Phil's 2016 Food Trend Forecast - Trend #4

Micro-stores

Far from the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink hypermarkets, look for more small, neighborhood grocers to spring up. These stores, such as ALDI (with over 1,400 locations in the U.S. and counting), Bfresh in Boston, Green Zebra in Portland are more relaxed, attentive and curated, with a heavy emphasis on products that Millennials year for, and buy. Excellent private and exclusive brands with prices that this generation can afford. Think about how Lunds & Byerlys’ Kitchen with 17,000 square foot that includes a 4,000 square foot sit-down restaurant and scores of local beers on tap.  The grocerant trend will continue as more supermarkets look to share of stomach vs. market share against their traditional competitors. These retailers are proactive offering benefits to their shoppers to build that relationship across many touch points. One example is how ALDI announced their decision to remove certified synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils and MSG from all its exclusive brand foods by the end of 2015. Look for these micro-stores to take a stand and dispel the belief that you need to stock 50,000 SKUs to be successful, or that you have to serve everyone everything.