WEBVTT - Pandemic Grocery Trends for 2021

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<v Speaker 1>It's Tuesday, January twelve. I'm oscar A Mirrors from the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is Reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Because of the pandemic, grocery friends are looking different this year.

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<v Speaker 1>Instead of seeing large product lines or product innovations, there

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<v Speaker 1>will be a focus on supply chain issues and keeping

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<v Speaker 1>shelves stocked instead. Kara rosen Bloom, registered dietitian and president

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<v Speaker 1>of Words to Eat By, joins us for what to

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<v Speaker 1>look out for this year. Thanks for joining us, Carol

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<v Speaker 1>my planure, thanks for having me. Usually at this time

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<v Speaker 1>we're talking about new food trends for the year, what

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<v Speaker 1>to expect upcoming. But obviously because of the pandemic kind

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<v Speaker 1>of everything's been thrown upside down a lot of companies.

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<v Speaker 1>Instead of focusing on new innovation of products, we're looking

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<v Speaker 1>more at product efficiency, focusing on the supply chain issues

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<v Speaker 1>that arose throughout the pandemic, making sure that shelves are

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<v Speaker 1>actually stocked, rather than, you know, a bunch of new

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<v Speaker 1>products coming on board. So Kara tell us a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit about what we're seeing. That's exactly right, and I

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<v Speaker 1>mean as a dietitian for the last twenty years, I

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<v Speaker 1>loved December January time because I'm always looking at trends

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<v Speaker 1>to see what new products are out there, and as

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<v Speaker 1>I started writing for my trends report, there were so

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<v Speaker 1>few new products because companies are distracted needfully on efficiency.

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<v Speaker 1>There are so many little gaps and little hiccups in

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<v Speaker 1>the supply chain everywhere, along from the actual manufacturing even

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<v Speaker 1>getting parts to do manufacturing, to getting things to the

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<v Speaker 1>grocery store and then sales and grocery store. The coronavirus

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<v Speaker 1>has put everything into a tailspin. So we're really seeing

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<v Speaker 1>something different this year for the first time ever, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's that the idea of getting products on the shelf

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<v Speaker 1>period is more important than new products, and I've never

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<v Speaker 1>seen that before in my history. And one of the

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<v Speaker 1>big things that we've seen throughout the pandemic really is

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<v Speaker 1>companies cutting back on the number of products they are offering.

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<v Speaker 1>We saw that with meat process seen plants, there weren't

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<v Speaker 1>as many cuts available. I think in your article you

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned a soup company dropping their varieties down from eighty

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<v Speaker 1>down to forty, which is a ton, you know. So

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<v Speaker 1>these are some of the things we're seeing. There is

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<v Speaker 1>this sort of overall idea that if you're going to

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<v Speaker 1>get products two store shelves, you've got to get the

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<v Speaker 1>most important products and the ones that sell the best.

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<v Speaker 1>So rather than having a variety of eight soups, can

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<v Speaker 1>we pick the top forty that are the best sellers,

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<v Speaker 1>Or rather than having you know, three varieties of chips

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<v Speaker 1>and crackers and all these things on store shelves, there's

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<v Speaker 1>an efficiency by saying, you know what, let's look at

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<v Speaker 1>the products that sell the best, and let's focus on

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<v Speaker 1>those and make sure we can get those two shelves

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<v Speaker 1>instead of ensuring that there's hundreds of skews available. We

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<v Speaker 1>just want to make sure we can get something on

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<v Speaker 1>store shelves rather than hundreds of other things. So experts

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<v Speaker 1>think that the supermarkets themselves will look differently, the layouts

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<v Speaker 1>will be differently. I think one person you spoke to

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<v Speaker 1>you said that a lot of them might implement a

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<v Speaker 1>reservation model where the front and the back of the

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<v Speaker 1>store looked differently. How does that work? So I spoke

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<v Speaker 1>with Phil Lambert, who is a food industry analyst. He

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<v Speaker 1>works with many different grocery stores and big food companies,

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<v Speaker 1>and he was telling me what he's hearing from them.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the things that grocery stores have found is

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<v Speaker 1>that consumers have a lot of anxiety, of course, of

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<v Speaker 1>going into a grocery store. Some people aren't wearing masks properly,

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<v Speaker 1>some people aren't wearing masks at all, and so there's

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<v Speaker 1>a bit of a fear and an anxiety when they're

