Voice of Food Retail Blog

The 10,000 Mile FMI Food Safety Summer Tour

As I reflect on my 10,640-mile, three-month journey, I realized that food retailers play a crucial global leadership role to advance food safety knowledge. Attending these events not only expanded my knowledge of technical food safety content, but I ...

Digital Relationships Forge Engagement with Shoppers

Influencers – humans and animals –live in a digital world where they have a strong consumer following based on lifestyle, humor, advice or even culinary skills. There are tiers among influencers; celebrities hold their own, but they can also embody ...

Brick and Mortar is Alive and Well

According to FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2018 report, brick and mortar grocery stores, the signature channel in the food industry, have stabilize their status despite consumers’ use of other channels. Trends claims, “Consumers do shop across ...

A Sneak Peak of FreshForward

I’m in event planning mode. Our totally new and unique event FreshForward is coming up in just about a month and I’m very excited for the experience. Speakers are getting confirmed, sponsors or coming in and retailers are making travel arrangements. ...

What Do Meal Kits and Multicookers, like Instant Pot, Have in Common?

Together, meal kits and multicookers could provide food retailers with their next great sales ...

Collaboration Is Our Shield Against Cyber Attacks

Modern day demands a new type of shield, especially when it comes to protecting businesses from one of the most deceptive enemies, a cyber attack. Our best defense is to collaborate and share information about previous attacks to help each other be ...

Photo Friday: FMI's Food Safety Team Attends International Association of Food Protection Annual Meeting

At this year’s International Association of Food Protection in Salt Lake City Utah, Ashley Eisenbeiser, director of food and product safety, Food Marketing Institute, moderated a session discussing how retailers effectively communicate food safety ...

Is Online Grocery Shopping Eroding In Store Business?

In the third webinar of this series, Leading Retailers: E-commerce as a Competitive Advantage, FMI and Rosie engaged in a panel discussion with leading retailers who have successfully launched online shopping at their stores. The discussion quickly ...

AI Powers The Customer Experience

Not a day goes by that I don’t find myself reading about grocery stores rolling out new technologies to engage shoppers. If you happen to Google “technology in grocery stores,” I guarantee you’ll find at least five pages of relevant, interesting ...

Mid-Year Update from Washington: A Productive Year for the Industry

For an industry that is regulated from many different angles; as sellers of food, as employers and as business operations, each legislative fix or regulatory relief can provide food retailers with real benefits and cost savings as they focus on ...

Navigating November: Toss Ups, Tough Races and Strong Holds

There’s been no lack of drama this primary season. Much of the national media is focused on the federal elections in the U.S. House and Senate, but they’re missing a big part of the story – will Democrats rebuild power in the governors’ races or ...

Have You Heard? National Family Meals Month Movement Is Trending

This September, the food retail industry celebrates the fourth annual National Family Meals Month™ (NFMM). NFMM and its huge impact is trending among consumers. Eighty-four percent of shoppers who saw the NFMM campaign reported healthier behaviors ...

Could Tornado Alley be the Next Silicon Valley?

When the tech bubble burst at the end of 2000, I was working as a customer business manager at Kraft Foods. The following year, we integrated Nabisco and completed an initial public offering for the company, so we were laser-focused on reinforcing ...

Retail Foodservice: A College Student’s Perspective

As a college student living off-campus for the first time this past year, I only recently learned to weekly grocery shop on my own. As a newbie, I’m eager to discover the most cost-and time-efficient ways to prepare and enjoy nutritious, fresh meals ...

Center Store Primed for The Digital Shopper

Food retailers hear a lot about the digital shopper and they spend even more time thinking about how they’ll meet consumers growing demand for streamline shopping experiences from the store aisles to their virtual grocery baskets. As it turns out, ...