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The 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act established “Standards for Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption,” commonly known as the “Produce Rule” (PR). Interviews with nine food retailers form a case study of the retail sector’s food safety requirements for produce suppliers and how they might change in response to the PR, which began phased implementation in January 2018. Although thirdparty audits of food safety practices are commonly demanded by retailers, the PR does not require these audits and provides exemptions and variances for smaller growers or particular commodities. This study, one in a series examining how growers adapt to evolving food safety requirements, found it likely that retailers already requiring third-party audits will continue to do so. Responses also indicated retailers will likely continue to impose food safety requirements on growers uniformly, rather than spend the time and resources to understand and adhere to the nuances of the PR’s compliance criteria. The interviewed retailers noted they lost suppliers in the past when new food safety standards were introduced, and they expect some growers may stop supplying them when the PR takes effect. However, they believe the PR will not drastically affect their growers but will have the greatest impact on growers outside their supply chains.

A series of coordinated case studies compares the structure, size, and performance of local food supply chains with those of mainstream supply chains. Interviews and site visits with farms and businesses, supplemented with secondary data, describe how food moves from farms to consumers in 15 food supply chains. Key comparisons between supply chains include the degree of product differentiation, diversification of marketing outlets, and information conveyed to consumers about product origin. The cases highlight differences in prices and the distribution of revenues among supply chain participants, local retention of wages and proprietor income, transportation fuel use, and social capital creation.

We measure the links between store attribute perceptions and customer satisfaction, and between customer satisfaction and sales performance, in the food retail sector. Our data set consists of six waves of customer satisfaction and sales information for about 250 stores over the period 1998- 2001 for a publicly held supermarket company. We construct a statistical model to address nonlinearities and asymmetries in the satisfaction-sales performance links, and we illustrate how food retailers can affect store revenues by managing customer satisfaction. Contributions of our study include the analysis of behavioral consequences of customer satisfaction in the food retail sector, the measurement of complexities of the satisfaction-sales performance links based on an empirical model of first differences, and a discussion of how managers can use such results for customer satisfaction policies.

We measure the links between store attribute perceptions and customer satisfaction, and between customer satisfaction and sales performance, in the food retail sector. Our data set consists of six waves of customer satisfaction and sales information for about 250 stores over the period 1998-2001 for a publicly held supermarket company. We construct a statistical model to address nonlinearities and asymmetries in the satisfaction-sales performance links, and we illustrate how food retailers can affect store revenues by managing customer satisfaction. Contributions of our study include the analysis of behavioral consequences of customer satisfaction in the food retail sector, the measurement of complexities of the satisfaction-sales performance links based on an empirical model of first differences, and a discussion of how managers can use such results for customer satisfaction policies.

Much of the success of the produce industry relies on a carefully choreographed supply chain. Planting the perfect varieties, harvesting at the peak of ripeness, packing in customized cartons, transporting fresh produce thousands of miles, and merchandising, marketing and promoting it at just the right moment, is a feat that relies on careful and detailed communication and coordination between grower/shippers and produce retailers. The objective of this study is to document the status, challenges and changes within the fresh produce distribution system. The method guiding this study has three major components: (1) a review of the relevant trade and academic literature on the fresh produce industry, (2) an extensive mail questionnaire directed at produce retailers, and (3) focus groups with grower/shippers. The retail questionnaire was sent to 270 produce retail executives in April 2001. At each retail firm, senior-level produce executives were asked to complete a questionnaire by describing supply chain management practices within their organizations for 1996 and today, 2001. Furthermore, they were asked to projectwhat the practices will be 5 years into the future, in 2006. The survey generated 44 useable questionnaire responses, from a representative sample of supermarkets in terms both of geographical and size distribution. Respondents ranged from a number of singlestore operators to the very largest of multi-billiondollar retail operators. Such representativeness allows for a cautious generalization from the survey results to the produce industry as a whole.

Mergers, acquisitions, and internal growth among grocery retailers, largely since 1996, have increased the share of grocery store sales accounted for by the largest 4, 8, and 20 food retailers nationwide. Similar consolidation is occurring among food wholesalers. At the same time, new packaged and branded produce items are gaining acceptance with consumers and vying for shelf space in the supermarket produce department. Growers, shippers, and their trade associations fear the possibility of fewer buyers for their products, particularly if new marketing and trade practices such as volume incentive rebates and slotting fees become widespread. This report uses data from the Censuses of Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade and industry sources to examine changes in produce markets and market channels from 1987 to 1997 in the United States. It is the first in a series of reports that will examine competitive behavior in the produce industry.

The way in which produce companies do business has changed quite dramatically from a decade ago. Documenting many of these changes is the objective of this report. The report is the third in a series of annual research projects conducted by The Food Industry Management Program at Cornell University for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA). This year the theme is “the new dynamics of produce buying and selling.” The method guiding this study has three principal components: (1) a review of the relevant trade and academic literature on the fresh produce industry, (2) an extensive mail questionnaire directed at produce retailers, and (3) personal interviews with shippers around the United States, including three extensive focus group sessions in the Northeast, Northwest and California.

The retail food industry has taken initiatives to improve cost and to return the focus of management to the consumer. Among these initiatives are Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) and category management. A mail questionnaire elicited perceptions on these issues from 95 executives among U.S. food wholesalers and retailers. This study found that ECR category management are being used to streamline costs and to remove logistical inefficiencies. Although it is widely recognized that category management provides a consumer focus, distributors seemingly brush aside tactics that target individual customers in favor of efforts that target logistical efficiency.

This study investigates the standard procurement and merchandising practices of wholesale and retail supermarket dairy buyers in New York State. Although much anecdotal and trade information exists regarding how wholesale/retail buyers make decisions, their standard operating practices have not previously been well documented. Yet these decisions and resulting strategies at wholesale/ retail levels can significantly enhance or diminish marketing initiatives and, in particular, the impact of advertising and promotion programs of the dairy industry. The primary data for this study were gathered from dairy directors and buyers from 17 wholesale and retail supermarket companies serving New York State. Mail surveys were employed to determine the factors that influence dairy buyers in their decision making. Additionally, a number of dairy industry leaders were interviewed to assist with interpretation of the survey data. The empirical results and analysis of the study are presented in Section 3. They are categorized into seven principal themes: • Dairy buyer profile • Dairy department structure and operations • Dairy department performance and pricing • New product status in the dairy department • Promotional activities in the dairy department • Buyers' perceptions of dairy suppliers • Impact of legislation on dairy department operations Strategic implications of the study results are elaborated in Section 3 and summarized in Section 4. These perspectives are intended to assist dairy suppliers in their quest to improve industry understanding of their wholesale/ retail customers. Among the key findings: • a shift in emphasis is occurring-away from the buying function alone to bottom line category profitability through the implementation of category management in the dairy department • despite flat sales in the dairy department, as new stores are built and older stores remodeled, buyers expect the dairy department to expand by over 14 percent • labor productivity in the dairy department appears to be the highest of any major department in the supermarket • despite industry urging, direct product profit analysis has not been widely adopted as a dairy department evaluation tool • over one-third of supermarket "dairy" department sales are from non milk-based products 0, • "price" alone is not an important factor when considering new products or potential suppliers • relatively large volume increases can be motivated in the dairy department by various non-price merchandising approaches Dairy Department Procurement Dynamics • supplier willingness to tailor promotional programs to retailer needs is viewed as critically important by dairy buyers • the dairy category lags behind most other categories in the supermarket in new product introductions • there are striking and significant differences in how large supermarket firm (annual sales over $1 billion) and small supermarket firm (annual sales less than $1 billion) dairy buyers view and manage the dairy department These and other findings present numerous opportunities for positive responses from dairy suppliers/processors. This type of in-depth knowledge of customer behavior and decision-making criteria allows forward thinking companies to develop successful sales and marketing strategies. This research suggests that closer supplier-buyer relationships and alliances are not simply needed to prosper, but necessary to survive.

For at least a decade, supermarket operators have turned increasingly to fresh foods for the strategic direction of their business by remodeling existing stores and building new stores to feature and emphasize produce, the delicatessen, the bakery, and other perishable departments. These departments have been the fastest growing and offer the greatest future sales potential as consumer demand for "fresh" and "ready to eat" prepared foods continues to grow. Despite these prospects, little is actually known about how consumers perceive and respond to product offerings and retailer initiatives in perishable departments. The objective ofthis report is to shed light on consumer attitudes and behavior with respect to one of the major supermarket perishable departments: the bakery. This report is based on a study which incorporated both primary and secondary sources of data (details in Section II). The primary data were collected through consumer surveys conducted nationwide by telephone and in-person at supermarkets in several regional market areas. A total of 700 consumers were surveyed. Additional primary data and insights were gathered through personal interviews with key supermarket bakery executives. Secondary data were gathered from trade reports, academic journals, and previously published research. The empirical results and analyses presented in Section III include such key findings as: • consumers consider convenience the most important reason for shopping supermarket bakeries, • the main reason some consumers do not buy baked goods in supermarkets is "freshness," which is perceived to be better at local bakeries, • consumer awareness of health and nutrition concerns is greater than consumer knowledge about these issues, • about half of consumers are familiar with the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid, but the percentage varies greatly by age with the youngest shoppers being most familiar, • consumers rate many of the most popular retailer promotional efforts as uninfluential factors in their purchase decisions, and • price plays only a minor role in bakery purchase decisions for most consumers. The implications of these findings and others are discussed in Section IV which also discusses opportunities for the supermarket bakery industry to respond to the consumer characteristics and issues identified in this study. The results present many marketing challenges for supermarket bakery managers as consumers increasingly make bakery decisions based on knowledge of health, nutrition, and other issues.

