Voice of The Food Industry Blog

How Technology is Redefining the Meat Case

While the backroom used to be where butchers made cuts by hand, there’s a different kind of cutting edge in today’s food retail meat business. Advanced technologies are changing the way meat is produced, processed and packaged, as well as handled ...

What You Need to Know about Modern Organized Retail Theft

Years ago, the industry also had a very different strategy for stopping someone attempting to take something from the store without purchasing it. At that time, we called it shoplifting, five-finger discount, or in the most severe sense, robbery or ...

When Work Feels Like Play

We are in the countdown to the FMI Foundation’s key fundraiser Stir It Up!, taking place Sunday evening, January 22, the last night of the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference. This event is fundamentally a cooking competition within the food industry,...

How GM, Household and HBC are Crucial to Total Store Collaboration in Inflationary Times

A successful total store experience for the consumer requires total store collaboration between the food retailer and its trading partners. That is especially important in today’s operating environment—when record-high inflation is the latest ...

Winter Weather Outlook for the Food Industry

The weather—we all talk about it, watch it intensely and constantly wondering what the weather will be. In a business sense, knowing possible long-term weather trends and potential conditions can help the food industry prepare for supply chain ...

3 Easy Ways to Jumpstart Your Plans for Supermarket Employee Day 2.22.23

There are more than 40,000 stores that sell food and grocery items in the U.S. alone. Millions of supermarket employees come to work daily to keep shelves stocked and to provide communities with essential services that help them survive and ...

A Video Almost as Tasty as Your Grandmother’s Holiday Cookies

'Tis the season for bowl games and putting up new calendars – yes, I know. I am one of the few who still prefer seeing months laid out on paper, especially if accompanied by a quote from Ted Lasso. It is the time for getting new insurance cards and ...

Ritual Reflection: Celebrating Store Managers in the New Year

Like all New Year’s Day celebrations, the ushering in of 2023 provided all of us with a moment to stop and reflect on the accomplishments, challenges, goals and memories we made throughout the prior year. This annual ritual of taking personal ...

Does That Empty Shelf Mean There’s a Product Shortage?

SKU rationalization is a process by which food retailers and manufacturers manage their inventories to be able to offer their customers the most in-demand products or create shelf space for new and innovative ...

Top-5 Reasons the Grocery Store Is a Destination for Health and Well-being

The grocery store has evolved as a true destination for nutrition, health and well-being. With registered dietitians working across the industry, food retailers and food manufacturers deliver on the unique opportunity to provide not only what ...

Holiday Meal Planning Made Easy

Amidst the holiday hustle and bustle, foodservice at retail can serve as a critical value-add for shoppers with long to-do lists and a desire to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with their loved ...

The Value of an Ongoing Relationship

After nearly 30 years as a membership professional in the association world, I’m still surprised that others I encounter do not realize the difference between a subscriber and a member. Many of us are subscribers to services like streaming ...

Amazingly Resilient, Deeply Caring: A Leadership Perspective from Anthony Hucker, Southeastern Grocers

FMI Midwinter Executive Conference Chair, Anthony Hucker, president and chief executive officer, Southeastern Grocers Inc. (SEG), reflects on his own experiences and the ways he upholds his commitment to putting people first in this turbulent ...

Reasons to Celebrate: The In-Store Bakery

These days, it feels like there’s a celebration nearly every day of the year. Whether it’s a traditional holiday, Supermarket Employee Day or even the Store Manager Awards, there are lots of reasons to celebrate and in-store bakery can make any ...

Celebrating 25 Years of Consumer Food Safety Education

In 1997, leaders from federal and state government, industry and consumer organizations were working hard to lay the foundation for what would be the Partnership for Food Safety ...