by Ron Fong/president and CEO, California Grocers Association Success in government relations often is rooted in the connections developed with legislators over the years. While politics, and lobbying specifically, is by its nature an adversarial pursuit, good government relations separate the conflict from the person you conflict with. Legislation comes and goes, but legislators stay […]
Category: Shelby Signature Content
Indiana Now Has Sunday Sales, Which Is…Great?
by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Midwest Anyone who wanted to grab a cold beer on Sunday in Indiana was out of luck until March of this year. That is when a state law took effect allowing Sunday alcohol sales. Now a customer can get a cold one on Sunday, but only from a liquor store. Grocery, drug and […]
Consumers’ Expectations In Dairy Products Changing
The list is long of what consumers are demanding from their dairy product favorites, including qualities like sugar reduction, value-added ingredients, portability and clean labels. The themes play out across dairy’s four leading categories: cultured products, cheese, milk and ice cream. According to the National Dairy Council (NDC), nutrition experts agree that it is best […]
Lovera’s In Krebs, Oklahoma, Makes Award-Winning ‘Approachable’ Cheese
by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Southwest Caciocavera is the signature cheese of Lovera’s Handcrafted Foods in Krebs, Oklahoma. The name is a play on the Italian caciocavallo (literally “horse cheese”). It keeps with a tradition born in Southern Italy some 500 years before Christ walked the earth. Cheeses were tied one to the other and transported to market […]
Mars Wrigley’s Front-End Plan Can Bring ‘Instant’ Double‑Digit Growth
by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Midwest & Southwest As food retailers know very well, the majority of consumers no longer eat three sit-down meals every day. They are snacking instead. It is no surprise, then, that the fastest-growing category in the check lane is snacks. Yet snacks only get about 8 percent of the space there, Rimsha Baig, […]
Flexibility Has Kept Alabama Grocer Thriving For 50 Years
Gene Lawrence began his grocery career on a bicycle. Back in the early 1960s, he delivered groceries to people’s homes when he worked for an independent grocer in Montgomery, Alabama. About 1964, he went to work for Hudson-Thompson wholesale grocers there in Montgomery. He worked in produce, stocking and checking, and they trained him in […]
Meet Gen Z: Snacking Is Convenient, Efficient And Preferred By Younger Consumers
by Claire Lentsch/a contributor to The Shelby Report Editor’s note: Shelby Midwest Editor Terrie Ellerbee met Claire Lentsch at the 2017 Supervalu National Expo in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lentsch was invited to share her perspective as a member of Generation Z (born since the mid-1990s) and a consumer. Snacking is replacing family meals. A lack […]
IGA Is ‘Upbranding’ Before Switch To Digital-First Marketing
Shoppers will always want three things from their local grocery store: value, convenience and selection. Those have been the top three attributes shoppers have sought out for many decades. What has changed over time are the qualities that come next, said IGA President and CEO John Ross. “You start asking them ‘what would make a […]
