food retail

How to Win Back Customers

grocery store deli counter
| mcsmith22

NPR’s food-related blog site “the salt” added a great post this week on how grocery chains need to evolve and get creative to win back customers who now have more shopping channels to choose from. Although traditional grocery stores have been losing market share (per the article, 15% over the past 10 years), many chains are proving that there are numerous ways to fight back. We have touched on some of these in past posts here on our own site, including the first one listed below which was the topic of our most recent post.

Here are 5 ways grocery chains are innovating: Continue reading →

In-Store Bars and Dining

Bar Counter and Cabinets
| mcsmith22

I have come across a rash of articles lately profiling supermarket chains that are adding in-store bars and restaurants. In Hy-Vee’s new Des Moines stores, their Market Grilles offer casual dining, along with craft beer selections and large TV screens. Another example: Whole Foods is currently in the process of adding in-store dining and bars to their new stores in the Chicago market. Around the country, other grocery chains Continue reading →

2015 Culinary Trends: What’s Hot

2015 culinary trends
| mcsmith22

The National Restaurant Association’s annual “What’s Hot” culinary forecast predicts the food and menu trends for the coming year. For 2015, the NRA surveyed nearly 1,300 professional chefs to find out what the hottest menu trends will be. The link below will take you to a page on restaurant.org’s website where you can select from a menu of trend articles.

Although this forecast is geared to the restaurant industry, there is no doubt that there are many crossover trends that also could play equally important roles within the grocery and specialty food retail segments. It will come as no surprise that concepts like local sourcing, sustainability and nutrition are three key themes that are highlighted throughout the 2015 forecast.

Link:  2015 Culinary Forecast

Green Matmarknad

fresh market produce bins
| mcsmith22

malmo-sweden-mapThat isn’t a typo — it’s the name of a new customer of ours located in Malmo, Sweden (FYI: “matmarknad” translates to “food market” in English). They were looking for high-end American made fixtures for their produce department, came across our webite and from there, a simple website lead turned into a new customer in Sweden. Continue reading →

Marketing Wine to Millennials

millennials wine shopping
| mcsmith22

Listed below is a link to a recent post on the SmartBlog site for Food and Beverage. This post starts out with the fact that. although boomers remain the biggest overall spenders on wine, millennials are now the fastest-growing group of wine drinkers. It then details several suggestions on how to better market to this segment, of which a couple of items stood out for me:

Gen Y drinkers are not afraid to try new things and are very explorative. According to research sited from Napa Technology, Continue reading →

Kids Zone for Healthy Snacks

| mcsmith22

Kids Zone DrawingSnacks get a bad rap, especially when related to our kids. But not all snacks are bad. In fact, children need extra calories during the day to help with their growth and energy level. The key is to offer kids (and their parents) smart choices.

Nutritionists have always recommended snacking on fresh and dried fruits, but how do you get kids to embrace this themselves? The good news is that the answer is not complicated. Studies show that kids Continue reading →

Grab ‘n Go Cocktails

| mcsmith22

mini-bottle bin bag holder

We recently built a rather unique custom cabinet for a customer with stores located in northern Wisconsin. The cabinet displays and sells 50ml-size mini liquor bottles (the type sold on airplanes).

As we were building it, we realized that this could be a new trend. A collection of these small bottles Continue reading →