FMI’s Future Connect did what a valuable conference should do—make you think about your work, and your life, in new ways.
Category: Shelby Content
Exclusive, in-depth stories from the Shelby team. Explore Food Industry features, market profiles, and unique perspectives from industry leaders.
Posted in, Ellerbee Buzz, National
Future Connect Hit All the Right Notes
Future Connect is all about leadership. The best and the brightest of the food industry get to attend because the people back home believe in their potential. FMI and the sponsors of the event brought some of the most inspiring speakers of our time to teach these future leaders.
Posted in, National, The Independent Perspective
Are You Prepared?
The month of June marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season, and forecasters are predicting a busy season, but hurricanes are only one of many events that can impact retail and wholesale operations. As we’ve seen earlier this year disaster can strike at any given moment. The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan literally […]
Posted in, California Perspective, Guest Contributors, West
Help Us, Mr. Attorney General — Our Industry Is on the Ropes
CGA President Ronald Fong continues his series of open letters to our newly elected state constitutional officers. This issue’s letter is addressed to California Attorney General Kamal D. Harris. Dear Attorney General Harris, California is the nation’s leader in many things and most of them are admirable. But our state’s increasingly anti-grocery regulatory and litigation […]
Posted in, Another Side, Southeast
Homeless Man Stays Afloat With His Trusty Canine
No city in America has a monopoly on the homeless, but Seattle has one of the most unique. Although his name and “address” were identified in the local newspaper, we will call him Thirteen Moons and his dog Waverley, for his dog is indeed his best friend. A wolf and husky mix, the canine doesn’t […]
Posted in, Feature, National
EST: Alignmed Posturing to Straighten Up the Workforce
by Katie B. Davis/staff writer For years Bill Schultz had pain in his lower back, at times debilitating. At the age of 45, roughly five years ago, he scheduled a procedure to have his lumbar disc fused in hopes it would at best take away, at least minimize, his pain. Schultz, however, has yet to […]
Posted in, From the Editor, Southeast
Chain’s Outreach to Core Customers Pays Off
It is a marketing truth that it requires a higher level of investment, as well as more effort, to attract a new customer than to keep one you already have. A direct marketing test run by South Carolina’s BI-LO supermarket chain earlier this year again proves that investing money to engage, excite and show you […]
Posted in, Ellerbee Buzz, National
Package Changes Prove Challenging for Some
She wrote that her mother got so frustrated with the cap that she finally resorted to just unscrewing the whole darn thing. That was my daughter commenting on my frustration with Coffeemate via the Web. The cap does frustrate me. It either won’t open like it is supposed to or it won’t shut right. And […]
Posted in, From My Point of View, National
Governments Need to Leave ‘Like to Haves’ in the Dust
I had an article in mind for this month, but when I read my friend’s article on “The Collapsing of Our ‘Holographic’ Government,” I thought it may be as enlightening to you as it was to me. The author, Frank Norton Jr., a real estate executive here in Gainesville, Ga., has given me permission to […]
Posted in, Another Side, National
FMI’s Future Connect a Sound Investment in Your Company’s Future
It’s time to reconnect with the future. Sounds like yet another sequel to Michael J. Fox’s classic movie “Back to the Future,” but we’re actually talking about FMI’s Future Connect, chapter two. Despite being bugged by the flu, the inaugural edition (2009) of the alternating-year conference was a success. You might recall that, scheduled for […]
Posted in, California Perspective, West
An Open Letter to Gov. Brown from the State’s Grocery Community
With California facing the challenge of a fiscal crisis larger than any in recent memory, state legislators, officials and the governor will have to make tough decisions to eliminate a near-$26 billion shortfall in the state budget. California’s grocery industry will be part of this process, but shouldn’t shoulder an unfair portion of the solution. […]
Posted in, Beverage News, Feature, National
Consumers Want to Indulge, But Keep Health in Mind, Too
By Ashley Bates/staff writer Bubbly, fruity and refreshing soft drinks and other beverages have seen hard times in recent years, but many in the beverage industry may call 2011 the year of the beverage. Rebounding nicely this year are sports drinks, bottled waters and water beverages; soft drinks and diet soft drinks are as strong […]
Posted in, Feature, National
Consumers seeking new varieties and flavors in candy, and manufacturers are providing it
M&M’S® Pretzel Chocolate Candies were named the 2011 Product of the Year in the candy and snacks category by Product of the Year USA. “This award is especially gratifying because it was decided by consumers,” Debra A. Sandler, CCO of MMMars Chocolate North America, said in a press release. “We felt confident that the delicious […]
Posted in, National, The Independent Perspective
Obamacare: One Year Later
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]arch 23 will mark the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), often referred to as “Obamacare.” In January 2011 the House of Representatives successfully passed H.R. 2 (245-189), which would repeal PPACA. However, the legislation is largely symbolic and has no chance for consideration in the Senate. […]
Posted in, Another Side, National
Another Side: 4+1=48
Numbers which don’t add up? They do if you are using Shelby math. While some periodicals have been subtracting, we have been adding. Since the first Southeast issue (1967) to the Southwest (1976), we have added The Shelby Report of the West (2008), The Shelby Report of the Midwest (2009), and now The Shelby Report […]
Posted in, From My Point of View, National
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
We are on a path that our government says will leave us $1,500,000,000,000 (one trillion, five hundred billion dollars) in debt for the fiscal year 2011. And in the same breath, our government tells us they need 193,000 new employees (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Government Needs to Add 193,000 New Hires,” Jan. 16, 2011). Just the […]
Posted in, Ellerbee Buzz, Shelby Content, Southeast
Grocers Overcome Challenges Severe Weather Brings
Even the mighty fell—sorta. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. managed to open its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., on Feb. 9, but employees did not have to report if they couldn’t safely travel to work. A foot of snow had fallen on Northwest Arkansas. Some parts of Oklahoma saw two feet of snow. In the northeast corner of […]
Posted in, National, The Independent Perspective
The 112th Congress Takes Office
Now is the time to build relationships and educate new members. A number of important and encouraging pieces of legislation passed at the end of 2011 that will have positive implications for independent retailers and wholesalers: the favorable extension of the estate tax at a top rate of 35 percent with a $5 million exemption, […]
Posted in, From the Editor, Shelby Content, Southeast
Tell Me—Do You Welcome Extreme Couponers?
I’ve wanted to ask a question of our retailer readers for some time now, and for reasons I will explain in a moment, I am posing it now: Do you have major coupon users that shop your store, and if so, do you welcome them or wish they would shop somewhere else? I would love […]