Fresh Foods

BBQ and National Family Meals Month: A Perfect Pair

As the barbecue team continues to travel around and cook contests across the country, we often spend time with our “barbecue family.” Our local association, the Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association, has chosen to support National Family Meals Month by ...

When It Comes to Produce, The Eyes Decide

Power of Produce 2017 finds three-quarter of shoppers plan their produce purchases pre-trip, and an even greater 86 percent of shoppers readily admit unplanned fruits and vegetables purchases frequently end up in their cart. That’s what makes ...

Local Continues to Drive Growth for Produce

According to the Power of Produce 2017, 54 percent of shoppers would like their produce department to offer an expanded assortment of locally-grown produce. Shoppers’ are zeroing-in on a mile radius from where they shop and use state lines to define ...

Produce… the Crown Jewel of the Supermarket Perimeter

Power of Produce 2017 shows a supermarket’s strength lies both in very high shopper conversion among their primary customers and being a store destination among switchers. From Power of Produce 2017, 39 percent of switchers end up visiting a ...

AI, Cultured Coffee and 4 More Food Retailing Trends I Didn’t Know About

Specialty foods and beverages represent the sweet spot in food retailing today. Sales hit $127 billion last year, climbing 15 percent from 2014 to 2016, while total retail food sales grew 2.3 percent, according to the Specialty Food Association’s ...

Food Retail Industry Witnessing the ‘Zation of Fresh Foods

Today, a kaleidoscope of factors, including technology, is driving the atomization of American lives, how they plan and consume ...

Sanitary Design through Communication and Collaboration

Poor sanitary design coupled with poor cleaning and sanitation practices can lead to harborage areas where pathogens can survive, increasing the risk of contamination. Developing robust equipment and facility designs in your store can reduce the ...

What is FMI’s Fresh Foods Leadership Council?

The group to include many thought-leading suppliers, research organizations, and sister trade associations, as well as, members of FMI’s Fresh Executive Committee (FEC), which includes 22 different food retail and wholesale companies. Together, the ...

Get To Know the Organic Food Shopper

I’ve combed through our recent research reports on fresh foods and pulled out some of the topline findings around organic for some specific departments. These findings help form an organic shopper persona that can be important to your business ...

How do stores align business operations with consumer values?

Shoppers use countless sources to learn or research the fresh foods they’re buying. Today, many factors influence a consumer’s purchasing decision when it comes to food. Reported by 2017 Top Trends in Fresh, last year the top social sentiment ...

Riding the Local Demand Wave

I was recently invited to participate on a Heritage Radio Network “Eating Matters” segment where I was interviewed by the program’s host Jenna Liut about the trend in “local....

2017 Top Trends in Fresh: Holistic Health

According to 2017 Top Trends in Fresh, 230 million individuals will be living with chronic illnesses by 2030, and it’s no surprise to hear, that healthcare premiums are also soaring. In response, consumers are focusing on self-care and holistic ...

A Pitmaster on the Power of Meat

As an award winning and competition BBQ pitmaster, it’s always an exciting time for me at FMI when we release the Power of Meat report. In the 2017 report, the concept of “getting meat right” is evident in the way retailers and stores are focusing ...

Meat, the Most Fascinating Dinner Guest

Meat has been the traditional center-of-the-plate feature for years, but no one bothered to ask it where it’s from, how it feels or even who invited it to the party. Consumers must think they’ve been rude dinner guests – satisfied by a superficial ...

2017 Top Trends in Fresh: Holistic Health

According to 2017 Top Trends in Fresh, 230 million individuals will be living with chronic illnesses by 2030, and it’s no surprise to hear, that healthcare premiums are also soaring. In response, consumers are focusing on self-care and holistic ...