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to many of our stores,” says Kalia Pang, company spokesperson. “In addition, we’ve expanded the selection of freshly prepared foods offered in our full-service deli case, which now includes various entrees, salads and side dishes. These deli enhancements are in close to half of our stores today and are truly changing the way our guests shop at Sprouts.”
The overarching desire for health is destined to put more produce on the plate,
PHOTO COURTESY OF PETE’S MARKET
according to Steve Petusevsky, president of Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Steven Petu- sevsky Enterprises and chairman of the Appetites & Innovation Retail Supermarket Initiative at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, CA. He is also a trend-setting chef who served for more than a decade as corporate chef for Whole Foods Market, where he developed more than 1,000 core recipes. “People today are interested in globally inspired, plant-forward cuisine.
Plant-forward is profitable secondary to cost of protein, and this bodes well for super- markets that are not high profit.”
HOW PRODUCE RETAILERS AND SUPPLIERS CAN CASH IN
There are several ways supermarket retailers and produce suppliers can take a bite into the potentially profitable pie of retail foodservice:
FOR RETAILERS
1. Seek out chefs. Retailers are recog- nizing prepared foods are a differentiator, and they no longer compete only with other supermarkets but with foodservice operators too, according to Jacquelyn Chi, associate director for programs and special products under strategic initiatives at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia, in Napa, CA. “As a result, they know they need to have culinary driven people in these areas.”
Trend-setting retailers have already gotten this message. In fact, says Greg Drescher, vice president of strategic initia- tives and industry leadership for the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, NY, “There are more than 100 CIA graduates each now
26 / APRIL 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS