Weekly Food Industry Insights - October 13, 2023
Phil Lempert
Founder & CEO @ SupermarketGuru | Consumer Behavior, Trends, Marketing, Food Industry
The Lempert Report Live broadcasts live on Mondays at 2:30pm ET.? All episodes are also added to our podcast archives.?LISTEN HERE. Follow us on LinkedIn for updates, additional content not found in our newsletter, and discussions with industry professionals.?
INSIGHTS FOR THIS WEEK
THE BULLSEYE
Stouffer's Advent Calendar
Stouffer's the brand now owned by Nestle, started selling's frozen foods in 1953. And for 2023, 70 years later, the brand has announced?its first ever Advent Comfort Calendar?and of course it is filled with frozen foods, 7 of them, including Family Size Macaroni and Cheese; Family Size Lasagna with Meat and Sauce; Stouffer’s Bowl-Fulls Chicken Bacon Ranch Bowl; Stouffer’s Sides Broccoli Cheddar Pasta Bake; Stouffer’s Sides Homestyle Mashed Potatoes; Stouffer’s Pepperoni French Bread Pizza; and Stouffer’s Ultimate Five-Cheese Mac. It's only available on the Shop Stouffer's Website and retails for $39.99. The first drop happened last week on October 2 and sold out. The next drops are scheduled for October 23, November 13 and December 4. There is no mention on the website if shipping is included in the price, guess I'll have to wait till 12 noon on October 23rd to add it to my cart to see.
Ozempic/Wegovy Hurts Walmart
Last week was eye-opening in the food world when John Furner, who's the president and CEO of Walmart US operations, talked about the impact that Ozempic is having on his basket size for his customers. Has this woken up the industry to the fact that we're going to have some severe changes? t is projected that seven percent of the population will be using weight loss drugs by 2035.?
Coca Cola Y3000
Remember when there was New Coke? Well, Coke has come back from that fiasco with some limited editions and their latest limited edition.?Gail Cooper wrote about in Taste of Home,?and it's called Coca-Cola Y3000. She says it's stupendously sweet. Coca-Cola?brags that it's futuristic flavored and was co-created with artificial intelligence. It's the first limited flavor co-created with humans and artificial intelligence and the insights were gathered by both human and AI for this.?I have not tasted this.?Have you tasted this??Let me know!?
Toxic Social Media? - #FoodNotPhones
领英推荐
In the Washington Post, Laura Thornton wrote a very personal column about what happened when toxic social media came for her daughter, who is 13 years old. Reading from her story, "My 13-year-old daughter was disappearing before my eyes. My cheerful, funny, energetic girl had returned from a summer away, a ghost of her previous self sallow skin, sunken eyes, skin and bones under bulky clothes, her mind in a fog." Basically because of social media, there's been an explosion of girls and boys starving themselves and making spaces precious, because the extreme diet culture fueled by social media is the enemy here. What do you think?
Survey Says: 80% Find Costs Too High
A new survey from Deloitte?came out pointing to fresh foods as a key ingredient for grocers growth. However, what was interesting to me about this survey is that 2/3?of consumers are willing to pay a premium for the best fresh food. That's up seven points year over year. On average, these consumers are willing to pay 28% more for fresh food than frozen, canned or processed alternatives. That's the bulk of the study.? But what they found while talking to consumers and to grocery retail executives alike, an?85% combination of the retailers and consumers said that brands were raising prices more than needed for the purpose of increasing profits. Only 10% of the grocers surveyed said their food suppliers were raising prices to keep up with rising costs. So when we look at facts like this, and I have spoken for months about these price increases, consumers are up in arms about price increases and these brands saying that they deserve to have price increases. Their CEOs are making fortunes, their stockholders are making fortunes. But every time you and I go to a supermarket and we get our bill, we're?in shock.
PODCAST: LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET
The Crucial Role of Organic Valley: A Discussion on Sustainable Dairy & the Power of Storytelling
Ever pondered about the vital link in our food chain??Jaclyn Cardin, the Chief Brand Officer at Cropp Cooperative, joins us to unravel the essence of supporting?Organic Valley?- a brand that stands at the core of our food system. In an eye-opening discussion, Jaclyn paints the picture of Organic Valley's cooperative, operated and owned by humble family farmers, playing a crucial role in keeping these farms afloat. She unfolds the campaign "Protecting Where Your Food Choices Come From" and how ethically sourced, organic dairy safeguards over half a million acres of certified organic pasture land. You'll be thrilled to hear about her unique experience of bringing the farm to Rockefeller Center, New York City, showcasing that organic dairy, when done right, can be a sustainable solution for us all. We've all heard of food stories, but, have you ever connected with your food through a farmer's story?? Organic Valley's unique campaign aims to bridge consumers and farmers through the power of storytelling. Jaclyn shares the innovative use of social media platforms and farm tours that create an intimate connection between people and their food. Sparing no efforts, Organic Valley aims to position organic dairy as part of the climate solution and not the climate crisis, and how each one of us plays a role in this. Tune in to discover the profound connection to the source of our food, the survival odds of small family farms, the importance of sustainability and biodiversity, and how your choices as a consumer can shape the future of our food systems.
Thank you to all who joined us for the first National #FoodNotPhones Day!
We hope you will join us for our next challenge, November 23, 2023, Thanksgiving Day! Join us here: https://www.foodnotphones.com
Loneliness is now a public health crisis. Sharing food has always been a way to inspire joy and community across all cultures. We invite you to join us in a new movement,?#FoodNotPhones, by way of pausing from our phones during mealtimes and enjoying fellowship with friends and family on Thanksgiving,?November 23th, 2023. Make the personal commitment by signing up today!