A study has found that Giant/Landover is consumers’ favorite grocer, followed closely by ShopRite and then Wal-Mart, according to Market Force Information, the world’s leading customer intelligence solutions company. The panel research study, conducted in March with more than 6,400 participants, also uncovered why consumers prefer one grocer to another, among other insights.
When consumers were asked which grocery store captures the most of their dollars, eight grocers earned more than two percent of the vote, with Wal-Mart, Kroger and Publix Super Markets landing in the top three spots. However, since grocery retailers have thousands of locations and others have a fraction of that, Market Force indexed the results by store count in order to get a more accurate representation of the results. This analysis moved Giant/Landover to the top position, closely followed by ShopRite, and then Wal-Mart, Publix, Costco, Kroger, Aldi and Safeway. This is a shift from 2011 when Kroger and ShopRite held the top two spots. Aldi leads on price while Publix shines in service and surroundings.
Speaking of Giant/Landover, their newest area store in Perry Hall, MD offers a glimpse of the future when shoppers will increasingly rely on technology, demand more organic foods and expect a wide selection of prepared meals.
The unit was purchased from Fresh & Green’s, but had been operated for many years as a Super Fresh before that retailer closed all of its Maryland stores. Giant/Landover has recently been launching new locations, remodeling older supermarkets and acquiring competitors’ closed ones.
Recent reports predicting drought-related impact on food prices and what it means for grocery bills reinforce the ways in which food retailers are meeting the needs of their customers. According to Food Marketing Institute (FMI) research, since the recession in late 2007, 19 million more households have adopted a more economical approach to food-buying and value-seeking shopping habits.
A collaborative study by FMI and its research partner Booz & Company, “2012 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends,” demonstrated how consumers are willing to accept living with less, traveling farther for lower prices, and noting that price, assortment and convenience are the most important factors affecting how they choose where to shop. The U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends data found that 42 percent of consumers have always been frugal, with an additional 32 percent adopting this behavior during the recession.
Baltimoreis expanding a program for people in areas with limited access to healthy foods, enabling them to order groceries on the Internet and pick up their purchases at a designated place in their neighborhood. The two-year-old Virtual Supermarket Program, which operates from three Enoch Pratt Library branches, will now be offered at some senior centers and residences for the disabled.
The Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) is responding to the growing hunger crisis facing theWashingtonmetro area by moving to a larger, newly-constructed food distribution center inNortheast DCthat will enable it to double its food storage and distribution capacity over time and foster healthy eating.
The new $37 million food distribution center, which is fully paid for, is located at 4900 Puerto Rico Avenue, NE near the food bank’s former location on Taylor Street, NE.
Lynn Brantley, CAFB’s president and CEO, said, “Despite the fact that we are distributing 33 million pounds of food annually – half of which is fresh produce – we were no longer able to meet the growing demand, because we outgrew our former warehouse. Poverty is on the rise in our region and nationally.”
Due to the uncertain economy and the dire situation it has created, CAFB embarked on a capital campaign five years ago under the leadership of co-chairs Donald E. Graham, J.W. Marriott Jr., the late Abe Pollin and Bennett Zier. Hilary Salmon, the food bank’s director of special projects, played a leading role in the capital campaign and transition into the new facility.
The campaign concluded with a capstone grant of $5 million from Mr. and Mrs. William E. Conway Jr. through their charitable trust, The Bedford Falls Foundation. Christel Hair, the food bank’s chief development officer, said, “The food bank will use $500,000 from that grant to match future donations for nutritious food that will stock the new distribution center.”
CAFB, a member of Feeding America, was founded on January 15, 1980 on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and takes a comprehensive approach to addressing hunger by increasing access to nutritious food, initiating change through skill-building and advocacy and creating sustainability with outreach and training for those at risk of hunger. CAFB is theWashington metro area’s largest nonprofit food and nutrition education resource. To learn more about the new food distribution center, go to http://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/
Every two years, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) hosts the largest convergence of food retailers, wholesalers and their partners for both education and networking opportunities across the retail industry. For years – 24 to be exact – that show was held inChicago. It was recently announced that FMI 2014 will return toChicagoand theMcCormickCenteron June 10-13, 2014.
FMI president and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin said, “Chicago already supports an inherent food culture and it’s home to 19 of our FMI retailers. I’m anxious to help bridge our return to Chicago, as FMI featured its convention 24 times – from the early 1980s to 2007.” For more information on the 2014 convention, visit www.FMI2012.com.
The Whole Foods Market at 2700 Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon,VA is building a new “beer room” overlooking the store. The “Arlington Pub” will be located on the second floor of the store and will offer local draft beers, wines by the glass, bottled craft beers, growlers and an organic coffee bar in a “pub style atmosphere.” The pub will also offer “tasty nibbles” for patrons. All beers will come from a 200-mile radius.
