Supermarket Perimeter - August 2020 - 3

Editor's note

Editorial
JOHN UNREIN
Editor
ANDY NELSON
Managing Editor
EMILY PARK
Digital Associate Editor
Publishing
TROY ASHBY
Publisher
JAMES BODDICKER
National Sales Manager
LILY ALVAREZ
Sales Manager Classified Ads
MICHAEL BARBEE
Audience Development Director
DUSTIN PICKMAN
Audience Development Analyst
LINDSEY SHERIDAN
Audience Database Specialist
CARLEA SCHULER
Audience Development Coordinator
JON HALL
Director of Digital Media
CARRIE FLUEGGE
Digital Advertising Manager
NORA WAGES
Advertising Manager
ANNIE FOURNIER
Advertising Coordinator
ELISABETH SPILLMAN
Design Services Manager
RYAN ALCANTARA
Design Services
Assistant Manager
MARJ POTTS
Production Specialist
BECKY WHITE
Senior Design Consultant
FIONA DANKER
Graphic Designer
JIM WHITE
Promotions Manager

Cheese,
please

An extra slice of swiss on the burger. More shredded cheddar in
the wrap. Grilled cheese popping up more in the dinner rotation.
I seem to be riding one of the many culinary coronavirus era
waves (it's not just sourdough): the "more cheese, please" wave.
I always eat a lot of the stuff, but there must be something about these strange times we
live in that stimulates the "comfort food" region of my brain, which seems to be the same
place occupied by cheese cravings.
Many of my fellow Americans seem to agree.
In early July, natural cheese sales were up 19.1% over the same week the year before, and
deli cheese sales were up 8.4%, according to 210 Analytics and IRI data.
The deli cheese performance was especially impressive, considering that deli department
sales as a whole fell 11.3% for the week.
Cheese did even better in June, when prices reached a record high of $2.59 per pound
for a 40-pound block of cheddar on the CME exchange. The next day set another record -
$2.81 a pound.
The news has generated enough buzz to crack the mainstream media, with a June New
York Times article diving into the trend and its origins.
"Consumers are buying way more cheese, even as the usually huge demand from
restaurants and schools has fallen off," the story reads. "Dairy farmers and prepared-food
companies, which supply ingredients to cheese makers or buy their products, have seen
disruptions in their businesses. Together, these countervailing forces have fueled the upand-down trading in the market."
Funny to think of cheese as a hotly traded commodity like hog futures or oil, but stranger
things have come out of this pandemic.
As the numbers show, it's a good thing for retail grocery delis that cheese is performing
so well.
Other deli categories, hot prepared foods in particular, have suffered mightily because
of COVID.
So until things get back to "normal," here's hoping we cheeseheads keep buying in
comfort-craving quantities.

ABBY CHRONISTER
Promotions Media Designer
WHITNEY HARTMAN
Sales Coordinator
Corporate
CHARLES S. SOSL AND
Chairman and CEO
L. JOSHUA SOSL AND
President
STACI GRECO
Chief Financial and
Administrative Officer
MEYER SOSL AND
Chief Operating Officer
and Executive Editor
JIM SAL ADIN
Chief Marketing Officer

ANDY NELSON
anelson@sosland.com

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Supermarket Perimeter - August 2020

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