Influx Insights Tag Feed: food

food stockpilling in the us

Influx Insights — 2008-04-28T17:07:12Z

The Daily Show puts the idea that Americans are now hoarding and stockpilling basic supplies like rice, into very sharp focus.

Sam's Club now restricts rice purchases to four bags per visit.

Of course, we know The Daily Show's stock in trade is satire, but the WSJ?

"I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

No, this is not a drill.

You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.

Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.

"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)

Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax."

Could Americans be so scared and fearful of rising prices that this Summer we will see mile long lines at gas stations and riots in the grocery aisles over bread, pasta and rice?

Posted by Ed Cotton

growing food in transit

Influx Insights — 2008-03-30T05:10:52Z

Interesting idea from design student Agata Jaworska.

She imagines a world where we shift from thinking about "best before" and move to "ready by", as a new way of food production.

Food could be made in transit and trucks into turned into growing factories!

Via

Posted by Ed Cotton

home farming will be the hot new trend

Influx Insights — 2008-02-21T21:12:49Z

With food prices going out of control and everyone in recession mode, are we all going to start growing our own?

Will chickens soon be heard all over suburbia?

Will we be abandoning our lawns and growing wheat?

Obviously, this is a little OTT, but there's certainly something going on out there.

The desire to take control of your own food supply and to bring costs down is strong.

There's certainly a business opportunity here for brands who can bring out the farmer in all of us.

However, this being the C21st, we aren't so good at the heavy lifting side of the farming business, we want things to grow on our own terms, not theirs.

We need crops that are in tune with our way of life and deliver what we want and need.

In short, we need designer crops.

Of course, they are already here and appearing on your television set. These tomato plants look positively scary. These tomatoes were certainly created in a laboratory and it appears if they aren't controlled, they could easily take over the burbs.

Posted by Ed Cotton

the bay area- america's food paradise

Influx Insights — 2007-11-08T04:31:08Z

Since I live in the Bay Area, I take it for granted that we have amazing restaurants great wine and fresh abundant ingredients, then I saw this store signage in Columbus, Ohio and realized the Bay Area is probably THE foodie mecca of the US. A place that has a big enough story to anchor a business around.

Posted by Ed Cotton

a trip inside tesco's new us grocery store-fresh & easy

Influx Insights — 2007-11-04T19:21:06Z

The folks at Tesco just posted a video of a quick tour through one of its new Fresh & Easy stores.

From the fleeting video, it looks like a brand with values, not perhaps as extreme as Whole Foods, but a step-up from your average grocery chain.

The same can be said for the overall experience.

Posted by Ed Cotton

a film about america's corn diet

Influx Insights — 2007-10-13T02:54:01Z

If you've read the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, you will be well aware of how the influence and impact of corn on America's diet, now there's a new documentary, King Corn, that covers the topic.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx interview - aron hegyi- slow food nation

Influx Insights — 2007-06-27T15:44:45Z

For four days next May, the Slow Food movement will descend on San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, for Slow Food Nation (a festival about all things Slow Food). Influx caught up with one of the organizers, Aron Heygi, to learn more.

1. What is Slow Food Nation about?

Slow Food Nation is a campaign to change the way America produces and eats food. It will demonstrate how everyday choices affect our well being, our culture, and the health of the planet. Slow Food Nation's goal combines pleasure with responsibility to inspire a new activism with food at its core.

2. Why now and why San Francisco?

America is ripe for an event like this - the last couple of years in particular have seen large growth in organic and local foods, and this event will galvanize the Slow Food movement to spread the message far and wide that food should be good, clean, and fair. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, notes that globally we are at a crucial point in history. In his new book Slow Food Nation (coincidentally the same name as our campaign), he presents a case for why food should be delicious, nutritionally and environmentally sound, and wherein the food production systems are socially just.

The first Slow Food Nation will be in San Francisco, as it and the Bay Area are focal points for the Slow Food movement and for the organic food movement. Here in the Bay Area, there is a richness of agricultural bounty that goes back to the late 1800s, when immigrants came to the area and found that the climate was suitable for a myriad of products.

In the 1970s, Alice Waters, of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, was one of the first to promote organic and local produce, which has developed into a way of life for some in the Bay Area. Bringing people to the Bay Area to see this bounty can encourage folks to go back to their respective homes and push for changes in the way food is produced, grown, and eaten.

3. Does corporate America understand the movement, if so, which part?

One of the reasons for having the Slow Food Nation campaign is to make "corporate America" -- as well as everyone else in America -- aware of the impact that their food choices have. For example, the average piece of food travels 1500 miles from farm to fork. Those miles create a decrease in quality of the food, contribute to global warming, and use unnecessary energy to transport the food. Ecogastronomical education is essential to people in all sectors, as food is something that affects every one of us.

4. What cities do you believe would be next on your list for the event?

We're not sure yet...

