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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the retail landscape, from the ways people shop and receive their groceries to the types of products in demand. As federal and state regulations shift, and Americans adjust to an increase in at-home working, learning, and dining, food retailers have pivoted their focus in an effort to fulfill consumers’ newfound needs.
Specialty Food News asked retailers to weigh in on the most popular trends with their customers. Following are their responses.
The panel:
• Pete Marczyk, Marczyk Fine Foods, Denver
• Amelia Rappaport, grocery team leader, Woodstock Farmers’ Market, Woodstock, Vermont
• Michael Lederman, Joanna’s Marketplace, Miami
Q: What is the most popular trend with your customers right now?
Pete Marczyk, Marczyk Fine Foods, Denver
The biggest trend we're seeing is that people really are investing in their food—price sensitivity has gone away. Now, it's all about taking stress away with cooking good food, splurging regularly on things they might have cooked just once or twice a year in the past.
For example, we allowed shoppers to pre-order wild Scottish game birds on our website and sold out immediately. Scottish grouse and woodpigeons and red leg partridges, who would have thought? In the past, we would only have sourced those for special requests.
In addition to other comfort food trends, I'd mention what people aren't doing. Early on in the pandemic we quickly added online shopping and curbside delivery. Our two stores are small, so only 15 people are allowed to shop at a time. We thought that curbside would be a great relief for people. Instead, people are still queuing outside 10, 20 people deep. We still sell a lot of curbside, but with every other ritual gone during the pandemic, people are still holding on to shopping for holiday food as a treasured experience, not a transaction. Instead of the stressful nature of shopping at national grocers, people are flocking to the calm in our stores.
Amelia Rappaport, grocery team leader, Woodstock Farmers’ Market, Woodstock, Vermont
The most popular trend with our customers is, first and foremost, moving to Vermont! Since the region has been successful in keeping COVID-19 numbers down, and it is within a half-day’s drive from many major cities, we have seen lots of new families moving to our area.
As they are accustomed to the abundance of food options available in most cities, they are taking full advantage of our offerings, from prepared foods to nice olive oils to fresh seafood and fine wine. Although we are open to the public for just six hours a day (as opposed to our normal 11 hours), sales in general are the same as, if not better, than last year’s—with departments such as seafood, wine, and fresh flowers experiencing significant increases. Our basket average has doubled.
What this suggests to me is that people want to treat themselves and are willing to spend money on fine ingredients that they can cook at home. In terms of specific trending categories, we have seen a surge in plant-based alternative milks and vegan cheese, which is unusual in our dairy-rich state, dairy in general, fresh pasta, meat and seafood, cheese, and fresh produce.
Michael Lederman, Joanna’s Marketplace, Miami
As with many food businesses we have been forced to rethink how to get our product to our customers. Catering has always been a large percentage of overall sales. Since the pandemic began and most people started working and schooling remotely, we have lost a lot of our catering business. For those that do want catering we have converted a lot of our family style and larger portion sizes to individual meal portions and pre-wrapped bakery items such as chocolate chip and black and white cookies.
Regarding in-store sales, much of our regular customers can now call in their grocery orders for curbside pick-up or delivery. We offer flour and produce as a convenience as well. We have seen an increase in sales of comfort foods, such as desserts, breads, deli salads, roasted deli meats, and smoked fish. The most important thing for us is providing our customers with the confidence that our store and employees continue to follow CDC guidelines for a well sanitized store.
Arielle Feger is a content associate for Specialty Food.
from Food Trends https://ift.tt/3fOutO9
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