Food Systems for the Future Institute says it has released a report aimed at identifying solutions to the persistent challenges faced by grocery operators in low-income communities across the U.S.
“Grocery Retail for All: Affordable, Nutritious Food in Every Neighborhood” highlights opportunities for innovation, collaboration, policy change and funding in the grocery sector, all focused on increasing grocery retail success and ensuring the affordability, availability and accessibility of nutritious food in every community, according to a news release.
To uncover effective strategies, FSFI says it conducted in-depth interviews with 45 grocers operating across urban and rural settings in the U.S. and 22 industry experts and complemented the findings with peer-reviewed and gray literature. Data was further enriched by input from grocery retail expert advisers.
The report was developed in collaboration with several partners, including The Food Trust, Reinvestment Fund, Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, the Greater Chicago Food Depository and The Global Food Institute at George Washington University.
The report highlights insights into the successes of grocery retail across urban and rural settings, the release said, adding that it underscores the importance of customer-centric strategies, innovative operational tactics and supportive policies in ensuring affordable, nutritious food access. FSFI says key findings include:
- In today’s competitive grocery retail landscape, it is not enough to compete solely on price. Stores must deeply understand their competition and define clear, unique reasons for serving their specific customer base. By finding a niche and developing a differentiated, defendable strategy, grocers can build strong customer loyalty and sustain their success, even in challenging markets.
- Despite differences in size, model and context, successful grocers are implementing 12 common tactics across two objectives — caring for customers and optimizing operations — to remain viable and continue to provide affordable, healthy food to their communities.
- Federal, state and local policies are enabling increased access to nutritious food through grocery retail, but opportunities to enhance and expand impact remain.
- There is recognition that additional issues remain unresolved, such as varying definitions of success for grocery retail stores and insufficient strategies for selling and promoting healthy foods; this calls for continued innovation, collaboration and policy enhancement to strengthen food access nationwide.
- Policymakers, researchers and funders can play a vital role in addressing these issues and supporting the success of grocery champions.
The report was provided as a foundation for discussions presented at the Grocery Retail for All Summit, hosted by the Global Food Institute at George Washington University, FSFI and chef José Andrés. The summit served as a platform for bringing together community and independent operators, thought leaders from community organizations, retail, philanthropy and government to initiate discussions to develop innovative solutions for expanding access to affordable, nutritious food, the release said.
“The Grocery Retail for All Summit is an important convening of passionate partners who are trying to address the grocery retail food system across the country to ensure everyone has access to affordable, healthy foods," said Nyssa Entrenkin, associate director for The Food Trust. "The 'Grocery Retail for All' report will be an important document for all to read that contains background, history, case studies, best practices and recommendations for the future."