Education

A 360-Degree View of Fresh Industry Transformation

We’re entering a new phase. While the pandemic isn’t over, the country is opening up, and consumers are relaying increased confidence about shopping and safety. This period provides an opportunity to get a 360 view of where we’ve been, how much has ...

Meet Martin’s Super Markets Store Manager Awards Finalist, Jim Grochowalski

Groucho's lead-by-example philosophy and enthusiasm for providing an unmatched shopping experience ensures loyalty in not only his employees, but his customers as ...

Meet Skogen's Festival Foods Store Manager Awards Finalist

Michael Siakpere won’t let anything rain on his parade when it comes to serving shoppers. From an outdoor store event that he successfully brought indoors during a heavy downpour to emerging circumstances threatening to cut into profits, this store ...

Meet Lunds & Byerlys Store Manager Awards Finalist

As the saying goes, Kaitlyn Lester wears many hats. The general manager of a Lunds & Bylerlys store in Eagan, Minn., is a strong leader, fierce competitor, thoughtful mentor and compassionate community advocate. ...

A New Decade of Store Manager Excellence: Meet the 2020 Store Manager Awards Finalists

The entrepreneurial mindset is flexible, adaptable, sees change before it happens, and seizes new opportunities. In my opinion, what really makes an entrepreneurial spirit shine is the ability to remain focused on growing, developing and improving. ...

2020 Midsummer Strategic Executive Exchange By The Numbers

On July 7th, FMI will kick off our first virtual event, the 2020 Midsummer Strategic Executive Exchange. While this virtual trading partner exchange was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we feel the top industry executives engaging in this event ...

The Time To Learn and Re-Learn Is Now

Each day of Midsummer will kick off with a live streamed Insight Session, designed to offer thought leadership, insights and more on timely topics facing the industry. These sessions will be archived on the Midsummer virtual event platform and ...

A Dreamy Strategic Plan for Midsummer

FMI’s Midsummer Strategic Executive Exchange provides a unique strategic opportunity for trading partner collaboration to hit the reset button and together identify, prioritize and address the industry’s most pressing business issues. Through ...

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, ...

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 ...

Food Industry Leaders Must Learn, Unlearn and Relearn

The trick to navigating this new landscape is being smart about what you need to learn, what you must unlearn and then what you need to relearn. And the key to effective leadership during this era of evolution is first, knowing the degree to which ...

Numbers Don’t Lie: Grocery Remains A Steady Hand in Developing the Workforce of Tomorrow

Numbers don’t lie. The food retail industry knows where its strength lies and is making the investment in upgrading skills and technology to develop the workforce of the future. When it comes to our business model, nothing could be more fundamental. ...

Workforce Diversity at The Annual Meat Conference

The Annual Meat Conference, hosted by FMI and the North American Meat Institute, will this year shine a light on workforce diversity, women in the industry and leaders of ...

Store Managers Lead With Purpose in the Food Industry

The food industry thrives because of the dedication and innovation of store managers. Their passion and talents to create unique food experiences for the grocery customer can be seen through their leadership fostering in-store omnichannel tactics, ...

How to Plan and Execute a Zero-Food-Waste Event

As a professional meeting planner and principal on event logistics for the food industry association, I increasingly challenge our team to make sustainability a goal by either donating uneaten food or partnering with facilities to divert waste from ...