Consumer Reports published its annual ranking of the country’s supermarkets, based on a survey of more than 60,000 shoppers, concluding that Wegmans is the best store in the U.S. The balance of the top 20 list includes, in order, Publix, Trader Joe’s, Fareway Stores, Market Basket, Costco, Raley’s, Sprouts, The Fresh Market, Stater Bros., WinCo, Hy-Vee, HEB, Aldi, Whole Foods, Fry’s, Harris-Teeter, King Soopers, Fred Meyer AND Food City.
The four chains at the bottom of the list: Pathmark (owned by A&P), A&P, Wal-MartSuperCenters, and Waldbaums (owned by A&P).
The story goes on to say that freshness and prepared meats usually are seen by shoppers as being the differentiating offerings that define a good store vs. a bad store.
Utz Quality Foods recently announced the culmination of strategic development work to launch the Utz Specialty Division. In recognizing the ever-growing consumer demand for snack foods, the Utz Specialty Division will provide retailers with a range of brands and products to excite consumers around better-for-you, craft and regional snack foods.
Drawing on the December 2013 acquisition of the Good Health brand, Utz has spent the last year expanding the portfolio of better-for-you snacks, packaging enhancements and broadening the brand’s distribution base, reaching across the U.S. and export. According to the IRI’s most recent 52 and 12 week dollar sales, the Good Health brand is up 45 percent and 120 percent, respectively (Source: IRI MULO, Dollar Sales 52/12 wks ending 3/22/15) and the brand is well positioned to accelerate further.
According to Dylan Lissette, president and CEO of Utz, “….as the fourth largest snack brand in the United States, with vertical integration of brand ownership, manufacturing, sales, and distribution, we are uniquely situated to work with all classes of trade to develop products and sales programs to meet the consumer’s ever-changing needs.”
Utz has also recently appointed Rick Suchenski to the role of senior vice president of sales and marketing to lead the launch and management of the new division.
“Consumers continue to demand a wide range of snack food offerings for varying occasions. Coupled with this demand and a range of existing and new capabilities, the Utz Specialty Division is uniquely positioned to provide retailers with solutions to capitalize on snack food trends and generate increased sales. And with facilities located in San Diego, CA, Denver, CO, Greensboro, NC, Hanover, PA and more, the Utz Specialty team is nationally situated and highly accessible to the market,” said Suchenski.
Also, as part of a comprehensive plan to further support the Utz Specialty Division’s growing technical capabilities, capacity requirements, and distribution reach, Utz has recently acquired Condor Snack Company of Denver, CO and Keystone Pretzel Bakery of Lititz, PA.
As many of our readers know, Utz Quality Foods Inc. is a privately-owned and family managed company founded in 1921 and based in Hanover, PA. The company manufactures and markets snack foods throughout the United States and internationally. Utz has seven manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania and additional facilities in Louisiana, California, Colorado and Massachusetts. Utz products are distributed nationally through grocery, mass merchants, club stores, convenience stores, drug stores and other channels under the Utz, Zapp’s, “Dirty,” Good Health, Bachman, Wachusett and California Chips brand names. For information about Utz or its products, you can visit www.utzsnacks.com or call 1-800-FOR-SNAX.
On a personal note, we are pleased to write about the success of Utz. When Jeff Metzger and I bought Food World in1978, the Utz family was one of the first companies to welcome us with open arms to the Mid-Atlantic. And, they have also supported us with trade advertising continuously ever since.
There was an interesting story in the April issue of The Packer which reports that, according to some new research, for consumers, fresh is the overwhelming first choice among food attributes. FoodThink, a research initiative conducted by Sullivan Hidgon & Sink, published a white paper titled, “Our Plight to Eat Right.”
According to the paper, food marketers also should emphasize taste and convenience to capture more healthy food sales.
Eighty percent of consumers rank fresh as “very” or “somewhat” important when making food purchasing decisions, according to the study. That compares with the next leading attributes ranking as very/somewhat important, including high vitamins and minerals (64 percent), natural flavors (63 percent), no trans fat (63 percent), lean (63 percent), natural (58 percent), no additives (58 percent) no GMOs (48 percent) and organic (36 percent).
But the survey of 2,000 adults conducted in 2014 found only 44 percent of consumers polled were committed to a healthy diet, down from 61 percent in 2012. Among men, 43 percent said they were committed to a healthy diet, down from 58 percent in 2012. For women, 44 percent were committed to a healthy diet, down from 63 percent two years ago.
And consumers have less guilt about eating unhealthy food compared with 2012. In 2014, 48 percent of consumers said they feel guilty when they don’t eat healthy, down from 61 percent in 2012.
“Most Americans know that eating healthy is important, and they try to do so, but too many roadblocks throw them off track,” Christy Niebaum, senior FoodThink researcher, said in a news release about the study. “Food marketers that help consumers realize a healthy diet is attainable at their own pace and can be affordable will gain their appreciation.”
The paper said than men tend to “splurge” on unhealthy foods when they are happy, while women tend to splurge when they experience negative emotions.
The research also showed that 54 percent of consumers appreciate when food companies, restaurants or grocery stores try to help them make healthier food choices, while 44 percent of consumers say they will pay more for products they consider to be healthy.
More than a third of consumers use food packaging to find health-related information, followed by TV shows (28 percent), websites (28 percent) and the family doctor (28 percent), according to the study.
Weis Markets, Sunbury, PA, has brought on local florist Michael Brody as corporate lead floral designer. He is charged with overseeing and developing Weis’ full service floral design and arrangement business.
In other Weis news, the retailer announced that it will continue it support for the 2015 Great American Cleanup of PA. The retailer has renewed its partnership with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful and donated refreshments for registered participants of the Great American Cleanup of PA in select areas across the state.
“Weis Markets is pleased to partner with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful again this year,” said Patti Olenick, Weis Markets’ sustainability manager. “It is part of our corporate commitment to sustainability, being good stewards of the environment and giving back to the communities we serve. We’ve been serving Pennsylvania communities for more than 100 years and we are excited to be part of the Great American Cleanup of PA.”
Since the inception of this event in 2004, more than 1,565,950 million volunteers have picked up more than 80 million pounds of litter and waste, and more than 202,350 tires from Pennsylvania’s landscape. In addition, more than 136,300 trees, shrubs, bulb and flowers have been planted.
Memorial Day is a few weeks away. After a brutal and challenging winter season, we welcome the start of the summer season. Have a great holiday weekend.