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feature The end of Big Food? By Stephanie DeCamp Bourdain says major chain supermarkets won't survive the 'new normal' of millennial shopping behavior - unless their ready to change, and quickly. C elebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was asked this summer if he saw grocery chains being able to keep up with this generation's rapidly changing food trends. Bourdain's reply was immediate: No. "To be perfectly honest," he said while at this year's IDDBA conference, "I think we're looking at what we've seen with the record business, the book selling business, and the television business - fragmentation into specialized areas ... So can you keep up? I think there's going to be the place that's really strong on meat, and has personal, hand-selling people, like the butcher you want that knows how to cook the meat, puts aside stuff for special customers - old school. I think we'll have to adapt to the old-school (way of doing things) and specializing. You'll have to figure out, 'What do I do better than that guy over there?' or, 'What do I do that's different?'" To illustrate his opinion, Bourdain shared his own preferences and habits when it comes to purchasing groceries, which largely seem to reflect the habits of the average millennial city-dweller. 16 * JULY 2016 * instore "If it's physically heavy and I don't want to carry it, I order it (through) FreshDirect and they bring it to me," he says. "So basically, if it's not perishable, I'm buying it online. I'm only going to an actual supermarket if I need to make sure the tomato's ripe or I want to smell it or hold it. If it's meat, I want to look the butcher in the eye. Fish is the same thing. And cheese. I'm not trusting anybody to pick my cheese for me." And who's responsible for these changes? Millennials, of course. Millennials' creation of the new normal Bourdain's predictions regarding specialization spring from what has been on the lips of every mover and shaker in the industry for years: millennials are changing everything, from what products supermarkets and c-stores carry to the design of the facility itself; from how they place value on a meal - be it from a retail store or a restaurant - to the seriousness with which food is now taken. "I can tell you, you're going to be much cooler, and certainly get a lot

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of instore - July 2016

TARGET AUDIENCE More on millennials
ON OUR RADAR
BY THE NUMBERS Cupcakes
Millennial mindset
The end of Big Food?
commissary INSIDER - July 2016
Insight Insider: Mrs. Gerry’s builds room to grow
Yes, there is a Mrs. Gerry
Food Safety: Corrugated packaging vs. reusable plastic containers (Part 1 of 2)
Equipment: Flexibility with depositors
Product Category Spotlight: Cooked, cured meats
Technology: High pressure pasteurization
Research and development: Hard-boiled eggs: the next big thing for graband- go snacking
NEED TO KNOW Malt & molasses
CONSIDER Trending cheese flavors
LATEST INNOVATION Labor savers
ON DISPLAY Grab-and-go lunch
FIRST TO MARKET
product showcase
AD INDEX

instore - July 2016