The Supermarket of the Future Is... (Hold for Dramatic Pause) NOW!

Over the past few years we have seen modest changes in the bricks-and-mortar side of supermarkets in spite of supermarkets losing 1.6% of dollar sales (and the customers who represent that percentage) to other channels of distribution including drug chains, c-stores, non-traditional outlets and farmers’ markets. Shouldn't this loss be a wake-up call that things as they are need to change?

The only subset of supermarkets that is growing is the fresh format, up 1 percentage point, and those food retailers who have focused on fresh (e.g., Whole Foods, Earth Fare, Fresh Market, Sprouts) are adding locations (estimates are an additional 320 stores by 2017) and excitement to the shopping experience.

According to Nielsen, fresh foods account for 30% of consumer expenditures on food, grocery and personal care here in the U.S. We should expect in 2014 to see dramatic differences take place as major chains include, and build on, many of the attributes of this fresh format.

Look for traditional supermarkets to wake up and rival farmers’ markets … and begin a new way of selling produce and other foods.

I would suggest that it is time that food retailers stop merchandising categories together. Learning from “upgrades” like Greek yogurt, European butters, fine wines and even the new controversial Starbucks $7 a cup experience, expect to find, for example, heirloom tomatoes, corn and melons (which traditionally sell for 50%-200% more than their commodity counterparts) to be merchandised in separate high-end display cases that are temperature controlled with the produce more carefully handled and displayed.

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Supermarkets need to once again become the center of their communities by offering such services as “community cooking centers” where shoppers can collaborate and learn from each other, rather than the old school model of instructor teaching students. It is time for supermarkets to look around us and take the lead from what has already occurred in food recipe social media, and to create a “connected culture” for and with their shoppers. These community cooking centers will also add excitement in-store with their aromas, visual appeal, participant interaction and sounds … and of course let’s push the envelope a bit and include sampling the prepared dishes for those shoppers who pass by in order to reach out and include them as well.

A few years ago “meal assembly locations” were one of the hottest fads of the moment but consumers tired of that experience quickly. More recently we are seeing “meal kits” being promoted and sold online and delivered to your door. Everything you need to prepare six to eight meals for about $10 a meal for two. While a few supermarkets around the country have developed similar programs (Publix in particular), why shouldn’t every supermarket offer this convenience?

The 2013 NGA SupermarketGuru Consumer Panel Survey revealed that almost half of shoppers are cooking more at home and roughly the same amount do not feel “confident” or “in control” with their cooking skills. What an opportunity for supermarkets to build a stronger relationship by offering the cooking solution; 75% of the survey respondents said they wanted better cooking skills

Article Brought to you by SuperMarketNews.com

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Cricket protein bars soon to be jumping onto U.S. shelves

A Brooklyn Duo May Have Finally Figured Out How To Get Americans To Start Eating Insects

Exo, a Brooklyn-based company, is building a new kind of protein bar with a cricket-y twist.
In addition to natural ingredients like raw cacao, dates, almond butter, and coconut, the nutrient-dense snack bars each contain 6% of cricket flour, made from about 25 ground-up crickets, according to Exo founders Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz.
Inspired by a United Nations report that said eating insects can reduce world hunger, Lewis and Sewitz began experimenting with the bar last fall, during their senior year at Brown University.
The bars are quickly gaining buzz since Exo was posted to crowd-funding site Kickstarter on July 29 with the goal of raising $20,000 by August 28 so the product can be delivered to backers by October 13. So far, things are going well: Exo has pulled in more than $7,000 with 28 days to go.
A $25 pledge will buy you six cricket-filled bars, which seems kind of expensive in the realm of energy and nutrition bars. Lewis expects the bars to sell for $2.60 once they make their way into supermarkets, gyms, and other specialty stores.
Eighty percent of the world already eats insects. Western countries have long been the exception. And while creepy-crawlies are still far off from regularly being served to American and European diners, the recent graduates hope to make at least a few bug-eating converts with their super-healthy snack.

There is a wide net of edible insects, including beetles, wasps, caterpillars, grasshoppers, worms, and cicadas, but the large network of cricket farms within the United States (house crickets are typically sold for pet food or fish bait) made the little chirpers a practical ingredient choice.
Crickets also seemed like an easier sell than some of the larger, but more protein-rich bugs, like the dung beetle, explained Lewis.
As far as bugs go, crickets are not only high in protein, they are also a rich source of iron, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids. Crickets are good for the environment, too. When compared to other protein-rich foods, like cows or chicken, insects use less water and produce less greenhouse gases than livestock.
Currently, the duo is making the cricket flour themselves in a space they rent in a commercial kitchen. The house crickets are trucked to Brooklyn from a cricket farm located on the east coast. The lively insects are immediately frozen, which keep them fresh, and then slowly roasted before they are crushed into a powder. "It's 100% cricket," says Lewis.

The cricket flour replaces the soy protein that you would find in most energy bars. And while the unusual ingredient doesn't taste bad on its own — it has a neutral, slight nutty flavor — the founders recruited Kyle Connaughton, the former head of research and development for Michelin-starred Fat Duck Restaurant in England, to ensure the flavor of their bar is top-notch.
The bars have been "described as tasting like a healthy brownie or having a rocky-road flavor," said Sewitz.
Exo's founders understand the psychological barrier. They are hoping a nutritionally-superior product that is also yummier compared to other bars on the market will quell some of the natural hesitancy.
In addition to the revolutionary use of protein, "the taste is better than most or all protein bars," said Lewis.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/cricket-protein-bars-made-by-exo-2013-7#ixzz2ccZxEqYp

Article written by Dina Spector