Fresh Foods

Our Voice of The Food Industry blog offers commentary from FMI subject matter experts on timely and important topics to the food industry.

Stay Connected

  • Celebrating Supermarket Employee Day

    Jan 14, 2021
    On February 22, 2021, I will be celebrating the hard-working heroes of the supermarket by joining with the industry to proclaim it Supermarket Employee Day. The supermarket has long been acknowledged as the backbone of our communities, but its role ...

  • The Power of the Annual Meat Conference

    Jan 12, 2021
    For 15 years, the Power of Meat report has been a highly anticipated part of the Annual Meat Conference. For everyone, 2020 was quite a year and for the meat department that was particularly true. As a result, FMI and NAMI decided to break our ...

  • Don’t Overlook Foodservice-at-Retail in the Path Forward

    Dec 15, 2020
    Already a hybrid of restaurants and retail, grocery foodservice programs straddle concurrent shopper interest in convenient, high quality, good-tasting, nutritious and safe meals, snacks and drinks. Consumers may not be able to share a utensil at ...

  • Fresh Foods Consumers Relay New Pandemic-Driven Perspectives

    Dec 11, 2020
    The COVID-19 pandemic has been a giant learning experience about many things — and one of these is how consumer perspectives are ...

  • 2020: The Year of the Food Industry

    Dec 3, 2020
    From the cashiers and stockers to the store managers and executives, the drivers and food processors and pharmacist and nutritionists, to the data analysts, delivery experts and farmers, our industry is filled with true Food Industry Heroes who have ...

  • New Twists on Retail Differentiation Strategies

    Nov 20, 2020
    Food retailers have been adapting their product and service differentiation strategies. In 2019, they pushed the boundaries to enhance strategies in specific areas. Then, in the pandemic period, they have pivoted on some strategies to accommodate ...

  • Consumers Are Weary. Foodservice Retail Programs Can Help.

    Nov 16, 2020
    Food retailers can come to the rescue – as they have throughout this year’s pandemic – with solutions. In addition to being a resource for household staples and health and wellness products, retailers can provide ready-to-cook, ready-to-prepare and ...

  • Checking In With Walmart on Seafood Sustainability

    Oct 26, 2020
    In honor of October, National Seafood Month, we checked in with one of our members that has been making headlines recently on the sustainable seafood front. Considering their global reach, Walmart has been making strides on sustainable seafood ...

  • Are You Ready for Some Food Ball? The Road to Supper Bowl I

    Oct 20, 2020
    Baseball has its World Series, hockey has the Stanley Cup, tennis has its Wimbledon and football has its Super Bowl. Now the food industry has its Supper Bowl! All of these landmark competitions offer teams the chance to prove they are the best of ...

  • Four Common Misconceptions About Food Prices

    Oct 16, 2020
    A number of misconceptions regarding grocery prices regularly permeate both the news and our water cooler conversations. These are due to a combination of outdated ideas that should have been put to rest long ago and high profile “examples” that are ...

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

    Oct 14, 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 ...

  • Five Fresh Foods Essentials for the COVID-19 Era and Beyond: FreshForward 2020 Recap

    Oct 7, 2020
    Fresh foods are the accelerator for food retail success — but what is the accelerator for fresh foods? That question is at the heart of what the industry explored during the recent FMI FreshForward event. Retailers, manufacturers and other senior-...

  • I Am Running Out of Ideas, Somebody Help!

    Oct 6, 2020
    As I made my way by the deli section, I was forced to follow a different path than normal because of the new one-way signs on the floor. As I explored this new area of the store that I did not know existed, I saw an array of chicken, seafood and ...

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

    Sep 30, 2020
    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 ...

  • A Rollercoaster Ride for The Meat Department in 2020

    Sep 25, 2020
    The past six months has been so “unprecedented” that FMI and NAMI decided to break our trend of annual reports to conduct a The Power of Meat: Midyear 2020 Edition to take a fresh look at what was happening in the meat industry from the shopper’s ...