With a dairy farmer grandpa and a pop in the food-manufacturing business, it wasn’t a surprise that Phil Lempert joined the biz, too. An expert in food trends, Lempert, the self-proclaimed “Supermarket Guru,” weighs in on the coolest, newest innovations in the ever-changing world of supermarkets. (Do you know what a “grocerant” is yet? You’re about to.)
Any big shifts on the traditional grocery store front?
You’re going to see a transition from the traditional supermarket to smaller formats. That doesn’t mean that the [big] stores aren't gonna be successful, but the 30,000 to 40,000-foot supermarket is already struggling and needs to find its way.
How do you think they’ll accomplish that?
If you were above Hy-Vee [a Midwestern supermarket chain] in a helicopter looking down, you’d see a bunch of stores: A convenience store that they own. A coffee shop, a car wash, a gas station. For shoppers looking for a quick in-and-out or something easy, they can pick it up at a big store. And everyone’s doing the click-and-collect model: You click around online, you drive up, you collect your groceries. They’re building things that look like old 1950's hamburger places, with an awning over it, and [employees] bring out the groceries.
What do you think of Amazon Go, the cash-less, checkout-free store to open in Seattle?
[It’s basically] a convenience store where you just come in, put your phone on a kiosk, and it automatically tracks what you’re getting. What’s interesting to me is that it has in the back-room culinarians preparing salads and foods fresh. They’re really combining the sexy part of prepared food with technology. They’re following what Wawa has been doing for 10 years, getting more into prepared foods and fresh foods.
You run the “Grocerant” program for the National Restaurant Association. What on earth is a Grocerant?
It’s a grocery-restaurant combo—full-scale restaurants in supermarkets. What supermarkets are trying to do is evolve into this new model which is "all food all the time for all people". It’s really very successful. Look at Schnucks in St. Louis, a grocerant with live music. There’s valet parking—and you’re going to the supermarket.
Does that actually work to keep people in the supermarket longer?
Yes. The fastest-growing segment in supermarkets is this food-service component. There are a bunch of different ways that whole families can go together. Dad might go to the grocerant with the kids while Mom does the shopping. Whole Foods has [built] free-standing wood buildings within the supermarket with light food that are basically bars for watching sports games. At Mariano’s they have an oyster bar that’s the hot pickup joint in Chicago!
And is everyone sold?
Aging baby boomers and above see supermarkets in a particular way. Millennials, Gen X, and Gen Z do not. To them there’s no difference [between supermarkets and restaurants]. They just want to acquire food…and have the best experience they can, especially Gen Z. At a supermarket you want to [attract] the next generation. If you build a supermarket [just] for 70 year olds, they’re gonna die soon…that’s not really a sustainable business model.
What else is trending?
We’ve certainly seen more people wanting to buy fresh foods. And we’re going to see more combinations of refrigerated, dry [goods], and frozen in certain aisles. I heard this from the VP of marketing of the American Egg Board: A piece of their research is that a lot of people who go into the baking aisle assume they have eggs at home. Then they get home and find that they don’t. To me, it’s natural if a supermarket starts putting a smaller display of eggs in the bakery aisle.
Are people still buying household items at brick-and-mortar grocery stores?
Nobody wants to go shopping for large, bulky brand-names that they’re loyal to. I never want to run out of Charmin toilet paper or Bounty paper towels. I can order now from Alexa...and get [those things] really quick. What that allows a supermarket to do is focus on the sexy stuff. Produce, aromas…imagine if all those unemotional cans and boxes of jars of food were gone and the only thing in the supermarket was this vestibule of fresh foods and frozen foods. Fresh food is aromatherapy.
The new grocery experience sounds like one cute block in Brooklyn, with everything you need sandwiched together.
Absolutely, absolutely. A lot of communities around the country have the desire for that but they don’t have the space like Austin or Brooklyn. They’re trying to create it under one roof. A lot is driven by 9/11 and what the world is like now. We need each other and want to be with each other.
Are grocery stores the new church?
Generation Z is multicultural. The old model of church is people like you: You look around and it’s people like you all over the place. What we’re seeing around food is all the different cultures and all the different ages. What church was in 50s and 60s, the supermarket is now trying to become.
Alex Van Buren is a food and travel writer living in Brooklyn, New York whose work has appeared in Gourmet.com, Bon Appétit, Travel & Leisure, New York Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and Epicurious. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @alexvanburen.
