Reflections

Before starting this project, I was very indifferent about how it was going to go. I wondered how interacting with a large group would turn out. I wondered if finding interesting content would be difficult over the course of the blog. As the weeks went by, I did find that getting interesting content that was different from my group members was getting to be a little difficult, but there still proved to be a great deal of interesting things out there once I started thinking deeper about it.

Before this blog, I honestly never really thought about CSR in the food market industry, so this project allowed me to think deeper about these issues, and i feel like I can say that my views of some stores have changed and that some I never shopped at have become my new favorites based on the information we found. I’m glad we were not only able to research these issues for our own benefit, but to create a public blog for others to see the in depth information that we found, so they too can start thinking deeper about some of the issues.

Some of my favorite things that I researched included information beyond just what everyone might think. I liked researching the community efforts from various grocery stores, showing that some take community very seriously, while others seem to do it just to show that they are making some sort of effort to give back. It was also interesting to see how different stores viewed sustainability. Some take it very seriously and take drastic action to improve their efforts, while others have seemingly nothing to do with sustainability.

Overall, I think this blog proved to be a success. As a group, I feel like we were all able to coordinate well with each other by posting various types of content on the blog each day without being repetitive or losing sight of our goal for the content of our blog.

Reflection of Inside Look at Food Market

Before starting this blog project, I didn’t know much about market industry. The only difference I thought between grocery stores were whether they sell organic produce or not, which is not very surprising because I grew up only going to 4 grocery stores – King Soopers, Walmart, Wholefoods and Sprouts. Whenever I went grocery shopping, I’ve never thought much about their CSR effort. Depending on whether I’m buying organic or not, I went to the closest grocery store to my house.

For the last blog post, I wrote about Safeway’s CSR effort and what I’ve found was actually a bit shocking. Safeway has been rated number one in Seafood Scorecard and Wholefoods came in second. Although the points only differed by 0.1, it was surprising to see how a grocery market that’s known for selling fresh and organic produce is not listed as number one. Although Wholefoods do have other produce that are fresh and organic, it would only makes sense if they have best of everything since their price is higher than any other grocery stores.

Another post I did was on Walmart. Other than having a low price products, I’ve never heard anything good about Walmart. Most of the stuff I’ve heard were how Walmart treats their employees horribly and how their employees can’t even make a living out of their paychecks. Although most of the things I’ve heard about the employee treatment were true, I did find lots of good CSR effort to affect the environment and the community. It turned out not only are they donating millions in money and products to those in need, but also they sponsor lots of non-profit organizations as well.

I’ve tried to be as unbiased as possible when I was writing my blog. However, I could not hide my anger in some of the topics. For instance, I wrote about a former Sprouts Farmers Market employee named Ian, who has a learning disability. He got fired for mistakenly wearing his co-worker’s jacket home. I am not sure how the audience of our blog felt about this incidence, but I was very disappointed at Sprouts Farmers Market and promised myself that I’d never go there again. I’ve told few of my friends and family, who are frequent consumers of Sprouts Farmers Market, to read my post and they all felt the same way as I did.

Overall, I think this was a great experience and I really enjoyed the topic our group chose (Food industry CSR efforts), because I’ve got to learn a lot about many grocery stores and it definitely changed my perspective on them. As I mentioned in the beginning, I didn’t care much about CSR effort when it came to picking a grocery store to go. However, now that I’ve done some research on them, I would definitely choose a grocery store with greater CSR effort even if it is a little further in distance.

Reflections

When we first began this final project, I was not too sure about it.  I say this because I have never been a huge blogger or one to say my thoughts out loud to an audience.  When I studied abroad last summer, I tried this whole blog thing out because all of the girls I went with were blogging to share their experiences with their friends and family.  I thought I would enjoy it however, as much as I enjoyed reading everything they wrote and using their blogs as a way to reminisce on my own experiences, I never was able to get that into it.  Although I was not too sure about this assignment when we started it, I have enjoyed blogging more than I thought I would and have learned a great deal about many things inside and out of the food market industry.  

To start, I have always thought that different stores just carried different kinds of food in order to cater to different audiences.  I also was aware of the different market segments that are driven in to various stores.  For example, the difference between Whole Foods and Walmart is pretty large.  Whole Foods definitely caters to the healthier, more affluent segment of grocery shoppers while Walmart is more fitting for price sensitive consumers needing affordable and healthy food.  Being a frequent shopper at both places, I have always realized the difference between the two and utilized both as a means to satisfy my needs.  

However, after diving more into this topic, I have realized and learned more things than just the obvious.  I think this topic has become extremely interesting to research because the majority of consumers are only aware of the visible actions and CSR efforts different stores display.  What is not noticed is what goes on behind the scenes and becoming aware of different “behind the scenes” actions has broadened my horizons about the true meaning behind CSR efforts.  For example, I am a huge Whole Foods fan and believe their CSR efforts are top notch as they work to provide the freshest ingredients to their customers as well as help out with the environment.  What I did not know was all the controversy behind GMO’s and actual chemicals in their products.  While this will not prevent me from shopping at this store, having that knowledge is something to consider the next time I shop there.  

I think the biggest thing I took away from this assignment was that there is more stuff going on behind close doors than people are aware of.  I also think that when people here about negative things on the places the like to shop, they choose not believe it.  Although everything we posted and shared about CSR in the food market industry will likely not change if consumers ultimately shop at these places or not, I hope we were able to bring knowledge and awareness to people about different topics they may not think twice about.  

Overall, I enjoyed this assignment as well as the other assignments we have done this semester!  I think mostly everything we have done is applicable to my everyday in some shape or form.  I have learned a great deal about information on this topic as well as myself as a person and couldn’t be more thankful for that!

 

Reflection of Inside Look at Food Markets

When we first started talking about food market CSR I thought that the only major difference between grocery stores were that some sold more healthy foods, while others spent time trying to give the lowest price to the customer, both important aspects of grocery store CSR efforts. As I looked further into grocery stores I found that every company large and small takes a different approach to how they incorporate CSR with their employees and communities.

Our group goal was to produce unbiased blogs about things that we read about from Walmart to Lucky’s market. From my first blog to my last I found this difficult because naturally I try to find the best in the articles I read and throughout my post I can see that I did focus more on the positive that the grocery stores are doing.

Starting out with my first couple of blog posts I wanted to focus on how grocery stores, specifically Walmart and Whole Foods, treat their employees with concern to wages. With Walmart catching so much heat for their employee wages, I thought this was the perfect place to start my blog. Surprisingly, I found out that the wages they pay are above minimum wage but the fact that if they raised prices 1 penny they could subsequently raise employee wages enough to keep these employees off food stamps.  This in turn would save the government hundreds of millions of dollars in food stamps.  This stuck with me as something they should do.

In my last two blogs I wanted to see what grocery stores were doing to help their communities. At the beginning of my search I thought I would find grocery stores going out and helping local farmers, but company’s like Safeway and Kroger do so much more in their communities, like volunteering and donating money to breast cancer. Safeway really hit close to home with all the work they do with people with disabilities and the time and effort Safeway puts into helping people with disabilities live a normal life. It gave me the sense that Safeway treats their employees and community like family.

Overall I thought the group blog was a very good experience. Learning how to connect with people over the Internet with common interests that I have never met can be a very beneficial to my future career. I learned a lot throughout the whole class but especially the blog and how important social media is to spread your thoughts for thousands to read!

What’s next for Safeway?

Safeway has been bought by the owner of Albertsons (Cerberus Capital Management) in the beginning of 2014. However, even before Safeway agreed to be bought by Cerberus Capital Management, it has a long history of CSR effort. Like other large grocery chains, Safeway has a website solely on their CSR effort. Its main three focuses are people, community and the planet.

Safeway believes a healthy community starts with healthy employees. Hence, they’ve developed a range of programs to make physical activities easy and reachable. The programs include competitions, discounts, in-person supports and many more. Hence the employees can find a program that fits their lifestyles. Another aspect of Safeway’s CSR effort on people is striving to have employees from all different backgrounds. They have developed programs to educate and support all of the employees. The committees have regular meetings to ensure the work environment is safe for the employees. To ensure the health and safety of the customers, Safeway checks government recall lists persistently and let the customers know about potentially unsafe and defective products.

The Safeway Foundation supports the communities through fundraising, food donations and volunteer efforts. About $300 million were donated to relieve hunger and help people with disabilities and about $500 million were donated for education and research purposes. However, donation is not the only way the Safeway Foundation affects communities. More than 1 million volunteer hours were logged by their employees in 2012. This stands out from any other grocery chains, because although other grocery chains support the communities by donating food and money, we don’t often see their employees going out to the communities tovolunteer.

To improve its effect on the environment, Safeway is always looking for ways to innovate in product packaging. For instance, Safeway is using environmental friendly containers. The Safeway Foundation also has partnered with Fishwise to preserve the health of our oceans. Its effort on supporting marine conservation has been recognized by Greenpeace USA for three years.

Overall, the Safeway Foundation has raised and donated over $ 1 billion in products and money since 2001. Since it has been taken over by a new owner, I hope to see more great CSR efforts.

By Jaelynn

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References:

Safeway CSR website

Safeway information

The Inside Scoop on Trader Joes

As many people are aware, Trader Joe’s is a popular grocery store in many areas throughout the United States.  They operate hundreds of stores throughout 25 states nationwide.

However, what you may not know is how much the company is driven by their core values in providing great everyday prices on all of their great products.  They ensure these values are instilled in each one of their stores nationwide.  Furthermore, Trader Joe’s prides themselves on this by buying directly from suppliers, monitoring the profits they make off each individual product they sell, buying in bulk to get the best deals, not charging suppliers slotting fees as well as minimizing costs.  In essence, they say they “focus on what matters” meaning great food + great prices = value (Trader Joe’s, Our Story).    

On a greater scale, Trader Joe’s is committed to neighborhood involvement.  They feel that because they are a grocery store providing a wide variety of food, helping fight hunger is at the core of their priorities.  One of the biggest things they partake in is neighborhood donations.  As of 2013, Trader Joe’s donated more than $260 million of food products to food banks throughout the United States (Trader Joe’s, Neighborhood Involvement).   More so, they do not put any products to waste.  If a product is not fitting for retail sale but could still be consumed by a person in need, they ensure these products are sent directly to them and not put to waste.  Each individual store no matter where you live is interested in donating to or getting involved with events in the area.  

Along with this, many believe they have their business model figured out  in an unconventional way that attracts consumers around the US (Forbes).  Trader Joe’s uniquely selects and packages their products while twisting the traditional ways of store layouts and graphics.  With this in mind, they want to keep their customer’s shopping experience “fresh and unique” and are never satisfied.  They want to hear what their customers have to say and always want to help the people they serve in the best ways they can.  

In a sense, Trader Joe’s has been impacting the nation is more good ways than bad.  WIth their constant outlook on the surrounding community and betting the lives of others, Trader Joe’s is definitely committed to the companies core values.  In the ever-changing world we live in, it is nice to see a company always striving to be the best and working for more than a profit!

By: Megan Bruhn

Reflecting Upon an Inside Look at Food Markets

After completing my last blog post and the course’s requirements I have learned a lot about food markets and all that comes along with them. I did not realize several aspects of the food market such as how grocery stores deal with excess food, employee wages, and some of the deceptive tactics that companies such as Whole Foods.

Before beginning the group blog project I thought that all grocery stores were the same when it came to the products that they offered and the policies that they followed. After doing research on the topic I discovered that I was very wrong. For example I did not realize that Trader Joe’s had a food donation program in place and that they paid their employees higher wages than any other food market. Another thing that I learned was that Whole Foods may not be as healthy, organic, and green as everyone thinks.

I found the topic about Whole Foods and their sale of GMOs and non-organic products interesting. I have always been a bit of a skeptic to Whole Foods and the fact that they try to make it seem that their entire store is filled with products that are organic and not genetically modified in anyway, and to discover that this is not true was disappointing. It was disappointing because this supposed to be “utopia” of natural, clean, and green food was in fact not organic. To find out that over a quarter of all Whole Foods Locations carry foods that are not organic or have been genetically modified was eye-opening.

Another thing that I found shocking was the fact that Whole Food employees directly lie to their customers by saying that “If the product had GMOs in it then it would not be in the store.” Something needs to be done about the deception and trickery that is occurring at Whole Foods.

I am really happy that we chose the food industry as the topic of our blog. It gave me an outlet to educate, inform, and guide people interested in CSR efforts within the food industry, including myself.

 

Inside Look at Grocery Retailing

Today, grocery shopping has been taken to a whole new level as many people are beginning to use non-traditional means to get the groceries they need.  This includes grocery shopping online and shopping and newer unconventional supermarkets.  Continuing, there is an increasing trend to “eat healthy” and shop at grocery stores known for their natural and organic products (Food Editorial).  But what exactly does natural and organic mean?  Organic is a word the describes how farmers grow and process agricultural products.  In essence, the main goal is to be environmental friendly and reduce the amount of chemicals and processes the products undergo.  Although there a many key differences between conventional and organic farming, the key difference is in the chemicals and fertilizers used to enhance the products.  

