Today we look at how we could have a better food system, a food fiasco in NYC, a more sustainable package idea, a model for communicating food, how the animal protein business is gobbling up plant based everything and the metaverse for kids. On The Lempert report we focus on how people select healthier foods and on Bullseye its all about fitness.
Today we look at how we could have a better food system, a food fiasco in NYC, a more sustainable package idea, a model for communicating food, how the animal protein business is gobbling up plant based everything and the metaverse for kids. On The Lempert report we focus on how people select healthier foods and on Bullseye its all about fitness.
Today we look at how we could have a better food system, a food fiasco in NYC, a more sustainable package idea, a model for communicating food, how the animal protein business is gobbling up plant based everything and the metaverse for kids. On The Lempert report we focus on how people select healthier foods and on Bullseye its all about fitness. So Sally, what's the plan for a better food system?
Sally:Well, Phil, the population is growing. The food system is stressed for a variety of reasons, but Kellogg's senior vice president of global research and development and innovation. Dr. Nigel Hughes has some really great perspectives on how food companies can position themselves to be a part of the sustainable and equitable food system.
Phil:Yeah. And what's interesting, you know, Kellogg always has been a leader Kellogg doesn't get, in my opinion, the credit that they deserve. Sure. They've got a lot of sugar coated cereals but in this article he also points out that it's 116 year old company and they've developed over a thousand plant-based foods over 180 countries. What I, what I like about this article is, you know, some of the quotes and they're all credited to him to transform our food system and its impact on climate. We must bring farmers, suppliers, consumers, policymakers, and NGOs to the table, and create a shared vision with a shared responsibility to benefit all. They've made a commitment to support 1 million farmers and workers in particular women and small stakeholders by 2030. And they're building partnerships tailored to their individual and communities needs. So far Kellogg has supported 440,000 farmers since 2015. The other thing that I found that I didn't know, and there's a lot that I don't know about agriculture but that rice production accounts for an estimated 12% of total global methane emissions, that, that to me, you know, we always talk about cows and, you know, the, the impact on methane. I had no idea about the rice. And also from a Kellogg standpoint, uh, they have some examples that he shares 75% of the potatoes that are used in Pringles are consider rejected. And would've gone to landfill or used for non-human consumption. And I'm assuming that that's, you know, because of bruises and, you know, colors and stuff like that, the fruit filling in their neutral grain bars comes entirely from unsalable misshape and fruit. And the company is also teamed up with UK based Salford brewery to turn less than perfect rice crispies and cocoa pops into beer. I mean, they're doing some considerable things, kudos to Kelloggs and, you know, let's give'em a shout out for really doing things and sharing these kinds of things. I wish more companies would do this.
Sally:I agree. And with respect to the rice, I really like that example in this article about how they are implementing a$2 million five year climate positive agriculture program for the rice farmers that are in the lower Mississippi river basin. So if they're, if they're working on greenhouse gas emissions reductions, then they get to be a part of this program.
Phil:I think that, you know, we talk a lot about marketing here and I think there's gonna be another brand manager. Who's looking for a job. Currently he's at he or she is at GrubHub. And they had a free lunch offer. What happened?
Sally:Well, I think New Yorkers were probably pretty excited about the, the offer that was extended to them last week for free lunch. That was the promo code that was used and it got them a 15 hour coupon to order food within a two hour window. So just two hours, you know, these orders were coming through. I think they had over 400,000 orders that were attempting to be made. And people were very frustrated about not getting their orders and they complained a lot on social media about GrubHub.