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<v Speaker 1>shopping about their safety. So they want to either get

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<v Speaker 1>in and out as quickly as possible, or they want

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<v Speaker 1>to do online delivery or online or instat Carter, one

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<v Speaker 1>of those sort of curbside options. So what he has

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<v Speaker 1>found is some of the grocery stores have said they're

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<v Speaker 1>now going to institute a reservation model where, similar to

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<v Speaker 1>a restaurant, you book an advance and you have a

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<v Speaker 1>time slot, and that will help them limit the number

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<v Speaker 1>of shoppers that will be in the store at any

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<v Speaker 1>one time. He also is noting that some companies are

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<v Speaker 1>going to start to change the layout of their store

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<v Speaker 1>so that people can still shop for fresh foods like

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<v Speaker 1>fruits and vegetables and their cuts of meat. They can

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<v Speaker 1>still browse and pick what they want, but that packaged item,

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<v Speaker 1>so you know, anything from toilet paper to spread fast

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<v Speaker 1>cereal to canned goods will be in the back of

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<v Speaker 1>the store and that will be picked and packed for

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<v Speaker 1>you while you shop, which would cut down on the

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<v Speaker 1>amount of time people have to spend in the grocery

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<v Speaker 1>store and make it more efficient. And he also mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>those might not be picked impacked by humans that might

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<v Speaker 1>be robotic in the future. Yeah, I mean, he said

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<v Speaker 1>that it could cut the average grocery shop time of

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<v Speaker 1>twenty two minutes down to about ten minutes, which is

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<v Speaker 1>beneficial on all parties. It looks like the other thing

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<v Speaker 1>that we've seen this trend going on for a long

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<v Speaker 1>time is more plant based items on the shelves. This

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<v Speaker 1>is just kind of accelerating it and an interesting thing

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<v Speaker 1>that I didn't know I haven't seen just yet. There's

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<v Speaker 1>blends of these things too. Let's say, on milk, you

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<v Speaker 1>can get a fifty fifty cow's milk and almond milk blend.

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<v Speaker 1>The extension of the plant based stuff is continuing exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>And I find that there are many companies who are

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<v Speaker 1>experts in animal based products, companies who are you know,

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<v Speaker 1>dairy or milk based, and they're seeing a huge draw

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<v Speaker 1>been their sales because so many people are looking for

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<v Speaker 1>plant based alternatives and they're probably saying to themselves, if

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<v Speaker 1>we don't start doing something plant based, we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>lose out. And I think that's where a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these blends are coming from. It's to continue to move

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<v Speaker 1>their products when they're finding such a decrease in their

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<v Speaker 1>sales and an increase in the sales of plant based.

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<v Speaker 1>But plant base is met with a lot of controversy

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<v Speaker 1>as well, because a lot of the products that are

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<v Speaker 1>coming out use the word plant based to almost give

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<v Speaker 1>it a health halo, to make it seem very healthy

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<v Speaker 1>that it comes from plant, when what's actually being made

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<v Speaker 1>is a highly processed or ultra processed food made of

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<v Speaker 1>protein isolates and powders. And they're kind of moving away

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<v Speaker 1>from being actual plants at this point. So you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a chickpie is a plant, broccoli is a plant, but

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<v Speaker 1>isolated p protein burgers that's no longer really a plant.

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<v Speaker 1>And the last thing that we're seeing is functional foods

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<v Speaker 1>and beverages one that you should be careful for to yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, make sure to check out the full list.

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<v Speaker 1>These are things that are enhanced with cb D is

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<v Speaker 1>really popular, but it could be a range of things.

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<v Speaker 1>There are different companies that are adding vitamins or minerals

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<v Speaker 1>or other kind of supplements to their foods. And for

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<v Speaker 1>certain people, if you're taking supplements like actual pills or liquids,

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<v Speaker 1>they're actually taking supplements. You may be getting too much

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<v Speaker 1>of certain vitamins and minerals. So it's just sort of

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<v Speaker 1>a reminder that too much of a good thing is

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<v Speaker 1>not a good thing. Kara Rosenbloom, registered dietitian and president

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<v Speaker 1>of Words to Eat By, thank you very much for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us. My pleasure. Thank you. I'm Oscar Ramirez and

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<v Speaker 1>this has been reopening America. Don't forget days big news stories.

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<v Speaker 1>You can check me out in the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every Monday to Friday. So follow us on I Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio or wherever you get your podcast.