Over the past several decades, the fresh fruit and vegetable industry has been one of the most dynamic sectors in the U. S. food system. Consumer demand has soared to record levels and both suppliers and distributors have responded with impressive new programs, products and technologies. The objective of this report is to provide critical information on one of the most influential but least studied elements of the produce system: the supermarket produce buyer. This buyer represents the "gate-keeper" between the supply end of the distribution channel and the supermarket shelves. His standard operating practices (SOPs) and decisions have an enormous influence on industry performance. A "framework" for produce buying and selling SOPs is set forth in Section 2. The methodology employed for this research relied on both secondary information and primary data collection (Section 3). The primary data were gathered from the produce director or buyer in one hundred supermarket chains who responded to an extensive mail survey. Together, these respondents represent approximately 75 percent of overall supermarket chain produce sales. Additionally, several groups of key industry leaders, suppliers and buyers, were interviewed to assist with interpretation of the survey data. The empirical results and analyses of the study are contained in Section 4 and categorized into five principal themes: • Produce buying organization • Produce buying process • New product issues • Produce department management: pricing and performance • Produce department of the future: buyer projections Further, perspectives and strategic implications of these results, particularly from the view of the supplier, are elaborated in Section 4 and summarized in Section 5. Among the key findings: produce buyers are operating under increasing pressure as their stable to declining numbers are now responsible for three times as many items as they were 30 years ago; terminal markets continue to decline as important sources of produce, particularly for larger supermarket companies who currently procure only about 7 percent of their total needs at a terminal; "quality" and "consistency" were repeatedly reinforced as being more important than "price" alone in buyers' purchasing decisions; despite considerable industry urging, DPP has not been widely adopted as a produce department evaluation tool; and, despite POP material being the most frequently available type of promotional material from suppliers, produce buyers report that this is the "least influential" factor in their new product acceptance decisions. These and other findings present numerous opportunities for positive responses from produce grower/shipper operations. This type of in-depth knowledge of customer behavior and decision-making criteria allows forward-thinking companies to develop successful sales and marketing strategies. This research suggests that closer supplierbuyer relationships and alliances are not simply needed to prosper, but are required to survive.

Producers and marketers of agricultural commodities are often beset with a similar set of problems that generally may be reduced to the following question: "how can we modify our product or program in such a way as to gain a competitive edge on our competition?" As every commodity marketer knows, there is, unfortunately, no easy answer to this question. Obtaining higher prices and returns for agricultural products is possible, but requires commitment, vision and attention to the ever-changing marketplace. The current monograph contains two case studies that approach this perennial question from different agricultural commodity industries--fresh produce and turkeys--that are surrounded by different sets of basic supply and demand conditions. Yet, in each case, the companies depicted have been particularly aggressive in their approach to marketing and at least moderately successful in their quest for higher producer returns. Both of these cases are based on real companies and current data. In the first instance, TruFresh International (TFI) has been substituted for the company's actual name but the circumstances documented in the case have not been altered, and in the second example, Plainville Turkey Farm (PTF) is indeed the name of the firm. The story of each is instructive in a different way. Simply put, TFI, long an innovator in fresh produce marketing, is confronted with the challenge that several of its competitors are beginning to duplicate certain of its most successful product and market innovations. The case focuses on the strategic alternatives that TFI may have at its disposal to address this problem, typical to so many commodity industries. In the second instance, PTF is faced with a related but narrower issue: the PTF brand of fresh turkey products has been received enthusiastically in Central New York State as a high quality brand and one for which consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay a premium. The dilemma for PTF is whether, and with what strategy, should it attempt to expand its well established branded line of turkey products to new regions and new markets? Both of these firms are confronted with a set of marketing challenges that will sound familiar to nearly all commodity-based companies. In discussing the events that led to the situations faced by these two companies and the strategic options available to address them, students, executives and industry practitioners will gain an improved understanding of the process involved in adding value to differentiate agricultural commodities.