Lipari Foods marked its largest-ever trade show March 25 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan, welcoming 11,000 retailers under the theme “Passport to Flavor” as the company unveiled a comprehensive rebrand centered on global foods.
The event featured about 750 booths with 13,000 items on display, 1,300 of which were new to Lipari’s lineup, according to Nick Lenzi, SVP of marketing.
The scale of the show reflected a company in deliberate motion. Lipari Foods recently conducted a comprehensive master brand refresh rooted in research into where consumers are headed. 
Stuart Schuette, president and CEO, said the company’s new direction grew directly out of that research.
“Over the course of the last 12 to 18 months, we did a lot of research about where consumers are headed, with the goal of figuring out what would be best for our customers and how we could best position the business to support our customers,” Schuette said.
“In that, we landed on the branding of our company about what’s next in global flavor, because the world is exploding with all these new opportunities and new products that exist in the global community and different ethnic groups.”
That positioning is now embedded across Lipari’s product offering, marketing materials and company taglines.
“Everything that we stand for is, how do we help our customers in this new global world and global products,” Schuette said.
Tony Franchi, SVP of sales, said the street-level response has been enthusiastic.
“What I’ve been involved with in our team, and the feedback coming back from our street sales team is that when they rebranded our brand and our labels and logos, they respected our history, what got us here,” Franchi said.
“Customers are seeing that and they respect what we’ve done and where we’re going – yesterday, today and tomorrow. It’s been fantastic for us, and it’s been received very well on the street.”
Jimmy Lipari, SVP of category management and a third-generation member of the founding family, oversees all vendor and supplier relationships and product assortment.
“The show is the transformation of our overall strategy we’re putting together,” he said. “Obviously, we want to be the global food leaders, discovering global foods. A lot of the work that’s been going on for the past year or so is on display today.”
That work also spans five core Lipari Foods Own Brands: Amish Wedding/Preserved Harvest, Sabrina’s Baked Goods, Backroads Country confections, Troyer premium deli meats and Sahtein in Middle Eastern/Mediterranean foods, which all received a refresh.
“We feel very good about the new label, the new look,” Lipari said. “We think it’s going to generate more sales. It’s taking those brands from a distributor brand, how it’s been managed in past years, and really turned that into a true consumer, national brand.”
Retail support services in high demand
Alongside the brand refresh, Lipari Foods has been expanding its retail support services – a suite of offerings designed to help independents align their assortment with the shoppers in their trade area.
“When we did a lot of research with our customers, we discovered the needs that they have for different services from our company as a partner,” Schuette said.
“In our retail support services, we’ll actually go in and help customers examine the marketplace around their stores, the demographics of the people that are there by zip code and the like, and we start helping to map product assortment into that store that matches the community that they’re serving.”
The services also include planograms, pricing support and digital assistance. Demand has outpaced capacity.
“The retail support services … is over-subscribed,” Schuette said. “We’ve had to add additional resources into it to keep up with the demand that’s coming for it.”
Customer reaction to both the brand refresh and the services expansion has been positive, he said.
“Our customers’ feedback is they love the new branding. They love the new identity. They really like the direction that we’re going because they see it as an opportunity for their own businesses,” Schuette said.
Data behind the direction
Lenzi, who has 47 years of industry experience, said recent growth in retail grocery has been driven by global cuisines.
He pointed to SPINS data showing globally positioned brands captured 82 percent of all growth in food and beverage over the past 52 weeks. SPINS defines global brands as those dedicated to a particular cuisine type – either imported and culturally relevant, or domestic brands inspired by heritage or cuisine. 
Two cuisines show particular momentum, Lenzi noted in an article on the Lipari Foods website. In Hispanic and South American foods, Mexico-origin products represent a nearly $11.9 billion category growing nearly 5 percent year over year, while the broader Hispanic/South American general segment has reached $4.1 billion with growth above 8.5 percent.
In Middle Eastern and Mediterranean foods, the general segment has climbed to $870 million with growth above 6.6 percent, and Greek-positioned products represent a $785 million segment growing nearly 11 percent year over year.
He added that building a credible global destination requires perishables alongside shelf-stable product – refrigerated and frozen items such as dairy, dips, cheeses, prepared foods and breads – to complete the shopping trip and drive repeat visits.
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