The global pandemic has given way to business improvements as specialty food stakeholders have had to reimagine their go-to-market strategies, said a panel of retailers who spoke during the Specialty Food Live! session Disruption and the New Normal: Selling Specialty Food, Monday.
“To say we’ve done a full store category review does not really get at the depth of evaluation we’ve done of what is earning its keep on our shelves,” said Danielle Vogel, founder of Glen’s Garden Market in Washington, D.C. “You’re especially forced to do it when the warehouses are empty and you can figure out what people really want, and when your shelves are empty but a few things are remaining, you know what they really do not want. In fact, I have movement reports hanging above my desk that I wrote on frantically in Sharpee: These are the things people don’t want from us! Anything that was still on the shelves after that March 14 weekend is out, permanently.”
Vogel encouraged specialty food makers to likewise refine their businesses by taking time that they invested pre-pandemic in servicing their accounts in person and doing live demos, to focus on securing distribution, getting a new certification, or upgrading their packaging.
“This is not a time to sit around and 'woe is me' it, it’s a time to take this moment that we never thought we’d have to really navel gaze and focus on our brands, perfect them, and come out of this thing swinging.”
PCC Community Markets, a 15-store member-owned and operated co-op based in Seattle, opened two new locations during the pandemic despite facing challenges related to its primary distributor being unable to keep up with the increased demand brought on by COVID-19.
“We had to pivot really quick and innovate and what saved us were our secondary suppliers, our local direct store delivery partners, and even the foodservice distributor community who had lots of products and no customers,” said Darrell Vannoy, vice president of merchandising and procurement for PCC. “Private label was also a key component to how we were able to navigate through that disruption. During the height of the pandemic, three of the top five items sold at PCC were private label.”
Another major disruption happened in PCC’s bulk section, after the health department determined that it could no longer use its scoop bins. “We pivoted and got a local produce supplier in a matter of weeks to package some of our bulk items into bags for retail sale and we moved some of our price sensitive items into gravity bins. We were able to maintain our bulk food sales and at PCC bulk foods is our number one category in the whole store,” Vannoy said.
The retailer is gradually bringing back its hot bar and salad bar which account for a large portion of its deli business. It's doing so with guidance from its local health department. “We have sanitizer at the entrance, we change utensils every hour and there is sanitizer on the way out,” said Vannoy. “We’re not near the volume we had been selling but sales are really good and growing every week.”
With a beta launch set for Oct. 12 and a wider rollout planned for Jan. 2021, online retailer Hive hopes to capitalize on consumers’ new-found predilection for online shopping. The retailer endeavors to “create the one-stop-shop for people to vote with their dollars when provisioning their pantry or stocking their homes,” explained Kate Harper, chief brand curator for Hive.
The retail platform is designed to replicate the convenience of Amazon with products that meet Hive’s strict criteria for sustainability, social good, and craveability. By limiting the number of brands in each category, Hive will make it easier for customers to shop and for brands to be discovered, Harper said.
About 100 brands have signed on for the launch and Harper invited makers who’d like to be considered to email brands@hivebrands.com. “We continue to add brands within categories but our number one priority is to make sure we stay true our commitment to be curated and stick to about four to six brands per category,” she said.
Related: SFA Announces Product of the Year Award Winners; How to Break Into the Club Channel.
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