Marry food to health, to thrive

Supermarkets would be wise to follow the lead of a suburban Italian restaurant, and make bold and direct connections between their customers’ health and the foods they eat. Do this, and they could gain advantage as sources that care about more than sales, and that instruct about eating smartly. An upscale eatery, Spigola Ristorante in Hamilton Township, NJ, has gone so far as to offer patrons tips on food choices that could improve their eyes during Healthy Vision Month in April. The restaurant sourced the National Eye Institute and American Dietetic Association for credibility, and suggested consumption of Vitamins A, C, E, lutein, zeaxanthin and phytochemicals. It told of their benefits and the foods that contain them. At SupermarketGuru.com, we think this approach exceeds expectations of a restaurant, where people go for romance, celebrations, other occasions, or just a fine meal. It is perfect, however, for food stores. Chief shoppers are the nutritional guardians and financial protectors of their households, and welcome information that assists them in these roles. This could come in the form of signs, shelf tags, brochures or Web links on the retailer website, to suggest a few.

Supermarkets would be wise to follow the lead of a suburban Italian restaurant, and make bold and direct connections between their customers’ health and the foods they eat.  Do this, and they could gain advantage as sources that care about more than sales, and that instruct about eating smartly. 

An upscale eatery, Spigola Ristorante in Hamilton Township, NJ, has gone so far as to offer patrons tips on food choices that could improve their eyes during Healthy Vision Month in April. The restaurant sourced the National Eye Institute and American Dietetic Association for credibility, and suggested consumption of Vitamins A, C, E, lutein, zeaxanthin and phytochemicals. It told of their benefits and the foods that contain them.

At SupermarketGuru.com, we think this approach exceeds expectations of a restaurant, where people go for romance, celebrations, other occasions, or just a fine meal.

It is perfect, however, for food stores. Chief shoppers are the nutritional guardians and financial protectors of their households, and welcome information that assists them in these roles.  This could come in the form of signs, shelf tags, brochures or Web links on the retailer website, to suggest a few.

Stores have searched for exceptional ways to highlight the nutritional stars on their shelves. Ratings programs help to a degree, but expressing a direct food-to-health condition link could be even stronger—easier and quicker for customers to understand so they could make quick purchase decisions. Imagine, with the vision month example, a retailer program that points out products high in Vitamin A like tomatoes, milk and carrots.

Consumers watching their heart health would probably respond well to extra call-outs of foods that lower cholesterol, or at least don’t raise it. The opportunities go on, and food stores would be wise to involve their pharmacies with such initiatives.

Done well, everyone would stand to gain from such direct food-to-health communications.