Fresh Foods

The Only Constant Is Change

The inevitability of change is especially true when it comes to food production — whether it relates to impactful events ranging from weather extremes to global virus outbreaks or shifting consumer tastes. All of the above have affected the market ...

You Eat with Your Eyes First

Visual appeal may be even more important in this category, in fact, than in other types of foods, fresh or packaged. Like many (most?) shoppers, I’ve been known to take my time picking out an avocado or a bunch of bananas, based on what appeals to ...

The 2020 Strategic Playbook For The Food Industry

FMI and Oliver Wyman’s annual journal publication Boardroom provides a starting point. In fact, volume 5 of the journal is a strategic playbook for the emerging issues a food retailer or supplier should be discussing in their boardrooms—that’s how ...

What Shoppers Say About Produce Packaging

Shoppers are pushing back on plastic waste, but many consumers do recognize packaging can be important when it comes to product shelf life, food safety, in-store conditions, product information, portability and more. This is particularly true for ...

Plant-Based Food Trend Insights

In a highly innovative, yet continuously developing market, comes the need for direction in how to follow changing consumer behaviors and best capture buyer dollars seeking plant-based alternatives. To achieve that goal, FMI produced a three-part ...

A Conversation with Oscar Gonzalez, Northgate Gonzalez Market

Oscar Gonzalez, co-president and COO of Northgate Gonzalez Market, is chairman of FMI's 2020 Midwinter Executive Conference and a true leader when it comes to creating genuine experiences that hold true to his company’s personality. Under Oscar’s ...

What’s In A Brand?

Life is full of circumstances and situations that prompt us to evaluate our personal brand and make necessary changes, adapting to a new position or setting by shifting our brand. Sometimes these involve small adjustments and sometimes we must ...

5 Insights for 2020 Fresh Foods Success

It’s helpful to enter a new year armed with lessons learned in the prior year. This is especially the case for fresh foods, given the wide range of categories and the complexities of the business. In this spirit, I want to raise the profile of a few ...

FMI’s 2019 Year in Review

There is something particularly noble about accomplishments that have so many ups and downs and surprise developments that they require a special brand of perseverance. Finishing the fight requires overcoming the nagging drag of self-doubt when the ...

What is the Certified Plant Based Seal?

Plant-based food products are no longer just a trend – they are here to stay in an industry that is growing incrementally each day. FMI’s Power of Meat 2019 report finds that plant-based meat alternatives sales increased 19.2% last year and account ...

Sustainability Initiatives in Today’s Meat Industry

According to the 2019 Power of Meat Report, eating meat is still the norm with 86% of shoppers classifying themselves as meat eaters, 5% following a vegetarian or vegan diet and 10% describing their eating style as flexitarian (mostly vegetarian ...

Smart Approaches to Sustainability in Fresh

Sustainability is a complex subject that includes aspects such as packaging, food waste, recycling and the future of plastics. The fresh industry recognizes the importance and is identifying meaningful strategies to make progress. This was clear ...

How the Rise of “Flexitarians” is Powering Plant-Based Sales

Today in the food industry, there are thousands of companies riding the wave of the plant-based protein trend. Grocery stores, restaurants and even convenience stores are on the road to wide-spread plant-based offerings. Five years ago, a plant-...

Proactive Strategies to Boost Fresh Foods' Safety

Achieving fresh foods safety can sometimes feel like a game of whack-a-mole. That’s because retailers and suppliers are often forced to react to food safety ongoing outbreaks and ...

Helping Families Be Healthier and Happier with Quick, Easy Seafood Meals

The FMI Foundation partnered with the Seafood Nurtrition Partnership™ to emphasize the importance of family meals, expanding National Family Meals Month™ throughout the year and into a true movement - the Family Meals Movement....