Phil:Yeah. And on TikTok 110,000 views just from a local just salad restaurant where the employees were forced to toss out hundreds of bagged lunch orders. This is a disaster, this is a marketing disaster, it's an operational disaster. And what's surprising to me is GrubHub has been around for a while. They know how to make deliveries clearly. And the fact that this became such a fiasco is amazing to me the company, the company noted that at times they were averaging 6,000 orders per minute, doesn't make sense. So at Johns Hopkins, we've got some very, very smart students who have created edible tortilla tape to hold a burrito together. So the first, the first blush might be, why do we need edible burrito tape? They wrap it in paper while we get rid of the paper. This is, you know, food grade, it's edible tape. It's really a smart idea. It's one of those ideas, Sally, that, to be honest with you, I wish I would've thought of
Sally:Me too. And good for them for coming up with this idea. You know, it makes me think about when I, how frustrated I get when I make enchiladas and the tortillas in the pan fall apart as you're getting them out. This is a great, great solution for that. And, you know, according to these students, even though they can't reveal a lot of details yet because they are currently trying to get a patent on this. But apparently it is all the ingredients are safe and it can, you know, keep you from having those messy burritos.
Phil:Yeah. And it's two inches long and half an inch wide really, really smart. Good, good for those students at John Hopkins. We talk a lot about plant protein. We mention it with Kellogg's effort, but there's a new report that just came out. That shows the report is from I P E S and food and water watch. And what they're saying is meat companies, including JBS, Tyson, Cargill are investing heavily in plant-based proteins in lab grown meat, cellular agriculture. The market right now is 4.2 billion in sales. And they expect to be in 2025, not very long from now 28 billion, but there's some, you know, controversy about these big companies, these big meat companies, animal protein companies buying up these plant based. What's the downside for that? I would think that it's great. They've got money they're converting to it, but you know, people are saying not so fast.
Sally:Yes. I think, you know, because, um, what we're hearing is that animal meat, conglomerates and other food giants can, are already controlling 80% of the meat alternative market. So they've bought up a lot of these smaller brands, which can, which consumers may not even know when they buy a brand in the store. And they think it's coming from a small company. They don't know that there's a big food giant behind it. And so that could be misleading, you know, consumers that are looking to buy from these smaller companies.
Phil:Yeah. The good food Institute is published the fact that there's at least 1,300 startups that we're producing meat alternatives as of six months ago. We're gonna see more and more activity in this. And again, I think that, you know, when we look at the federal government, we keep on hearing about, you know, these four animal protein companies that control 80, 85% of the market, will this happen with plant based? And if in fact, we allow these companies to buy up these smaller companies, these plant-based companies it's quite possible that that happens. And the downside to it is that because of their volume and their power, they're really gonna be, they're really gonna be in the way of a lot of these smaller companies buying ingredients. Because if you have a choice you're gonna sell to Tyson, or you're gonna sell to, you know, Sally's plant based company, you know, who you gonna sell to just based on volume and so on. So it'll be interesting space first to watch. And again, in the fall, we've moved our protein and plant symposium to October, to the Fall. Stay tuned for that date. It'll be at the end of October, we'll be sending out an email on that shortly. This is one of those discussions that we've gotta have that we've gotta put, you know, balance in this. You have kids, you have kids, Eli is always on his, his virtual reality headset, his Oculus. How the metaverse could impact the lives of kids is a new article that came out of CoinTelegraph. And what do you think, you know is the, metaverse a good thing, you know, for Eli and, you know, Anthony and all the kids that we've got at Supermarketguru?
Sally:I think it's something that a lot of parents are struggling with right now. You know, trying to navigate, you know, we know that our kids are a part of the modern world and we wanna support that. Um, and not be, you know, like you kids in your rock and roll. Right?
Phil:I heard that.
Sally:But we have heard experts warning that there are some negative effects. There's depression, there's loneliness that comes out of this mental health issues. Kids not doing other things, not going outside, but the other side of i t is that there are some really great advantages for learning within this technology. And we already know from Minecraft, which has been around for a w hile, a very popular game with kids that Minecraft has been implemented in schools and used a s an educational tool. I think the big i ssue here is making sure that, you know, we can balance technology with Oh you know, with the other things that we want our kids doing, but also making sure that it is a private, safe, secure place for our kids to be interacting. You know?
