by Art Patch/Special to The Shelby Report As a college student, I had the good fortune to work for a manager who was willing to share with me what it took to run a grocery business. He let me know right away that no question was without merit. But before he began responding to my […]
Category: Guest Contributors
How The American Supermarket Can Best Serve Hispanic And Asian Customers
by Harry Blazer/Food industry consultant and former grocer The Shelby Report asked me to provide some advice to supermarkets regarding how to best serve Asian and Hispanic customers. First of all, there is a distinction to be made between ethnicity and race. Currently, the United States Census Bureau defines six race categories: • White or […]
Demographics Don’t Tell The Whole Story…But Store Managers Do
For years, grocery retailers followed a simple formula to identify their key customer. The target was a woman 19 to 49 years old. Why? Because this group most often was married, had children, were homemakers and did the majority of grocery shopping. Their shopping list was usually made up of recipes for family meals. As […]
Column: Getting A Boost From Nutrition Bars
by Naomi Sleeper Director of Business Development Imperial Distributors As the sun makes an appearance in the summer, so do we…on bike paths, hiking and running trails, waterfronts, sports fields; any outside venue, really. The seasonal upswing in outdoor activities, enhanced by a growing focus on wellness and active lifestyles, means a boost in the […]
Larkin: Taxes, Healthcare, Regulations Top Concern List For 2016
by Peter Larkin/Special to The Shelby Report Despite Republican majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Congress continues to grapple with gridlock. And, heading into an important 2016 presidential election, where Republicans need to defend 24 U.S. Senate seats vs. the 10 seats on the Democrat side, the 2016 elections will […]
The Path To Chapter 11 Can Follow One Of Several Roads
Events leading a business to file for protection under Chapter 11 can take different forms and move at different speeds. The retail food business has recently served up two examples of polar opposites in their trip to Chapter 11. A&P’s trip, by some accounts, began in the 1950s. Haggen, on the other hand, had barely […]
For A Healthy Return, Invest Executive Time In New Hires
If your company does not arrange for a member of senior management to spend time with new hires during basic training you are missing an opportunity. The opportunity to help newly hired employees get a clear understanding of your company’s brand character as well as the financial drivers that make a retail grocery business successful. […]
A Light At The End Of The WIC Moratorium Tunnel?
by Ron Fong, CGA president/CEO For The Shelby Report California continues to suffer under an indefinite moratorium on new WIC vendor authorizations. The issue remains one of the most critical facing California’s retail grocers. The California Grocers Association (CGA) has taken a multi-pronged approach in an attempt to help the California WIC Department and the […]
