Welcome to The Lempert Report LIVE.
Welcome to The Lempert Report LIVE.
Welcome to the Lempert Report live. On today’s broadcast: what’s coming up at Aldi, a surprising store format that is ripe for success- maybe. How farmers in the west are coping, what’s your favorite food truck food, what labels make a difference, and a new ice cream is designed for just 39% of Americans. Let’s get started. Sally Aldi, you know, is one of my favorite stores. I, I make no excuses for that. And it looks like, you know, all these have gone on social media to talk about some of the new limited time products. They call'em all these fines that we're gonna see this fall. What are some of them?
Sally:Well, pumpkin spice, you know, is always a huge hit and everyone has that. So, they do have a pumpkin cheesecake drizzled, caramel corn, which sounds really great. They've got a pumpkin.
Phil:Wait, wait, wait, wait. Pumpkin cheesecake, drizzled caramel corn. You think that sounds great?
Sally:It does, to me, I really like the sound of that. It sounds very fall.
Phil:Yeah, but okay. I'll give you that one, but I like pumpkin cheesecake. I like caramel corn, but put'em together. I don't know. I dunno.
Sally:Well, how do you feel about pumpkin Chipotle pasta sauce?
Phil:Horrible.
Sally:Ha!
Phil:Horrible. We have... I like pumpkin pie. I like pumpkin ravioli but I think we've gotten carried away with all the pumpkin spice stuff.
Sally:Okay. Okay. Well, so they're not just doing pumpkins they're they're not leaving out apples, which are a seasonal fruit. They've got organic apple cinnamon, coconut clusters. And, you know, last week we talked about the cereal candles. So I thought you might be interested to know that they are also promoting a cinnamon latte candle.
Phil:I don't know. I just think that people's homes must really smell bad if you've gotta buy a cinnamon latte candle I m ean, but whatever, let's keep on going. They also have milk chocolate peanut butter cups that are supposed to be better than Reese's peanut butter cups, because it has more filling inside of it. The cups themselves are taller and skinnier. U m, also what I really do like is they have 30% of the ingredients in this milk chocolate peanut butter cup are labeled as fair trade certified. So it's the cocoa butter, the chocolate liquer and vanilla extract that has it. And then, yo u know, I mean the list goes on and on, on their website and on Twitter and on Facebook and that's the way they're getting their messages out there. So you took a look at their Twitter, their Facebook. What did you find?
Sally:I did because it's so interesting, the way that Aldi, and we've talked about it before, how they have such a social media subculture of shoppers. We've previously talked about the Aldi aisle of shame Facebook group that is really popular. But what was interesting to me and I think, you know, this is something for retailers and brands maybe to take a look at is that their Twitter following is 107,000 people, but they only got 14 likes on their Aldi finds post. However, on Facebook they have 2.8 million followers and they got 1500 likes, 380 comments and 144 shares. So what do you think Phil are the shoppers talking about the foods they wanna buy on Facebook instead of Twitter?
Phil:You know, I, I think so. And to your point, when we discussed this earlier, I think that Facebook in this case is a lot more personal than Twitter. So people, you know, can talk about what they found, what they like, what they didn't like and on Twitter, you know, it's just getting that message out there. And also Facebook skews older. Znd so what's interesting to me is Aldi doesn't necessarily skew older from an audience standpoint. They actually are millennials and generation Z, love Aldis. So, you know it's really interesting and retailers should be looking at this and deciding how they can use social media to get the kind of buzz that Aldi gets.
Sally:Yes, it's hard to decode social media these days because it's constantly evolving. It feels like, and like you were talking about different age groups are on different platforms, but I just thought that was so interesting that the Aldi fans are apparently on Facebook.
Phil:Yeah, me too. New York Times Kim Severson, great reporter, has this story about salvage food stores. And I have very mixed feelings about this. Basically what she writes is a crushed box is never a problem. Package dates are mere suggestions and questionable marketing attempts. And you know what basically the salvage stores have is unsellable. Those products that a mainstream supermarket either can't sell, gets rid of. What has me concerned though is I think it's a good deal, but you gotta be smart. I mean, her headline is dented, dated, discontinued at the salvage grocery. It's called a deal. I would never ever suggest to somebody to get a dented can. I mean, that's where, when you have that f old, that's where bacteria grows. That's where botulism grows. You know, you w anna stay away from damaged goods. A nd, I'll be honest with you, I h ave never been to a salvage store. I am going to go now because of this story, but their sales are up substantially. As food inflation has risen. What do y ou think of this concept?
Sally:Well, I'm with you, Phil. I can never get past what my mother taught me that if a can is dented, you might get food poisoning if you eat that food, she always talked about botulism. So it is hard for me, but I did, I am interested in this and I have seen one of these chains, which is called Dickies, which is in the Asheville North Carolina area. And, you know, we have a family cabin that we go to in that area. And there is one that we drive by. And so I'm really curious to check it out because you know, it is a shame to waste food and there are a lot of people out there struggling to pay for food. And there are a lot of people that have become more conscious about wasting food. There's a woman named Lynne Ziobro that started a website called Buy Salvage Food. Now, this is a nationwide map of where you c an find salvage food stores. But what I also liked about this website is the front p age of the website gives a list of tips and guidance on, okay, this is okay to eat. This is not okay to eat. So if you are g oing t o go and shop at a salvage food store, I think, you know, check out those tips on buy salvage food. That that is a really good place to get some ideas on what you s hould stay a way f rom. And what's o kay.
Phil:Absolutely. You know, I'm with you as far as not wasting food, but food safety is still an issue. And again, you know, with so many people, I hear all the time. Oh, you know, just because it says expires, you know, December 30th doesn't mean it really expires. It's a marketing ploy. It's not a marketing ploy. Come on. You know, I mean, the dates are there for, for a reason, but, um, but great website find and suggest that we all check it out now. Another report that just came out from CNN business, finds that nearly three quarters of US farmers say that this year's drought is hurting their harvest with significant crop income loss. And the story just goes on that, you know, farmers are really in a major issue, major problem for this year's crops.
Sally:Yes. Well, I mean, you know, as we know that they depend very much on the Colorado river and those reservoirs. Lake Mead is one of them that we've seen a lot in the news. And, y ou know, I think 37% of farmers said that they a re plowing through and killing existing crops that won't reach maturity because of this drought. That is up from 24% last year. So we've gone from 24% to 37%. That's a big change.
Phil:It's a big change. And also, what they go on to say is for cattle and beef, once the market processes, the excess animals sent to slaughter and has a smaller breeding herd to operate, price increases go up and they're saying the price increase of beef is gonna go six to 12 months. And, you know, until we get climate control, if you would, we're gonna see these problems and we've gotta get more indoor farms to be able to handle the excess.
Sally:Yes. And I, you know, additionally, I was reading this morning about Yuma Arizona, and California's Imperial valley that those two places produce more than 90% of the country's winter leafy greens. So, there are predictions that we may be looking at some shortages when it comes to lettuce and broccoli. We're also looking at wheat shortages, which are high, are exported a lot to Italy for making pasta. So, we're gonna probably have to make some adjustments.
Phil:Absolutely. And, and we're just gonna see more and more shortages. Just to give you some example in the UK, there's a butter shortage because a chronic shortage of suitably qualified farm workers mustard i n France because of the extreme weather and drought that have crushed the mustard seed supply, b read a nd Lebanon, because of t he lack of wheat, e xports from Ukraine t ea i n Pakistan, e ggs in Australia. Oh a nd also the winter weather means fewer eggs are being laid by free range chicken. So what, you know, t hose happy g o l ucky chickens that you're paying two, three,$4 more for a carton, they're gonna have less of those and soba noodles in Japan are in a major shortage as well. But there's no shortage as it relates to food trucks. We're seeing food trucks continue to rise in importance. And a new study just came out that looked at 500 food trucks from Shane company. They went to Google trends to get this data. 500 food trucks and 1500 plus menu items over the past year to find the most popular food truck order and cuisine by state and nationwide. Here in California, the Al pastor tacos is the favorite. I've never seen that before in my life. In New Jersey, where I come from, the Western pork roll, never seen that. In New York pork and chive dumplings. I've sort of seen that sometimes. In your neck of the woods in Tennessee roasted cauliflower tacos. The list goes on and on, and I think we're getting carried away with some of these food truck trends being a little too upscale. Whatever happened to like a hot dog cart?
