WHAT’S
IN STORE Michael Eardley, the new president and CEO of the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA), shares his thoughts on the category, the organization, and IDDBA’s highly anticipated June 2015 conference and show in Atlanta, Ga. HOW ARE THE DELI, BAKERY AND CHEESE CATEGORIES BEING IMPACTED BY THE “NEW CONSUMER?” The “new consumers” are the Millennials, who are changing both what and how we eat. IDDBA research tells us that Millennials look for stores that inspire them, but that they also want to eat healthy, save money and have fun while food shopping. We’re living in a world where loyalty is eroding and stock-up shoppers aren’t as common. Consumers today tend to shop in the moment. In the supermarket environment, dairy, deli and bakery departments are up against fast-casual and fastfood outlets. As a parent of Millennials, I know they enjoy cooking, but they’re more than willing, on any given day, to ditch cooking at home altogether and eat out. Our Engaging the Evolving Shopper report tells us that we need to take a more nuanced approach to what we offer because consumers want more than to just avoid sodium and additives. I believe dairy, deli and bakery departments are in a great position to earn more of the new consumers’ food dollars, and it’s our mission to help all facets of the industry work together to do that.
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March | April 2015
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES THE DAIRY-DELI-BAKERY CATEGORIES FACE? Hiring the right people and training them, both technically and in customer service, is always the biggest challenge. And the issue of food safety needs to be a top priority. To that end, we’ll be releasing training videos and research pieces throughout the year. WHAT EMERGING CATEGORY TRENDS SHOULD RETAILERS KNOW ABOUT? In the next four or five years, half the population will be over 50, and half will be under. That means we will have mostly Millennials and Boomers. Millennials offer a great opportunity to our departments. They eat when the urge strikes: according to our What’s in Store 2015 report, 85 per cent of Millennials say they’re looking for healthy foods, but 88 per cent say they’ve bought a snack at a fast-food restaurant in the last month – and snacks account for half of all eating occasions. As an industry, we should be positioning ourselves to capture the snacking dollar, because if we don’t do it, someone else will.