Phil:Absolutely. And you know, what I love about this column is that when we look at the advantages, that it can give, you know, kids, all of us, abstract concepts that we can really grasp onto in a more engaging way actual hands on experience. That's very beneficial for kids, help them better understand the world around them. It can improve social skills, because they are talking to other kids. And also it points out that it can be a great way for parents to bond with their kids and teach them various skills. You pointed out, you know, some of the downside to it, cyber bullying is one of them, lack of privacy. Okay. And then, you know, the content, we've gotta be real careful whether it's violence, sex, or hate speech, that this is not accessible by our kids. Otherwise, you know, we're gonna have a real problem. And is to your point, I know that you do it. I know that Tony does it really balance out, you know, real, real world with metaverse world.
Sally:Exactly.
Phil:And, and also, we've got some, we've got some interesting food charts as a way to communicate food topics and so on from supermarkets. Tell us a bit about that.
Sally:We saw this article recently from Buzzfeed that just collected, I think, 35 different really cool charts that teach you about, about food. And what I really liked about them is that some of these things that can be intimidating to some people that they don't have experience with that these charts can really help. And I would love to see these in supermarkets helping consumers, make purchasing decisions as well as, you know, supermarkets using them in their social media. But some of those, some of the really cool ones we saw were, was the ultimate chart for chart, for understanding apples. So this is like a map that takes you through the tar apple, which is the granny Smith I learned, and to the sweetest apple, which is the Fuji apple. We saw a tea drinking chart for every situation, which, you know, shows you things like if you have a slow metabolism, have green tea, if you have the common cold elderberry tea, if you're stressed, you want lemon Balm tea. And then I, I know you liked this one, Phil, the one about the banana. Yeah. Which shows you the different forms of ripeness in the banana. And certain, I did not know this, but it, you know, if your banana is not super ripe, then you are getting more fiber and lower sugar. And then if it gets a little bit more ripe, you're getting more antioxidants in it. So this was a really interesting one for me too. And then just a couple more, there was an easy spice combo chart. If you're trying to make some sort of ethnic dishes you've never made, you know, there are, this chart walks you through, like use these spices for Mexican food, use these spices for Vietnamese food, use these for Italian. And I really like that one. And also I know that a lot of shoppers are seeing a lot of exotic fruits in their produce department, and I've seen them too, you know, big spiky, weird looking fruits that I'm like, what's inside of that and what
Phil:Yeah.
Sally:But this was a great chart. You know, they, for example, Jack fruit has become really popular and it, and explains that it has a banana and a pineapple flavor and that you can use it in Curry and tacos and like, pulled like barbecue pork. So some really great, great information here.
Phil:And it really exemplifies the fact that whether it's in the metaverse or whether it's on a flat webpage, that these retailers who are really struggling with eCommerce now should be adding these kinds of graphics, this kind of information to their eCommerce sites, because it's just gonna, you know, open up the doors for so many consumers, not only to educate them, but for them to try new products.
Sally:Yes. Hopefully it will.
Phil:Yeah. So check it out. Um, it's, it's real worthwhile. And now it’s time for The Lempert Report. New research, co-authored by Bayes Business School, found that that the presence of individuals from different friendship or social groups played a role in influencing consumers' food choices. The study, which explored food choices with those of a different race and from a different university, explains this occurs because individuals anticipate more negative judgement from outsiders. The research, which spoke to around 1,000 individuals in total, shows that people often self-categorize in terms of their race, university affiliation, and work affiliation. In one experiment, 180 students were offered the choice between indulgent M&Ms and healthier raisins as a snack. When in the presence of an unknown fellow student from one's own university, only 12 per cent of students selected the healthier raisins. However, this number more than doubled to 31 per cent when in the presence of an unknown student from another university. The other experiments showed that the reason for this pattern is that people feel judged to a larger extent by outgroup members, and they strategically use healthy food choices to make a positive impression to counter this negative judgement. For example, 200 consumers were told that others around them were judgmental or were tolerant. In the judgmental environment, consumers were more likely to choose carrots over cookies than in the tolerant environment, which indicates that expected judgement from others explains the findings. Dr Janina Steinmetz, Associate Professor(Reader) of Marketing at Bayes, said the findings have practical implications for marketers of healthy foods and policy makers hoping to promote healthy eating."We know that food plays an important role in social life and consumers often make inferences about others' traits and characteristics based on their food choices."Our research shows that we can use this important role of food for consumer welfare if we highlight that healthy food is not only good for consumers, but also helps them to impress others. These findings could be very significant to those hoping to improve healthy eating practices in the UK because they open a new avenue to promote the benefits of healthy eating: It's good for you and your health, and it's also good for making a positive impression." I hope you'll join us tomorrow for our first webcast focus solely on the metaverse with our partner Incontext, 10:30 AM Pacific time. https://www.incontextsolutions.com/webinars/exploring-the-retail-metaverse/ While we talk a lot here about the metaverse, we really haven't focused on the job opportunities that exist there, Sally what's happening on the meta job front?