Despite this growing trend, it has been found that nearly 45% of primary grocery shoppers prefer and still shop at traditional stores in their local areas (Mintel Issues/Insights, 2014).  The majority of shoppers are still loyal to the familiar places they they grew up with and many aren’t willing to pay the switching costs of going against their norm.  Although stores like Whole Foods, Alfalfa’s and Sprouts are becoming more and more popular with the increasing trend to eat healthy, the vast majority of people across the United States prefer the standard supermarket (Mintel Executive Summary 2013).  Not surprisingly, a study found that the majority of primary grocery shoppers shop at supermarkets like Kroger, Safeway and Publix with Whole Foods falling significantly behind.   

However, many people wonder if a shift will occur from traditional supermarkets to the smaller, healthier grocery stores.  Eating healthy and organic doesn’t come cheap and it is found that even with this trend on the rise, many shoppers base the place they shop at off price.  As of February 2014 (Mintel Issues 2014), the primary consumer need for the majority of grocery shoppers is price at 54%, as opposed to healthy and organic products at 17%

  

As much as this trend is on the rise, I think it will be hard for companies to capture a majority of the market share nationwide.  To check out the full report on grocery store retailing in the United States, be sure to visit Mintel Academic Online.  

By: Megan Bruhn

What Whole Foods Isn’t Telling You

Whole Foods is known as the “mecca” in providing food that was produced in a sustainable and responsible manner. However there are a few things that this food market giant is hiding from its customers.  Whole Foods uses an impeccable marketing strategy to ensure customers that they are receiving the freshest and best quality food possible, when in reality the customers are not always buying organic and non-GMO products. In some cases Whole Foods’ employees will directly lie to their customer when asked about the quality and contents of the food.

Whole Foods is certified as an organic grocery store (CCOF-California Certified Organic Farmers) however they do not always carry organic products and are often missing organic products from the “dirty dozen” list of produce. The “dirty dozen” is a dozen fruits and vegetables that should be bought organic due to the high levels of pesticides and chemicals used in their production.  Whole Foods also offers a selection of food that is ready to eat at most locations, once again the majority of this food is anything but organic. Rather than using organic, fresh products, Whole Foods decides to use high levels of cheap oils, MSG and GMOs in their pre-prepared foods.

In the video “Organic Spies” Whole Foods employees are asked if there are GMOs in the products at Whole Foods and most employees said that they did not carry any products that had GMOs. This is not true as nearly a quarter of Whole Foods locations carry foods with GMOs. Whole Foods also uses several deceptive marketing strategies and campaigns to put false perceptions into their customers’ minds about what is in the product they are purchasing.

It is time for Whole Foods to be more transparent about what they are actually selling to their extremely loyal customers. The video at the end of the post is very insightful to Whole Foods’ strategies to deceive customers. This leads to the question: When will it be time for grocery stores be required to label foods that have GMOs in them? Next time you walk into your local Whole Foods I encourage you to do some research of your own to determine what you are really buying from this certified organic grocery store.

 

For an inside look at Whole Foods and GMOs check out this video captured with a hidden camera!

 

How is Target contributing?

After reading company statements for various large retailers about CSR and their efforts of addressing how they are contributing, I have found that Target seems to have some of the best CSR reports displayed for all to see.  They pride themselves on having a strong “commitment to environmental sustainability, responsible sourcing, strong, healthy and safe communities, being a great place to work, and our legacy of giving and service.” In addition to this commitment, they have published reports on their progress of CSR.

Their reports list what they have done, the impact their actions have made in addition to their future plans to be more sustainable. By the year of 2017, they have a goal of offering a large variety of organic food. Ways they have already become sustainable include using renewable and recycled content for their packaging in addition to eliminating more waste, water and energy throughout their stores.

We see Target implementing various environmental and sustainable procedures, but a few other topics they take very seriously consist of team member well being by offering free health assessments as well as cancer screenings and help of using financial tools. They also really value educational support and volunteerism, with their donations surpassing 800 million dollars.

Target seems to be taking a look at many important things from sustainability, community and employee help, they are certainly putting forth their effort to contribute to positive CSR.

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Target