5. Who did your branding, logo etc?

Albertson Design, a wonderful design firm here in San Francisco

Posted by Ed Cotton

the coming war on ingredients

Influx Insights — 2007-05-28T14:57:23Z

For years, the Hartman Group has been one of the country’s leading market research authorities on the consumers’ relationship with all things natural and green. They recently published a report on “Sustainability”.

Firstly, they researched the term itself and found it has little meaning for consumers.

“While the results of our research show that among everyday consumers the term "sustainability" is not widely used, not widely understood, and not very useful in terms of consumer product marketing, our findings clearly show that a cultural shift is taking place in terms of consumer awareness, acceptance and practices that relate to this term. Specifically there is a convergence between consumer trends in health and wellness and the broad scale use of the term "sustainability" by industry, the media and public interest stakeholders. From a marketing perspective, the umbrella term "sustainability" may be of little help to selling specific products (most consumers still are not currently going shopping saying to themselves, "I think I'll buy sustainably today"), but many of the concepts found within "sustainability" have the ability to resonate powerfully with certain segments of the consumer market.

Hartman also identified relevant consumer segments.

“Consumers within the World of Sustainability have different behavioral and emotional mindsets when it comes to how intensely they are involved with sustainable beliefs and activities, including orientations toward packaging, recycling and corporate transparency. Consumers at the “Periphery” of the World of Sustainability (16 percent of the population) tend to concentrate their awareness of risks on their personal lives and bodies, while those consumers most active in the world of sustainability at the “Core” (also 16 percent of the population) tend to extend their risk awareness outward from their bodies to broader environments ranging from their community to globally. In between periphery and core consumers with a sustainability consciousness, are Mid-level consumers, who comprise a substantial 60 percent of Americans. While they tend to focus on risks to the body, they also examine risks to their surroundings at home as well as in society.”

Interestingly, the starting point for any individual’s focus on the bigger issues starts with the most personal of all, what they are doing to and putting into their own bodies.

This is the reason why food safety and ingredients are becoming such a major issue for brands. We’ve seen it with E-Coli and spinach, with the bans on trans-fats, the research done by the Silent Spring Institute to identify 216 chemicals that cause breast tumors in animals and in the new “hot” issue about sodium benzoate in soda.

Influx believes that these events will trigger a rigorous auditing process of our food supply, lead by pressure groups and scientists to weed out harmful ingredients. Obviously, for brands, this is easier said than done, many of the ingredients are used to preserve shelf life. However, brands have the option of either standing by on the sidelines and waiting, while more “natural” competitors starting taking share or start taking steps themselves.

brand pricing and agflation

Influx Insights — 2007-06-06T23:46:17Z

It might help the environment, but ethanol is wrecking havoc with food prices. Ethanol production is expected to take 27% of the US’s corn crop, taking corn out of the food supply chain and pushing up prices.

Back in February, Influx warned readers about this trend.

Hershey recently announced that its under financial pressure from rising corn prices. It doesn’t directly use corn in chocolate, but it uses lots of dairy product, for which costs are rising, because cattle are fed corn.

Restaurant chain PF Chang's highlighted the impact of rising corn prices on overall food costs, in its recent presentation to investors.

This phenomenon has led Merrill Lynch’s Chief Investment Strategist, Richard Bernstein to coin the phrase “agflation”.

“Food prices are rising, putting upward pressure on producer and consumer inflation. We call this phenomenon "agflation." Given the expanding constraints on food supply, the changing demand for food and the entrance of the energy business as mass consumers of food products, it is not surprising to see food prices rapidly putting upward pressure on overall inflation

Agflation is bad news for the consumer, who is already under pressure from higher energy prices. For the food companies, however, it could be good news as many companies have been able to pass along those higher costs to the end user.”

3 players threatened by tesco's fresh and easy

Influx Insights — 2007-04-30T18:28:52Z

Tesco's entry into the US market with Fresh and Easy stores is being watched with considerable interest.

The company has clearly done their homework to identify a "Blue Ocean" in the cluttered grocery store space.

There seems to be considerable opportunity for the concept and it could be enough to worry some players in the market.

1. 7-11- Occupies the neigborhood default space. Used for emergencies and impulse shops. Does 7-11's position diminish when Tesco enters the neigborhood?

2. Trader Joes- Occupies an interesting niche- focus on value, quality and healthier products. However, lacks the fresh foods that Fresh and Easy promises.

3. Vons- Mall based, not in the neighborhood which places Fresh and Easy at an advantage. Convenience of neigborhood offering, quality of food and lack of clutter could attract Vons customers.

It should be noted that Fresh and Easy's entry is going to be fairly small scale; it's picking markets only in Nevada, Southern California and Arizona.

However, Tesco is a financial powerhouse and if the concept appears to be succeeding, it has the potential to accelerate the expansion.

clearly expressing your product benefit

Influx Insights — 2007-04-21T21:57:28Z

DDB Dallas- 1996