Sally:Accenture is setting the stage for a potentially exciting and effective way to train new employees from India to Spain, to California, the company has created a virtual campus called one Accenture park. They're going to be onboarding approximately 150,000 new hires. And so in this digital replica of their offices, where they meet on the end floor, each employee has their own avatar where they can learn and connect with other employees. According to their research learners, forget 70% of training content within 24 hours and nearly 90% of it in a month. So that that's losing a lot of their training. So possibly this immersive fully simulated environment could create more opportunity for engaging all the human senses and yielding a more affecting learning experience. And also now that we have experienced the consequences of a pandemic, could this also be a proactive way of setting up employees for remote work if needed? I think this approach to training could create exciting opportunities for supermarkets to virtually teach inspire and foster community with their employees.
Phil:And that's exactly what, you know, Nill Gillespie from Microsoft before that IBM, you know, save a lot super value AMT. His background is phenomenal, and this is exactly what he's gonna be talking about tomorrow on our metaverse webcast. So it's a lot of training opportunities that we've got for retailers and for business in general, on the metaverse. Thanks Sally.
:On today’s Bullseye let’s talk fitness. We’ve all seen the TV ads and read the stories about Peloton. And while some credit the brands demise to THAT episode of the revival of Sex& the City the brand and concept has a lot more problems to deal with. In the release of its latest earnings revenue fell 24% and the entire category of what is being called“connected fitness equipment” fell 42%. Peloton’s loses alone are now$757 million. About a year ago, the company was valued at$50 billion. Today it’s worth around$4 billion. Don’t get me wrong that’s still a lot of money– but Peloton’s premise– as well as other companies in this category is misguided. Sure during the pandemic when people had to stay at home the concept of connecting with others during a workout through the internet had merit. But for many, that trip to the gym serves two purposes– working out of course– but also meeting up with friends and creating a social event. People want to be with other people– that was before the pandemic and certainly the desire has increased even more since we were all shuttered in for so long. Too often we point to technology as the answer. Let’s remember how Peloton rose to fame– it was those early ads– where an attractive guy and an attractive girl in facing high rise apartments were working out on their bikes but stealing glances through their ceiling high windows at each other across the way.
Phil:Thanks, uh, for joining us. But first we've got some comments, Sally, let us know what people are thinking about.
Sally:Yes, it's great to see some people commenting on today's episode. Mary Miller says life is short, eat the cookies and M&M's
Phil:Love it.
Sally:Okay. And our friend John Pandal is back. We've missed you, John. Yes, and he says many of the plant-based startups were venture capital funded for the sole purpose of selling them down the road. When tech and private equity get in bed together. Their love child is an IPO
Phil:Very well said, John. And the only people that are making money are the VC companies and private equity. And I'm not sure it's doing anything for either consumers or the founders of those companies. So thanks for joining us, make sure that you comment, even after the program and go to the website, SupermarketGuru. com. You can see our past episodes, our archives, and please sign up for our newsletters as well. Have a great, a nd we'll see you back here next Monday, same time, same place, but don't forget every d ay on SupermarketGuru. com. There's a lot of new information, so you don't have to wait t ill Monday. You can go there later today. Thanks.