This is the second installment in our “2015 Emerging Food Trend Forecast” series exploring food and beverage mega-trends.
2. Revolution in supermarkets and the rise of Groceraunt
The supermarket industry is going through dramatic change as a result of this consumer design for higher quality foods and food experiences. The center of the traditional grocery store is shrinking while the fresh perimeter is expanding. Some legacy brands and categories like cereal are flat to declining while the kitchens inside supermarkets are going through what best can be described as a culinary renaissance.
Supermarkets are on a path to merge with restaurant offerings, providing chef-inspired menus and products in the hot cases that rival the recipes you’d find in white tablecloth dining. Can grocers become a relevant and successful challenge to specialist caterers? Yes. Can they participate in the growing segment of cooking schools and on-site culinary experiences? Yes. The four-walled pantry model is receding while the rush to high quality food and beverage experiences, many of them fresh, is in full swing.
Emergent predicts success ahead to the movers and shape shifters in this retail category that answer the culinary challenge and reinvent their stores from stockers of boxes, cans and bags to food adventure showcases. While Whole Foods may have invented this at scale and Wegmans continues to astound as the role model of this concept in regional form, the momentum underneath this shift is palpable and pervasive – and will impact anyone left in the middle that still thinks lower price is the defining moment of successful grocery competition.
Look for our next installment: Meet the growing league of culinary commandos
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Bob Wheatley is the CEO of Chicago-based Emergent Healthy Living. Emergent provides integrated brand strategy, communications and insight solutions to national food, beverage, home and lifestyle companies. Emergent’s unique and proprietary transformation and growth focus helps organizations navigate, engage and leverage consumers’ desire for higher quality, healthier product or service experiences that mirror their desire for higher quality lifestyles. For more information, contact [email protected] and follow on Twitter @BobWheatley.