Category: Thought For Food
Posts Archive
Winning with Big Food: Part 3
“Is Blue Apron a tech startup or a food company?” was the question CNBC writer Todd Haselton set out to answer in his recent article “Every Company Is a Tech Company Now.” Haselton writes that though the company provides perfectly portioned farm-fresh ingredients and modern chef-inspired recipe guides, Blue Apron is also using highly sophisticated […]
Winning with Big Food: Part 2
The battle between Big Food and small food was no more apparent than last month when the Brewers Association (BA) unveiled its Verified Independent Craft Brew seal. The association—whose mission is to promote and protect America’s small and independent craft brewers—makes the seal free to all members. Brewers Association Independent Craft Brew seal The catch: […]
Rethinking a Facts-First Approach
Sanderson Farms isn’t backing down from its antibiotic use in poultry, despite most major players in the poultry industry moving toward “no antibiotics ever”. Faced with mounting customer—and shareholder—criticism, the company released a comprehensive infographic backed by outside professional resources explaining its position. (click to see full graphic) The experts are reputable. The facts are […]
Winning With Big Food: Part 1
‘How can ‘Big Food’ win?’ was a question on everyone’s mind at this year’s Iconosphere conference in Las Vegas. As one of the industry’s leading consumer insights conferences, hosted by Gartner (formerly CEB), food & beverage strategists reiterated arguably the biggest challenge ‘Big Food’ faces in today’s marketplace: small and medium manufacturers are driving half the growth in […]
The Customer Insight Behind Lidl’s Success
German grocery-discount chain, Lidl, recently announced the locations of its 20 six-aisle small-format stores opening this summer. But what struck me most was Lidl’s U.S. CEO’s comment on the new stores: Lidl’s new U.S. small-format store Less complexity. Meaning, fewer choices. At first this sounds counterintuitive to what we know about customers demanding choice and […]
GPO Traction with Independents Changing The ‘Street’ Game
In late April, I attended a summit in Chicago exploring the rise of Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) membership among independent restaurant operators and the statistics surprised many of us in the room: Source: “The Fight for Foodservice ‘Sweet Spot’: GPO Traction with Independents.” Pentallect. April 2017. Nearly 40,000 independent operators belong to a GPO Independents […]