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In-store dietitians provide huge value, offering advice on the healthy bene ts of produce as well as food safety.
consumers about healthy eating, has increased sales for Harps and provides healthy recipes to help families and children eat better. “It’s up to us to change the eating habits of our customers,” says Roberts. “If we as retailers continue to encourage and educate our customers on the benefits of healthier eating, eventually we will move the needle even more, and we will see an increase in produce consumption in the next few years.” Though Roberts doesn’t expect consumption to post double-digit growth, he foresees the next decade will bring increases of 5 percent to 7 percent.
Kathy Means, vice president of demand creation and consumer affairs for the Produce Marketing Association, Newark, DE, says retailers need to make a business case for healthier offerings. “The key is that businesses like supermarkets do serve their community. But they are businesses; it’s not just about being altruistic. The bottom line is that if someone is sick and can’t work, they can’t spend. It behooves retailers to keep their customers healthy, so they can continue to shop at their stores.”
However, Means is skeptical that the health message alone will raise fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. “Research says don’t abandon health as a message, but I’m not sold yet that health alone will make a significant change in consumption. Instead, we need to talk more about how produce makes us feel,” she says.
“It’s not food as medicine, but how produce prepared in a dish, for example, reminds us of the holidays at grandma’s. It’s about broadening how we see produce fit into people’s lives, not just about diet. Convenience products that make it easy
to eat more fruits and vegetables are one way. Varietals are another. It’s not that one apple, for example, tastes better than another. It’s that it tastes different. The more variety, the more chance you have of meeting people’s taste preferences,” explains Means.
Retail veteran Mike O’Brien, who is now vice president of sales and marketing for Monterey Mushrooms, Inc., in Watsonville, CA, agrees promotions about the healthy attributes of produce should make business sense. “Retailers are proud of produce and want to grow consumption for altruistic reasons and for profitabilty.”
O’Brien points to the Baby Boomers and Millennials as prime marketing targets. “The Baby Boomers possess the income to purchase what they want, which provides an opportunity for produce.
“Another opportunity is Millennials’ growing disposable incomes combined with that generation being more health-con- scious than other generations,” he says.
Increasing produce consumption is really not a matter of health promotion, says Dick Spezzano, president of Spezzano Consulting Services, Monrovia, CA, and a former vice president of produce at Vons. “I think you
PHOTO COURTESY OF WAKEFERN
44 / OCTOBER 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS