Healthy eaters in your shop: a top stock list

Mark Bittman writes an excellent article in Time on How to Eat Now encouraging people to eat at home because it’s good for you, for your family and it’s far easier than you think.

He challenges why so many people are eating “hyperprocessed food, the stuff that is correctly called junk and should really carry warning labels.”

He believes preparing food should be a source of comfort, pride, health, well-being, relaxation and sociability for people. Something that connects us to other humans.

The solution to the obesity epidemic he says is to do it yourself, eat meals and stop gaining 25% of our daily calories from snacks.

Helpfully, Time prints a list of store cupboard basics so that you know what to stock for local shoppers who subscribe to the above ideas.

Here are Mark’s pantry basics. How many do you stock?

Spices and herbs

· Salt and black pepper

· Ground cumin

· Chili powder

· Fresh herbs

· Dried chilis

Oils and condiments

· Extra virgin olive oil

· Soy sauce

Staples

· Pasta or other noodles

· Canned beans

· Coconut milk

· Stock

Long-storing fruit and vegetables

· Onions

· Garlic

· Lemons and limes

· Frozen vegetables

Long-storing dairy and meat

· Eggs

· Butter.

Time adds the following in each section:

· Spices and herbs: curry powder, smoked paprika, dried thyme, dried oregano, dried rosemary, dried dill, dried sage, garlic powder, ground ginger, cayenne.

· Oils and condiments: vegetable oil, sherry or wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise, hot sauces, ketchup, fish sauce, rice vinegar, dark sesame oil, barbecue sauce.

· Staples: rice, whole grains, dried beans, oil-packed tuna, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, peanut butter, nuts or seeds, honey or maple syrup, anchovies or sardines.

· Long-storing fruit and vegetables: ginger root, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage, frozen fruit, celery root, squashes, shallots, oranges, apples.

· Long-storing dairy and meat: bacon or ham, milk or cream, yoghurt, Parmesan cheese, other hard cheeses, Ricotta cheese, goat cheese, sour cream.

Digital disruption in the UK wholesale space

“Twenty years ago I was driving boxes to the post office in my Chevy Blazer and dreaming of a forklift,” says Jeff Bezos in his most recent letter to shareholders. A blink later and he points out that the company has grown from 30,000 employees in 2010 to 230,000 now. But his ambition is the same. “We want to be a large company that’s also an invention machine. We want to combine the extraordinary customer-serving capabilities that are enabled by size with the speed of movement, nimbleness and risk-acceptance mentality that is normally associated with entrepreneurial start-ups.” Amazon is great at disruption because of its customers focus and the fact that the internet means it needs none (or very few) people between its warehouses and the shopper. The threat of Prime, its membership service, is the biggest challenge facing the UK retail market and the wholesale market by extension. It is both a direct threat and an indirect threat in that is inspiring countless numbers of othe...

New look: big copy small?

The owners of B&Q are talking up how they have cut the price of a store refit from £2.5m to £1m by using wood-effect vinyl instead of wood and painted MDF backboards for displays. Managers are learning to live with grey shelving instead of a warmer-looking cream. Shoppers notice the produce, not the fixtures, suggests one executive. Up to a point! Most local retailers will extract the maximum possible life from their fixtures, sometimes taking too long to change equipment that has become tired. As in all business, it is getting the balance right. Shops need to be refreshed and with a purpose.

What do shoppers see

I read a good post (http://www.newsagencyblog.com.au/2009/08/28/what-do-newsagents-charge-for-faxing.html) asking what price local shops charge for providing a fax service. The blogger had attached a photograph of his sign with his prices on it. What struck me was the message on the sign. "You drop, we fax," it said. "Pressed for time, drop your documents with us and we'll do it for you at no extra charge." That is a message that will persuade most shoppers that you want to give them good value, even if they stay to do the copying or faxing themselves.

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