh 1/8th as much as glass bottles, which usually weigh about 14 ounces. Less fuel used to ship these lighter bottles means a smaller carbon footprint during the shipping process.” MORE…

We thought the story with food allergies was clear-cut — they’re widespread and growing. But a couple reports from this week point to some serious confusion in the field. One, an extensive government-funded review, concludes that the prevalence of food allergies is vastly overstated. Another, meanwhile, sounds the alarm by saying the number of children with peanut allergies has more than tripled.

The stakes are high for the food industry. The fervor over food allergies in the past decade or so has led to product reformulations, dedicated line extensions, more transparent labeling, and the added diplomacy of dealing with (understandably) nervous consumers. The investment has been significant, and founded on what seemed to be good science.

So what are we to believe? Studies are a dime a dozen these days, and their limited funding and scope means they can contradict one another. But the one that says food allergy fears have been overplayed was itself a review of thousands of studies dating back ten years. That meta factor makes it hard to ignore. It asserts that misdiagnoses, shoddy studies and nebulous criteria has led to 30% of the population thinking they have a food allergy, when the real percentage is only a third of that.

Food allergies do exist, the authors make sure to state. But they’re often misdiagnosed or confused with food intolerance, which is temperamental and not an actual immunological response. Perhaps that’s the weakness with the second study mentioned above — it was based on a telephone survey of just over 5,000 households. The considerable attention that’s been paid to peanut and other allergies in recent years could mean respondents were overstating the problem. MORE…

Earlier this year in our print magazine, Whole Health, we noted the re-emergence of DNA-based tests designed to predict future health conditions like diabetes. The thinking is that if a person knows they are pre-disposed to a certain condition, they can take preventative steps now to prevent that from becoming a reality.

It’s a noble idea, and — with the advances DNA testing has made in a few short years — perfectly feasible that one day soon we will have the ability to analyze biological markers in each and every one of us to predict our future health.

As of this week, federal regulators apparently remain unconvinced: After a letter from the Food & Drug Administration was made public, Walgreen’s announced it was pulling back from offering a saliva swab test kit and analysis by a third-party company, San Diego-based Pathway Genomics.

For the nation’s largest drug store chain, this isn’t small change. There was quite a bit of buzz over the original announcement unveiling the service. The marketing pitch highlighted Pathway’s ability to analyze the DNA contained in the swab for a host of health conditions and diseases. Besides diabetes, the list includes obesity and Alzheimer’s, among others. MORE…

Supermarkets might want to check their inventory of nuts. Look in the grocery aisle for the cans and jars, the bulk section next to produce, and anywhere else these little gems are merchandised. Chances are sales will start going up very soon, thanks to a study that really cracks the shell on the connection between nut consumption and health.

First, some background. Nuts have had it pretty good for a few years now. It was the late 1990s when a new round of studies began taking a fresh look at the nutritional profile of walnuts, almonds, pecans and the like. One of the biggest findings has been that nuts have the ability to lower cholesterol and undo the effects of LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

The U.S. government concurred with these initial conclusions and in 2003 the Food & Drug Administration bestowed a qualified health claim on most nuts, stating that eating about two ounces daily could reduce the risk of heart disease.

Now, a new report published in the May issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine has found that people who ate even higher quantities of nuts (about 2 ½ ounces) every day lowered total cholesterol levels by 5%, and dropped their LDL cholesterol levels by 7%. In so doing, the ratio of bad to good cholesterol tipped to favor the good side. MORE…