10Oct2010
Finding Truth
It seems the entire world is into SKU rationalization of one sort or another. Fewer items in the stores, fewer politicians you can trust, even fewer species on the planet.
Do consumers really want stores with aisles packed with one SKU each of bread, milk, frozen pizza and yogurt, and nothing else? So this month I asked some wholesalers about it, both for the cover story and the logistics section.
Wholesalers deal with independents on a daily basis, and independents supposedly must compete on variety since they can’t compete on price, unless they’re nut jobs. I figured wholesalers would have interesting perspectives, and they did. But there wasn’t consensus. SKU counts among wholesalers are up, down and sideways.
What irks me about researching stories like this is how things so often end up without a definitive, provable answer. I dislike uncertainty. I’ve been reading a book by a Buddhist nun about how we should all embrace uncertainty with joy, but I tend to embrace it with a murderous bear hug, knife at the ready. Anyway, I hope the perspectives of the wholesalers will help move you closer to “truth” for your shelf sets. (Om!)
This issue marks our new relationship with Celebrity Chef Rick Tarantino, who did a story for us on how to make your demos “great.” We’re beyond thrilled to be working with him, and he’s even joined our editorial advisory board. Chef Rick has worked with Julia Child and other food hot-shots, and is on TV all the time. I thought initially he might have confused us with Rolling Stone, but no, he knows what we’re about and still wants to work with us. Cool.
In last month’s story on Army commissaries, Global Military Marketing was omitted as a national broker. The poor Army guy who booted that one is probably still doing push-ups for it. But Cherie Huntington, the public affairs specialist and editor of an employee magazine for the commissaries, wrote to say that she loved our cover story and asked permission to reprint it. That made my day.
Also heard from Bonnie Volpe, the frozen buyer at BJ’s, who said “I find the magazine very helpful and find myself highlighting a lot in it!” Shucks, folks. Keep those cards and letters coming!
Finally, please join us at the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association’s convention, where on Oct. 18 we’ll again join Ruiz Foods in giving out the Retail Patriots awards.