Sally:Well, you make a good point. And when we look at these statistics on, you know, what the number one selling foods are, overall tacos sell better than anything nationwide, from food trucks,is what we're reading. And what I think is so interesting is that based on your state's popular cuisine, let's say you're in Alaska and Alaska produces a lot of salmon. You know, they take a taco, put salmon on it. Here in Nashville, Tennessee, they'll put hot chicken on a taco because that's one of our big popular local cuisines. So, you know, these food trucks are really fun, I think for people to get out and try all kinds of different street foods. And, I don't know. Do you think the supermarkets should be paying attention to those trends?
Phil:Oh, absolutely. And again, before we get to the supermarkets, when we look at tacos and food trucks, I think it's not because people really love tacos. I think that tacos are really easy to make in a food truck. You know, you've got the tortilla you've got, whether it's chicken or pork or whatever else you plop it on, you put on shredded lettuce, it's easy, it's quick to make. And that's one of the reasons and it's high profit. But to your point of supermarkets, I think that supermarkets have long ignored some of the trends that we see coming o ut o f food trucks and it's to their detriment. I mean, a lot of supermarkets still, you know, are selling meatloaf i n those black plastic plates in the prepared food section, and they need to be a little bit more a dventurous.
Sally:I agree. And it is a great, great thing to get out and try if you have food trucks in your neighborhood to check out some of these interesting cuisines.
Phil:So there's a new study out of Yougov that shows the difference in product labels between the US and the UK. The data shows that keeping an eye on sugar levels is one of the top concerns of consumers in both countries, free range labels number one for Brits 31%,. More than one out of five Brits consider purchasing products that carry animal and environmentally friendly labels. Also British consumers are much more concerned than we are about the sustainability and ethics of their grocers. And one-fifth of Americans and Brits take into account, whether their groceries are produced locally. So we are paying attention to food labels. I'm just wondering whether or not we're going to continue to see that even though, you know, number one in both countries is low sugar and no added sugar, Americans still are consuming way too much sugar. So just having it on the label, just us looking at it is not translating to changing behaviors.
Sally:Yes. And I wonder about that, you know, we do have very large numbers when it comes to diabetes and I believe that they do also in the UK. And so, you know, it is important to be looking at t he sugar. And I'm wondering Phil, is this a, is there an opportunity for retail dietitians to get involved at their stores and to help consumers? Maybe they're reading the labels and they're looking for these products, but maybe they're not, they're confused. They don't know how to prepare these foods. I'm wondering where the disconnect there is. if the interest is there already.
Phil:I agree with you, you know, it just doesn't make sense if we have the interest, we have people reading labels, but they're not changing behavior. So we're not giving them the reason to change their behavior. And maybe it's, you know, the taste of sugar. We love salt, sugar, and fat in this country. And until we have a new generation of taste buds, I think we're gonna still have this problem.
Sally:Yes. I agree with you on that. And you know, another point that I saw in this study that I thought was really interesting is that it said that fewer than one in five American shoppers consider sustainable production and sustainable fishing product labels. And, you know, I think maybe we've overestimated and I hope this isn't controversial, but I think maybe we've overestimated, how much our shoppers are interested in sustainability.
Phil:Yes. I agree with you totally. It makes great headlines, you know, every survey. Yeah. I care about the planet. I care about climate change, but when push comes to shove, and we look at what people are buying in the supermarket, looking at their shopping carts were just not seeing it happen there. So we gotta get past all the PR we gotta get past on putting a gold star on our chest for doing the right thing. We just need to do the right thing. Our partners at the CMA and SIMA hosted a webinar with Suzy, featuring one of CMA|SIMA Board Member Yelena Idelchik as they discussed expectations for fall 2022 shopping. Members of the CMA can access the full replay of the webinar in the Resource Library, non-members can visit www.catman.global to contact the association about membership.
