Corporate Social Responsibility

And Now for Some Good News on the Family Meals Front

The number of partners and stakeholders continues to grow and the creativity with which they have embraced and shared the good news of family meals is yielding incredible results. I am pleased to share that we’ve made another leap, and in 2020, 33% ...

A Tale of Two Years: A Look at The Food Retail Industry in 2019 and Early 2020

The most recent The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report identifies a striking similarity between ”A Tale of Two Cities” and a tale of two years, 2019 and 2020, for the food industry. Both relay the story of how stark change and challenging times ...

Making A Difference: It’s What Grocers Do

It’s these acts of goodwill that are in the very fabric of a food retailer’s being. Grocers strengthen their communities with programs designed to keep kids busy and engaged; offer useful information about nutrition and health; and assist in ...

Goodwill for Hard Times: 2020 Community Outreach Awards

We need more stories of comity that feed our spirits in acts of human kindness. Our Community Outreach Awards highlight the oft-unmentioned goodwill of grocers that serve and shape our ...

A Fly on The Wall: A Look at The Food Industry’s Performance

FMI is about to release our 71st annual The Food Retailing Industry Speaks report, which tracks operations and strategic initiatives of the food retail industry. This year’s Speaks report reviews performance for 2019, but it also incorporates ...

Prioritizing Fresh Sustainability Despite Pandemic Challenges: FMI FreshForward Recap

It might be logical to think the fresh industry would have put sustainability on the back burner during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in reality, many industry leaders never departed from their sustainability goals in the face of extreme hurdles. ...

Water is Foundational to Our Food System and Economy

Water is not just for safety and cleanliness. Water is foundational to our food system as well as to our world’s economy. According to McKinsey & Company’s recent article water is as important to the world’s economy as oil or data....

Prioritizing Food to People: Packaging, Plastics and Avoiding Food Waste

According to data from ReFED and Feeding America, the number of Americans struggling with hunger since the COVID-19 pandemic has risen from 40 million to a staggering 54 million ...

We’re All In This Together

Since the early days of the pandemic, FMI staff have been tracking news stories recording the food industry’s responses to their communities. Our tracking is a growing spreadsheet updated daily with nearly 200 rows documenting stories of food, ...

Grocery Heroes: A Half Million Jobs and Counting

We know from our U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends COVID-19 tracker that 25% of Americans are especially worried about having enough money to pay for food. Questions about the emerging job market have resulted in these anxieties and uncertainties ...

Essentially Essential: A First-Hand Account of Value Delivered

In late February, (only two weeks into the job) I was assigned to the Crisis Management Team, a cross-departmental group focused on the looming coronavirus outbreak. It was just a month after I joined the FMI team in the headquarters office that I ...

A Smart Way Forward on Sustainability

FMI is a partner in EPA’s SmartWay program. This voluntary public-private program offers technical assistance resources including a comprehensive and well-recognized system for tracking, documenting and sharing information about fuel use and freight ...

Together, Again… Again, Unless We’re Not: Family Meals Faces Some New Issues

We have a pulled together some COVID-19 Family Meal resources and on the Family Meals Website at www.FamilyMealsMovement.org. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, our tip compilation runs the gamut of family meal ideas ...

Home is Where the Heart… Wait, Home is Where Everything Is

Helping families of all shapes and sizes share meals together both in home and virtually is a foundational purpose the various parts of the food industry open their respective doors for business each day – even in these coronavirus stressful days. ...

Grocery Stores Remain Constant in Times of Need

Even amidst numerous state emergency declarations relative to mass gatherings impacting restaurants and bars, the White House re-emphasized that grocery stores will remain open during this national emergency....