Charlie Gentry’s Post

A large shouldn't be a small with a magnifying glass. While some retailers are discounting and cutting prices on many items, package downsizing (aka shrinkflation) has become the norm for consumers. Fast food joints and restaurants aren't immune those claims. Chipotle is now facing customer complaints, but whether that's true is in the eye of the hungry beholder. The search for value may as well be the search for Spock. We want a bigger bang for our ever-shrinking buck. The shrinkflation issue at restaurants come at a time when fast food chains are facing a backlash over what is becoming expensive combo and value meals. McDonald's and Wendy's have announced meals ranging from $3 to $5 as a way to lure customers back because of quarterly earnings that didn't cut the mustard with Ronald and Dave's daughter. And Burger King has joined the price war with its own cheap eats. It's putting its salsa where it's mouth is. Ironically for Chipotle, the taco bowl king has had gangbuster earnings despite raising prices. Whether or not shrinkflation-gate is true, Chipotle has been proactive about pushing back on the claims (which should be applauded). But it's also gone further by asking dissatisfied customers to reach out so the chain can make it right. From retailers to restaurants, a coming price war may be in our midst. But for consumers, the proof is in the pudding...hopefully, that pudding is the same size as it was last month https://lnkd.in/g8gEgAhD #chipotle #fastfood #restaurant #inflation #shrinkflation #food #consumers #prices

You want fries with that? Apparently not. North America's largest french fry producer, Lamb West (that name has irony written all over it), is tanking in sales, and declining sales at fast food chains and restaurants have everything with it. I wonder what that means for ketchup and poutine sales. The small fries have it. Restaurant prices are rising faster than grocery store prices, which is impacting fast food and restaurant sales. As people eat out less, they consume fewer fries. Even with budget-friendly meal deals that often come with medium fries, people are trading down small fries. That may seem like small potatoes to you, but it's a big deal if you're in the fry business. Can fast food chains stop the ketchup bleeding? So far, not really. From sea to shining seas of vegetable oil, McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's among others have launched value meal deals to lure customers back after summer of inflationary burger discontent. While traffic is still a little off like those sundae machines and sales have stabilized, they haven't helped the french fry business. McDonald’s, Lamb Weston's largest customer, accounts for 13% of its sales. As McDonald’s goes, so goes Lamb Weston. Of course, something that can't be overlooked is our changing dietary habits. And if we want to take that further, Ozempic use is on the rise, and well, fries aren't exactly on the short list of recommended foods while taking that drug. Whatever the case, we're not cooking fries at home, and we're eating less of it when we dine out. Chicken nuggets are still looking good though https://lnkd.in/gxb45_Cb #fastfood #restaurants #frenchfries #consumers #health #diet #lambwest #mcdonalds #supplychain

This is not an isolated incident, unfortunately. Supply and demand planning is fundamentally broken, across industries. 40% of the U.S. food supply is wasted annually due to poor planning. 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: •Americans waste about 60 million tons of food every year – almost 40 percent of the entire US food supply, and equates to 325 pounds of waste per person •That is $408 billion each year on food waste. The average American family of four throws out $1,600 a year in produce. •Sources of food waste in the US: US homes, 43%; Restaurants, grocery stores & food service, 40%; Farms, 16%; Manufacturing, 2% •More than 80% of Americans discard perfectly good, consumable food simply because they misunderstand expiration labels -- Labels like “sell by”, “use by”, “expires on”, “best before” or “best by” are confusing to people I've explored this topic in detail here: https://lnkd.in/gdPUAXj7 Data sources for above: https://lnkd.in/gKKw5aGY https://lnkd.in/gHjwSDAC https://lnkd.in/g-h4xJdr

How can a company as big / technically resourced as #WholeFoods still not figure out supply and demand? Two months ago, I bought a Grilled Chicken Caesar wrap from Whole Foods on a whim (with low expectations) and it was INCREDIBLE. Likely the best wrap I’ve ever had. Since then, I’ve been back to the store 8 times in 3 separate cities looking for the wrap only to find them completely sold out. I’ve tried different days of the week and different times of days (including several weekday mornings). Each time, I left empty-handed. Also each time, they had a surplus of their other wraps leftover - Cranberry Apple Tuna Salad, Chipotle Ranch Turkey, Sonoma Chicken Salad. Not surprising since they’re all kind of soggy and meh imo. They don’t hold a candle to the Chicken Caesar. What am I missing? If you’re selling out of a product every day in multiple locations, why wouldn’t you make more of it? Conversely, if you have a surplus of something consistently sitting on your shelves, why wouldn’t you make less? Seems fundamental to me. But I acknowledge I’ve never run a grocery chain before - maybe I’m overlooking something? 🤷♂️ P.S. if you have a bead on a Whole Foods Chicken Caesar wrap somewhere on the west coast, hit me up. I need a fix. 😬

Pro Tips on Eating Out Responsibly From food writer and public relations maven Jill Silva of Kansas City (60yo) who eats out--a lot. It’s a big part of her job. 1. Allow yourself to enjoy it (within boundaries). “If you go out to eat, you don’t want to order the salad. You want something special.” 2. Ask questions about what’s on the menu, how it’s prepared, and what the ingredients are. You don’t want to be surprised in a bad way when the plate’s put before you. 3. Favor real food as opposed to processed components. “If they can’t tell you how something was prepared, or if it came in a bag, carton or jar, then it’s probably not something good for you,” Silva says. When grocery shopping, go for better bread at a bakery instead of processed loaves off the supermarket shelf, if you can. 4. Remember that higher-end restaurants serve reasonably sized portions, compared to casual chains that encourage gorging. 5. Support local farmers if you can. Grow some produce yourself. You’ll taste the difference. And remember, she says, don’t be a snob about food. It has many places in life, and you should do the best you can to fit it into your #healthylifestyle. #longevitylifestyle #nutritioncoachingSLC #SaltLakePersonalTraining

The beginning of a new day of work begins and the pumpkins have arrived at Albertsons’ Companies in Pocatello, Idaho! Here’s an idea of fun - how about bringing yourself, a friend and/or your family to Albertsons’ Companies and see how many pumpkin items you can find (Hint - The deli has pumpkin soup.)! Albertsons Companies has a habit of providing a huge variety of foods and beverages sure to please your appetite and help you with your celebrations! What is your favorite food or beverage? Habits keep us on course! What habits are essential to your planned course?