Whole Foods is planning a grand opening celebration for the pub on September 20. The event, which is open to the public, will feature raffles, beer mug giveaways, beer and food tastings, and meet and greets with brewery representatives.
“Pull up a stool, fill up a mug and join Whole Foods Market Arlington in celebrating the official opening of Arlington Pub,” the store said in an invitation to the event.
Progressive Grocer, a supermarket industry publication, has named Matthews, NC-based Harris Teeter as its 2012 Retailer of the Year. In announcing its 2012 Retailer of the Year recipient, editorial director Meg Major (a former editor of Food Trade News) praised Harris Teeter’s “customer-focused culture, which has been at the forefront of the company’s exemplary performance through the years.”
Maryland-based McCormick & Company, a global leader in flavorings, recently announced that it had signed an agreement to purchase 100 percent of the assets of Wuhan Asia-Pacific Condiments Co., Ltd. (WAPC), a privately held company based in China. The completion of the agreement is expected to occur in mid-2013 subject to regulatory approval.
Alan Wilson, chairman, president and CEO of McCormick, stated, “McCormick first enteredChina more than 20 years ago to provide a local source of supply to industrial customers. From this foundation we launched the McCormick brand of flavor products for consumers. Today, McCormick is one of the leading brands of spices and seasonings, with particularly strong category share in the coastal regions. Across both our consumer and industrial business, we operate profitably inChina and have grown sales at a 16 percent compound rate for the past five years.
“The addition of WAPC extends our broad range of flavors inChinawith bouillon. In WAPC’s top markets, more than half of consumers use chicken bouillon each day at every meal to enhance the flavor of their food.”
Empowerment expert and educator Dr. Bertice Berry, author of the best-selling memoir The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory and Redemption, will encourage members to “Profit from Your Life Experiences” at the Network of Executive (NEW) Leadership Summit 2012, October 22-23 inDallas.
Dr.Berrywill offer insights on becoming your best self and helping others to do the same by reviewing past experiences. The mother of five, former talk show host and award-winning comedian will provide tools for personal and professional growth.
Two other keynote speakers will be featured at the leadership summit. Julie Gilbert Newrai – former vice president of Best Buy and CEO of WOLF, a consulting firm specializing in brand building and cultural transformation – will blend real-life business stories, data and an action agenda in her keynote presentation “The Future of Women and Retail.” In a closing keynote address, high-performance motivator Yvonne Camus will offer her insights on “Leading a High-Performance Life.” Nine hundred industry leaders and emerging leaders are expected to attend.
The two-day program includes three tracks of concurrent educational sessions for emerging leaders, mid-level leaders and senior executives. The sessions will feature: Becky Shambaugh, president and CEO of Shambaugh Leadership; CNN personality Nadia Bitchily, president of Greater Impact Communications; Simon T. Bailey, founder of Brilliance Institute; renowned leadership guru Cy Wakeman, president of Cy Wakeman Inc.; economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation; and Madelyn Yucht, principal consultant for Linkage.
Also during the NEW Leadership Summit, an executive round table of industry leaders will offer their thoughts on the power of women in tomorrow’s consumer products/retail industry. Panelists include: Irene Chang Britt, president of Pepperidge Farm; Tom Falk, president of Kimberly-Clark Corporation; Susan Chambers, chief people officer for Wal-Mart; and Bhavdeep Singh, executive vice president of operations for Ahold USA.
For more information go to www.newonline.org.
On a personal note, congratulations to Kathy’s and my daughter, Cyndi Ireland, Coca-Cola Refreshments, who successfully completed her second Iron Girl Triathlon which was held in Columbia, MD last month.
We extend our sympathy to Joan Dobbin and her family on the death of her husband, Alvin Dobbin, former chief operating officer and executive vice president of Giant Food. Al was a long time supporter and friend of Food World. He will be missed.
It saddens us to report the death of two of the finest “old line food brokers” we have ever known, Paul “The Golden Greek” Stamatos and Freeman Chase, bothNew England based food brokers who ran extremely successful companies in that market.
Anniversary wishes go out to: Ron and Terri Fish, Reading Consumer Products, their 50th ; Super Rite’s retiree Matt and Mary Toback, their 62nd; Metromedia’s David and Harriet Finkelstein, their 54th; the world renowned marketing consultant Mike and Linda Wilson; Safeway’s Greg and Carolyn TenEyck, their 28th; the food industry’s roving ambassador, Pat and Lee McCarthy, their 46th; and my son and daughter-in-law, Rick and Stephanie Bestany, their 12th.
Happy Birthday wishes are sent to my wife, Kathy, and grandson, Samuel James Bestany, his 8th, to Children’s Cancer Foundation’s Shirley Howard, her 83rd; and to John Griffin, founder, president and chairman of The Griffin Report of New England, his 81st.