About Us

Phil Lempert

Television & Radio News Reporter / Newspaper Columnist /
Author / Consumerologist / Food Marketing Expert

For more than 25 years, Lempert, an expert analyst on consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products and the changing retail landscape, has identified and explained impending trends to consumers and some of the most prestigious companies and trade associations worldwide. Known as The Supermarket Guru® Lempert is a distinguished author and speaker who alerts customers and business leaders to impending corporate and consumer trends, and empowers them to make educated purchasing and marketing decisions.

As one of America’s leading consumer trend-watchers and analysts, Phil Lempert is recognized on television, radio and in print. For twenty plus years Phil has served as food trends editor and correspondent for NBC News’ Today show, reporting on consumer trends and showcasing new products, as well as regular appearances on ABC’s The View, FOX Business, Dr. Oz, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 20/20, CNN, CNBC, FOX, as well as on local television morning and news programs throughout the country. For almost two decades, he hosted the syndicated show Shopping Smart on the WOR Radio Network  and now hosts the webcasts/podcasts The Lempert Report LIVE, Lost in the Supermarket and the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Farm, Food, Facts available on all podcast platforms.

Phil Lempert was one of the pioneers of the new information media, founding SupermarketGuru.com in 1994. The website is now one of the leading food and health resources on the Internet, visited by more than 9 million people each year. SupermarketGuru.com offers original video and editorial content on food and retail trends, food and beverage product ratings, analysis of trends in food marketing and retail, and features health advice, nutrition news and many other resources to empower both the food industry and consumers.

Phil is the founder and editor of The Lempert Report and SupermarketGuru.com and the founder of the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance which was acquired by the Association for Retail and Consumer Professionals in 2022. He has been profiled and interviewed by scores of publications including  USA Today, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek and Ad Age, and is interviewed by hundreds of publications each year. He is also a columnist for Forbes.com.

Phil has served on the Executive Committee of Michelle Obama's Chefs Move to School program. He also serves on numerous other boards including: U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Honor the Harvest, Sial Innovation Jury, Seminis, Ingenuity and Betterer Foods Advisory Boards.

Lempert is the author of Being the Shopper and Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. His previous books include: Phil Lempert’s Supermarket Shopping & Value Guide, Top Ten Trends for Baby Boomers and Crisis Management: A Workbook for Survival. He is currently working on his next book which will be published by John Wiley & Son: Disrupting the Food Business: Silicon Valley Culture and the Food Business.

Phil Lempert graduated from Drexel University with degrees in Marketing and Retail Management and did his Post-Graduate studies at Pratt Institute. As a teenager he worked at McDonald’s and Howard Johnson’s before joining his family’s food brokerage firm after graduating from Drexel. Lempert then founded Lempert Advertising, a full-service, award-winning advertising agency that specialized in food and retail branding, marketing and public relations where he served as CEO and Creative Director.

A resident of California, Lempert’s roots are in the Belleville, New Jersey dairy farm started by his grandfather. The family food tradition carried on through his father’s work as a food manufacturer, distributor and broker and then to Phil Lempert, The Supermarket Guru®.

Philip Lempert has gained wide acclaim for his marketing savvy and broad experience. A distinguished speaker, he has addressed over 600,000 people over the past ten years, and is a respected analyst with an uncanny ability to identify and explain trends to both industry and consumers in a thought provoking and entertaining manner.

You can contact him directly at plempert@supermarketguru.com.

Sally Smithwick

SupermarketGuru Daily Insights and RDBA Weekly Managing Editor and co-host of The Lempert Report Live.

Sally Smithwick came to Consumer Insight with a diverse background from music and television to teaching. After moving to Los Angeles from Georgia and working as a media specialist for elementary and middle school students, Sally met Phil and began in 2002 working as managing editor of SupermarketGuru and Retail Dietitians Business Alliance.

Contact her at sally@supermarketguru.com.

Tony Kucenski

Executive Producer

Tony Kucenski began his career with an early interest in video production and post-production. He’s worked as a Foley Artist, Sound Editor, Picture Editor, Producer, Director and Social Media Marketer for over 5,000 pieces of content ranging from TV to movies to online content. With many years experience as a key member of multiple production companies and post-production facilities, Tony's knowledge is extensive as a content creator. In recent years he has concentrated his efforts on producing, directing and live streaming. He has been the Executive Producer for SupermarketGuru and RDBA for over 12 years and been an integral part of the day to day media presence. Contact him at tony@supermarketguru.com.

Kevin Snell

Director of Technology

Kevin is responsible for all of our websites and IT development. He has created and developed OnScore® which is our proprietary online scoring tool which our clients including Potato Expo, Fresno Food Expo, Sweets & Snacks Expo and FMI have used to maximize efficiencies and get real-time ratings.

Kevin has an extensive background in information technology with over 25 years of industry experience as an accomplished web developer, designer and systems/network engineer for leading organizations and businesses. Always keeping an eye on the latest technology trends and developments, Kevin is able to apply a wide range of experience and latest best practices to craft well thought-out bespoke solutions. Always striving, Kevin is continually developing his skills to encompass the many new challenges that the ever changing information technology world brings. Contact him at kevin@supermarketguru.com

Al Heller

Contributing Editor

Retail and health care journalist and touch-football quarterback, Al is the co-author of books Consumer-Centric Category Management (Nielsen/Wiley) and The Passive Solar-Dome Greenhouse (Garden Way), Al has written numerous industry reports and other books, and has earned awards for his editing of food, drug and mass channel magazines. His dad turned a small knish shop into a NYC landmark, and exposed Al to food operations early. Al has coached youth basketball and baseball; donates to blood services and disease charities; and has parasailed in Mexico and helicoptered over live Hawaiian volcanoes. He has an MBA degree in Marketing from Fordham University. Contact him at al@supermarketguru.com.

Al McClain

Industry Speeches and Consulting

Al is responsible for sales and marketing of SupermarketGuru's industry speeches and consulting services. He has a long history in the retail and grocery industries. His experience includes sales, marketing, and executive roles for Best Foods, Reily Foods Company, Brooke Bond Foods, Progressive Grocer, and Retail Insights, which produced the grocery industry's first video magazine, Supermarket Insights. Al and his partners also founded one of the first online publications in the retailing industry, IdeaBeat.com. Most recently, Al was CEO and co-founder of RetailWire.com, the retailing industry's leading expert discussion site. He has worked with many leading retailers, manufacturers, and tech companies, and spoken extensively at industry events. 

Contact him at almcclain@supermarketguru.com.