At Young’s Seafood, we understand the critical role packaging plays in shaping consumer decisions. Following the Christmas period, shoppers are looking for simple, inspiring meal ideas to ease back into their routines. That’s why we’re inspiring consumers with ideas on the back of pack and across social for how they can use our newly revamped scampi range to make a variety of easy mid-week meals or work from home lunches. This includes: 🌯 Our air-fried scampi wrap, which couldn’t be easier to whip up on a lunch break. Simply cook in the air fryer and then place in a tortilla wrap with lettuce, avocado and a squeeze of lime for a refreshing but filling lunch. 🥢An Asian-inspired snack. Before air frying, coat any of our scampi range in sweet and sour sauce and air fry for the most delicious flavour packed sticky scampi. Serve over a portion of rice or noodles. 🥗 Loaded scampi fries. Pile crispy fries high with Young’s Popcorn Scampi Bites, dollop on some sour cream, add a generous scoop of guacamole, sprinkle over some grated cheese, and finish with a handful of spicy jalapeños. For more information, see the back of our packaging in store 🛍️

Henry David Thoreau may be remembered for his emphatic writing on American self-reliance and simplicity in lifestyle. I speculate that Thoreau prepared and ate many more of his meals at home than he did in restaurants. Today, however, the average 21st century family of American citizens eats more fast food and foods already cooked and designed for reheating and quick eating than food prepared on stoves and in ovens. The average cost of a meal prepared at home consisting of chicken, beans, cornbread, and gravy for three persons is less than 10 dollars. The same meal purchased in a restaurant would cost 25 dollars. More American families eat out and on the run than together at home, resulting in monthly food costs 70 percent greater than eating food prepared at home. Therefore, if you do the math, you will see the general inability of most of the electorate to be self-reliant, to live simply and thriftily. Fast food businesses thrive today in the USA because most Americans are self-indulgent and hardly self-reliant. In fact, most, 65 percent, of the jobs created in the USA every month are jobs working in the fast food and restaurant industry.

So what’s this? ✅ Two fish dinners purchased in my local fishmonger yesterday. ✅ Tasty convenience for a busy professional wrapped up in a tin. ✅ Sustainability… supporting local retail. ✅ Great category management practices at play. The answer is ‘all of the above’. Mondays in our house tend to be fish on the menu and we pretty much go out of our way to go to our local fishmonger shop. It’s more expensive than supermarket offerings which are located nearby and requires a specific visit to the store. So WHY am I not only bothering to shop here but am actively choosing to? This local fishmonger offers great value for money. When I pop in, I feel like I get added value thrown into my retail visit. ✅ Really knowledgeable staff who will advise on cooking instructions, size of fish needed relative to numbers I’m cooking for. ✅ Different solutions to enhance taste. There’s always options with different sauces or pre-prepped ingredients to enhance taste. These two purchases included teriyaki sauce for the salmon and lemon and garlic for the cod. This conveniently makes the offering tastier by pre-matching fish to sauce for me. ✅ Goodwill gesture. The staff member gave me this free lemon, with some advice to use it on the cod. So I left this store, again a happy customer seeing the value add in good old traditional customer service and customer focused retailing and feeling that I got great value for money from this store visit. A win win here. The salmon was delicious and I’m pretty sure that the cod will be too. Don't forget to subscribe to my weekly newsletter - What's In Store? https://lnkd.in/dK3GMkNh #toptetailexpert

False Choices - Part II The Taco Bell Syndrome This is my second postulate on False Choices. Last time, I discussed how wholesalers and retail companies curate your selection. You may think that you have a lot of choices at the grocery, but when you step back, you can see that there are many more options which are not available. Today I want to introduce something that I coined, "The Taco Bell Syndrome." (note: it is not intestinal discomfort after eating questionable foods). The idea originated during renovations at the Pentagon when the old-school cafeteria was replaced with food courts. Officials bragged it would bring more choices and options to building workers. Fast food chains such as McDonalds, Taco Bell, Five Guys, and Subway were the most common. But when you start breaking down the actual food options, there were not as many as you might think. Either it was meat on bread (sandwich or hamburger) or the Taco Bell options. Looking at Taco Bell there were so many options: taco, burrito, tostada, ... Or was there? While different menu options, the taco, burrito, and tostada are all really the same thing: meat, beans, lettuce, tomato, and cheese on a tortilla. Either the tortilla was fried (taco), rolled (burrito), or flat (tostada). It is really no different from McDonalds or Subway: meat, lettuce, tomato, and cheese on bread (tortilla being a variation of bread). They were all the same. Presentation and taste were different, but is there really a choice? Or are we just presented with a curated set of foods that all really have the same base? Before everyone jumps on and mentions Panda Express or Baskin Robbins, and in all fairness to the "Mayor of the Pentagon" there are other, perhaps healthier, options. The "Taco Bell Syndrome" is just another example of how we are presented with false choices. Looking at a large menu, our minds are tricked into thinking we have the freedom to choose, but in fact, Taco Bell has already made the decision for us. Meat, beans, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. On a tortilla.