From The Spring 2004 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

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Just Say ‘O-moo-ga 3’
Researchers in the United Kingdom recently found that organic milk is higher in nutrients than its conventional counterpart. Organic milk has two-thirds more omega-3 fatty acids, according to an analysis at the Institute of Grasslands and Environmental Research at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Richard Dewhurst, lead researcher on the study, said the results might be due to clover in the diets of organically raised cows. Organic dairy farmers often plant clover to replace nitrogen depleted from the soil, as an alternative to chemical fertilizers. Cows fed clover have previously been shown to have as much as 240 percent more omega-3s in their milk than cows fed grass and concentrates.

—L.B.

Strike May Benefit Super-Naturals
Wild Oats and Whole Foods may be the biggest beneficiaries of the long Southern California supermarket strike, retaining 35 percent of their new customers, one Wall Street analyst said.

A survey of Southern California store managers suggested that many shoppers took less than a month to fall back into their old shopping patterns at Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons, said Gregory Badishkanian, who follows the natural products industry for Citigroup Smith Barney. More than two-thirds of lost business had returned to Albertsons and Safeway’s Vons and Pavilions stores by the end of March, while Kroger’s Ralphs stores were “about back to normal.”

Aggressive price promotion helped lure shoppers back to the supermarkets, but “We think [Whole Foods, Wild Oats and Costco] are better positioned to retain business given the differentiated formats compared to smaller, independent grocers or convenience stores,” Badishkanian wrote in a March 31 research note.

—L.E.

Lunds and Byerly’s Awarded Organic Certificatio
n With the passing in 2002 of the National Organic Program, retailers were permitted to apply for organic certification for their store departments. Meeting the requirements for organic certification can be difficult and time-consuming for retailers. But the rewards for doing so can be great, in terms of increasing customers’ confidence in the integrity of a store’s organic products.

Lunds and Byerly’s, a pair of supermarket chains with common ownership based in Minnesota, were recently awarded organic certification for their produce departments in all 20 of their stores by third-party certifier Quality Assurance International. “We believe that organic certification assures consumers that we are maintaining the integrity of the organic farmers’ hard work,” says Bea James, whole health manager at Lunds and Byerly’s.

In order to qualify for certification, Lunds and Byerly’s spent two years instituting sweeping changes at all of their stores. One of the most important of these changes was to separate organic and conventional produce at the produce distribution center, as well as in trucks, pallets, coolers, stores, back rooms and on the sales floor. The chain also had to make its produce department more environmentally friendly through practices such as using natural cleaning products and implementing a restricted pest-management program. Lunds and Byerly’s also decided to include a minimum of 100 different produce items in each store. “This could include four different varieties of organic apples, etc. The goal is to have diversity and variety in all the organic selections,” James says, making the rigorous certification process well worth the effort.

James says one of the most practical challenges of the process was training all of the produce staff in the new procedures. “We had to train our Spanish-speaking staff members as well, so we had to make manuals available in both English and Spanish,” James says. “It’s also been challenging to ensure that our stores have enough organic produce available year-round to support minimum requirements.”

But Bea says that all of the hard work has been well worth it. “Unless you’re certified, there is no guarantee that a customer’s organic purchase is being handled without possible contamination and commingling,” James says. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

—Lynn Ginsburg

All Things Organic Joins FMI in Chicago
For the first time, the Food Marketing Institute’s FMI Show will feature the Organic Trade Association’s All Things Organic trade show. The event, to take place May 1-4 in Chicago, will also include the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association’s United Produce Expo & Conference, FMI’s Supermarket Pharmacy Conference, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture’s U.S. Food Export Showcase, and the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s Fancy Food Show. Katherine DiMatteo, OTA’s executive director, believes the new arrangement will pay off for both attendees and exhibitors. “When we chose to do the colocation it was a mutual benefit for all the partners … because we each felt we had crossover audiences,” she says. “There are so many trade shows that they often split people’s attention, but by coming to the same place we can each bring a new audience to our existing shows.”

This year’s ATO show will feature three keynote speakers, 33 conference sessions and more than 450 exhibit booths. According to DiMatteo, ATO’s Tuesday offerings will include the Wear Organic fashion show, sponsored by Nike, in a day dedicated to textiles and organic fiber.

The FMI Show special exhibits include an Electronic Product Code Showcase and the new Healthy Living Pavilion. The second annual New Product Showcase will include the new Retailer Choice Awards, and the educational program will feature more than 40 sessions under the theme Solutions for Growth. Learning Labs, intensive three-hour presentations including topics such as ethnic merchandising and growing sales through superior customer service, require preregistration. Forms are available at the FMI Web site, www.fmi.org.

—B.E.

Healthy Food’s a Basket Booster
Does your store attract health-conscious shoppers? A recent study from the Food Marketing Institute and Prevention magazine suggests that grocery stores and supercenters can increase their average basket size and please upscale customers by offering organic food, natural remedies and health information.

According to the “Shopping for Health 2003: Whole Health for the Whole Family” study, 46 percent of shoppers said, “I’ll go out of my way to shop for groceries in a store that teaches me about healthful eating and features products to help me do so.”

More than 80 percent of shoppers rated in-store nutrition and health information “very” or “somewhat” important, but only 35 percent felt their supermarket did a good job of providing it. Fifty-five percent of respondents wanted a wide variety of organic foods and just 35 percent felt their current store met that need. And 51 percent desired “a wide variety of herbal and natural remedies,” but only 29 percent found what they needed at their usual store.

—L.E.

Waist Water
There’s no telling what can happen when leaders in two seemingly unrelated industries put their heads together. The Japanese division of Coca-Cola is working with cosmetics giant Shiseido to develop a fat-burning beverage. Shiseido uses aromas from grapefruit and peppers in its lotions and other products on the theory that fragrances from such plants create “uncoupling proteins,” which are thought to burn fat. The beverage, Body Style Water, will be sold only in Japan—for now, anyway—but will not carry any health claims.

—L.B.