Voice of Food Retail Blog

Photo Friday: FMI Western Regional Legislative Meeting in Newport Beach, California

On Monday, members and state association partners met in Newport Beach, California at the FMI Western Regional Legislative ...

Tax Reform: One Last Legislative Gift Before Year’s End?

Clearly, we’re living in different times these days, but unfortunately our tax code has not evolved to reflect this reality. It is so complex that some tax lawyers make a good living specializing in only one or two specific provisions....

SafeMark®: Nearly 15 Years of Food Safety Retail Training and Counting

Food safety is a very important issue for the success of the retail food industry and finding the training program that meets the unique aspects of the grocery industry is no small task. As the manager for SafeMark®, the only comprehensive food ...

A Spoiler Alert on Broiler Issues

Food retailers can soon expect being contacted by their friendly neighborhood animal activist regarding concerns with broiler chicken production. Five specific areas of concern will be named. However, as a means of getting retailers to address ...

Grocery Stores Explore More Social Media and Digital Advertising

A couple of years ago, I wrote about how grocery stores used social media with findings from our 2015 Food Retailing Industry Speaks report to make the case that the food retail industry was just beginning to dip their toe in the digital marketing ...

Photo: Heinen's Fine Foods, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio

Doug Baker, vice president of private brands, technology, industry relations, joined members of FMI’s Manufacturer Share Group to explore opportunities in food service at Heinen's in Cleveland, Ohio....

Providing Opportunities for Veterans

As our recently released economic impact analysis emphasized, the supermarket industry is a major employer for U.S. workers, providing almost 5 million jobs across the country. FMI member companies hire workers of varying ages and backgrounds, ...

The Ripple Effect of Kindness

In today’s world it is far too easy to miss the powerful ripple effect caused by one kind act, and no one demonstrates this better than food retailers....

Recasting Disruption As Growth Opportunity

If we continue to characterize all things driving change as disruptors, we paint all change in the darker, more negative hues, suggesting that we view it as something we are being thrust into against our ...

Photo Friday: Food Retailers in Italy

Last month, Matt Grizzard, director of member services, and a handful of food retailers visited northern Italy to see and experience food production from the other side of the ...

Food Safety Around The World

With the 2017 SQF International Conference right around the corner this is a good time to reflect on the fact that food safety has no borders. In today’s world people are migrating rapidly, requiring more diverse products in their diet, and ...

Digital Transformation in the Grocery Industry

Shoptalk’s third iteration in March is expected to draw 7,500 attendees, and a number of them will be focused on Grocerytalk, a first-ever event in which the food retailing community can engage with each other on topics as timely as “Disruptive ...

Standing at a Crossroads, Private Brands and RevenueShield®

As we advised earlier this year in our report, The Power of Private Brands, one of food retail’s most effective strategic competitive tools and primary differentiator is under threat. Understanding disruptive consumer behavior as the competitive ...

Surprise! Shoppers Expect Retailers to Know the Answer to These Questions

I have found I can usually trust my instincts and intuitions when it comes to knowing what most people think, and when I question my judgment in this regard I tend to rely on my Kentucky roots and the connections I still have there to gauge what ...

How Health and Wellness Fits Food Retail in the 21st Century

We’ve moved from an era where there was a dearth of nutrition facts to the present-day challenge of health-information ...