Yelena:Inflation is definitely real. We all know it, we all live it. And in fact, it's, uh, the concern that shoppers, uh, have to a significant extent. In fact, the, uh, concern for inflation is three and a half times higher than that of COVID right now. And one in two shoppers are uncomfortable with their finances. So just think about that for a second. So we are navigating this in several ways on the corporate level, the key is not just focusing on price, but naturally on value we bring to our consumers. So efficacy of all formulas, for example, like the one for IOL, uh, being able to be in full supply for back to school for Lysol wipes and disinfecting sprays to ensure parents feel their kids are safe, uh, new sense that we, uh, uh, that might appeal to millennials, for example, new value sizes. So that shoppers feel they're getting enough, uh, for their buck. And also do not have to drive to the store as frequently. In fact, this factor has been, uh, really growing in importance in the last couple of months. And on the research side, we have realized that we need to constantly monitor shopper behavior and sentiment. So we have created monthly research, uh, trackers to listen and track, uh, specific shopper behaviors. This allows us to pivot and keep our internal and external teams informed
Phil:On today’s Bullseye, it all about Ice Cream. As of August 2021, 39% of Americans say that beer is there go to drink. And Miller High Life wants to be their ice-cream of choice. Yes it does contain five percent alcohol– they are actually infusing the ice cream with, you got it, Miller High Life, and peanut and caramel swirls. There is also a sprinkle of‘carbonated’ candy– reminds me of those Pop Rocks days…and it is dipped in dark chocolate. Got your taste buds flowing yet? Well before you get too excited…. The flavor is called“Dive Bar”– not to be confused with Dove bar. The peanut swirl is in honor of the quintessential dive bar snack– peanuts. There is a hint of tobacco smoke flavor and the caramel swirl is intended to mimic the sticky dive bar floor. The carbonated candy is there to mimic the fizziness of beer and the dark chocolate topping is meant to evoke the dark wood and dim lighting ambiance of a dive bar. Now I haven’t tasted it and have no idea about the nutritionals. If you want to give it a try I’d love to have you come on to The Lempert Report and give us a taste test review. You can find the Miller High Life Dive Bar at TipsyScoop.com– 6 bars for$36. So Sally, what comments do we have today?
Sally:Well, Phil, first of all, thank you, Jack Firestone. He says that he loves a Lempert Report.
Phil:Thank you, Jack.
Sally:Yes. That's good to hear. John Pandal says on inside controlled environment, environment, agriculture, eggs supplies became more stable when chickens went inside. Same for aquaculture. So now we rave over free range, eggs and wild caught fish, and wonder why supplies are more variable.
Phil:Yeah, I mean, John, I, I agree with you totally, whether it's aquaculture, whether it's chickens, whether it's leafy greens, we really need to take Europe's lead on indoor farming and indoor agriculture. There's no question that having a controlled environment is far better for us and frankly, you know, from a food safety standpoint, when we're out in the fields and, and we hear these horrible stories all the time, where, whether it's E coli or salmonella contamination of leafy greens, we need to control our food supply better. We can grow faster, better, healthier, higher quality and long term cheaper. So John I'm with you a thousand percent.
Sally:Yeah. So then John had one other comment for you, Phil. He says American shopper equals the indifferent majority. Do you agree with that?
Phil:Absolutely. You know, the, the American shopper, and again, I try to visit, you know, probably about five to, to six supermarkets every week. It did more before the pandemic. But I just look at how people are going through the store and it's, it's with blinders on. And as we talked about last week, when I brought that couple and, and the family of four to a Ralphs, here in Los Angeles to help them reduce their shopping bill on good morning, America, you know, what, what I found is I cut their shopping bill in half. It used to be$160 a week. Got it down to 80. Now the, the downside of it was, it took them 11 minutes longer to shop, but for 11 minutes to save 80 bucks, I would take that deal anytime. And we just need to wake up people, whether it's about labeling, to your point, whether it's about sustainability, whether it's about saving money, if we would just slow down a little bit and, and be more mindful of what we're buying in the supermarket. I think we all win from a health t aste, nutrition standpoint and financial standpoint. So with that, Jack, John, thanks for joining us. as well as everybody else, don't forget, that our archives are on supermarket guru.com. Make sure you check them out every day we post a different segment of the Lempert Report. So if you missed one segment, just go to the website and you can check it out again and we will see you next week, same time, same place. Don't forget to sign up for the supermarketguru weekly newsletter as well. That's in the top, right? Um, of the website have a great week.