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Daymon Worldwide Announces Comprehensive Research Study Into Global Food Culture Shifts, Powered by the Hartman Group. |
02.15.2011
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StumbleUponPutting (More) Health in Whole Foods Market
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (WFM) is now the self-proclaimed largest retailer of natural and organic foods in the world. Aside from Trader Joe’s, the company has always been at the forefront of the grocery industry, often to the bewilderment of mainline grocery operators who mistakenly take the company at face value, and upon exiting a sample store, are seen to shake their heads at seemingly exorbitant price points. Of interest, the company went to great efforts in 2010 to not only combat its “Whole Paycheck” image (through a series of sales, promotions, and the creation of Whole Deal, a magazine from which customers can clip coupons) but also with the January 2010 launch of Health Starts Here, launched in January 2010, a program that renewed the retailer’s vows of being a provider not only of food, but of health itself. As described in the retailer’s press release:
- “We opened our first store 30 years ago to provide natural foods as a delicious and healthy alternative to the increasing amounts of highly processed foods with artificial ingredients,” says Margaret Wittenberg, global vice president of quality standards and leader of Health Starts Here at Whole Foods Market. “Over the years, we realized that providing the healthiest foods available is simply not enough. We are now deepening our commitment to healthy eating by providing education and support tools to inspire interest in foods that help improve and maintain health and vitality.” Whole Foods Market press release, 1/20/2010
Pillar 1: Whole Foods
Whole Foods – Choose foods that are real, fresh, natural, organic, local, seasonal and unprocessed. Eliminate refined, highly processed foods and foods containing ingredients void of nutrients, such as artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.
Simply put, consumers say fresh, real, clean food is the foundation for their health and wellness. Although this may not sound like rocket science, for all its “commonsensical-ness,” we consistently find that most retailers continue to promote health initiatives by focusing on non-food departments (i.e., OTC), marketing collateral for “healthy” recipes, or by interspersing a few “healthy brands” within general categories (pasta, soup, etc.). In light of this disconnect between what consumers say and what many food retailers are actually doing to promote wellness, it’s laudable that WFM has rightly identified whole food as a primary pillar in its new goal of re-bolstering itself as a go-to health and wellness resource. As WFM encourages consumers to seek whole, fresh and organic foods, we can only hope that it intends to make a renewed commitment to its offerings in produce specifically. Over the past few years, we’ve heard a growing chorus from (former) WFM loyalists remarking on the dwindling organic and local offerings in exchange for more conventional and imported crops. This shift, or at least weakening priority, has been part of shoppers' growing interest in other fresh resources—farmers' markets, regional co-ops and specialty stores—whose local produce has earned them a meaningful point of difference. Unfortunately, the decline in perception about WFM’s produce occurred just as local foods are picking up steam as both a health and quality cue. Our research shows that 50% more consumers report intentionally seeking local compared to just a couple of years ago. Take Away #1: Food retailers who wish to establish or reclaim credibility in Health and Wellness must start in their fresh departments. Promote the quality and variety of fresh foods and beverages—through local offerings in particular.Pillar 2: Plant-Strong
Plant-Strong – Eat more plants, like raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, legumes and beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains, to ensure the best nutrients for the body, which leads to feeling satiated:
This pillar makes sense to consumers. After all, when consumers talk about incorporating more whole foods, they rarely mean that they need to get more steak. Intuitively, consumers make the link between plant-based diets and weight management, heart health, general wellness, and to a lesser extent, sustainability. Recently the cultural discourse around going “plant-strong,” as WFM calls it, has only picked up, giving this platform cultural resonance to build on. But what we really like about this pillar is that it fits nicely into consumers’ aspiration for balance and variety in their food choices. As we found in our 2010 Reimagining Health + Wellness study (and our soon-to-be-released How America Eats study), consumers are spending less time denigrating any one food group or category, and instead focusing on getting a variety of everything that’s good. With this logic, consumers reason that the more variety they achieve, the less meat and more fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. they’ll be incorporating daily. It may not be about intentionally avoiding meat or going “plant strong,” but the result is still the same. We also can’t help but imagine all the fun retailers might have with this notion of balance and variety. What a great opportunity to position the store as purveyor of quality, a place for discovery, and an inspiration zone for rethinking how to reconfigure one’s plate. To that point, inspiring consumers to give plants a bigger portion of the plate is a natural platform for introducing more global foods and interesting flavor profiles throughout the store—from prepared foods, to center store, to diverse reimagined cross-merchandizing. Take Away #2: Balance and variety are intuitive, consumer-defined notions of healthy eating that provide retailers a plethora of creative ways to partner with shoppers. Initiatives around balance and variety should support the broader strategic mission of any food retailer, which is to communicate unique, quality food experiences.Pillar 3: Healthy Fats
Healthy Fats – Get healthy fats from plant sources, such as nuts and avocados. Minimize extracted oils and processed fats. If eating a diet that includes animal products, choose leaner meats and seafood as well as low-fat dairy products.
It’s likely that the very idea that “fat is good for you” feeds into basic hedonistic desires. And perhaps for that reason, consumers have jumped onto the good fat bandwagon: The notion of healthy fat from plants, nuts and seeds has become fully mainstreamed. While, this pillar is on target from a nutrition and cultural standpoint, it doesn’t really advance the conversation with consumers in any new way. Going plant strong, as discussed above, naturally dovetails into this pillar as well. What we find intriguing about the healthy fat proposition, is the cultural evolution of attitudes about fat we anticipate “in the future.” In addition to seeking fat from plant sources for optimal health (a la coconut oil or red palm oil), we expect to see more permission among consumers to include high quality fats from animal sources—both as a nod to indulgence, playfulness and flavor as well as health and wellness. As our 2010 Health + Wellness trends report points out, leading-edge consumers concerned with getting the highest quality fats are seeking grass-fed dairy products as well as grass-fed products from specific bovine breeds (namely Jersey and Guernsey cows). Not only are these breeds known for producing superior-tasting milk, but they are also believed to produce higher levels of butterfat, which is rich in vitamins A and D, omega 3s, conjugated linoleic acid and protects against disease and stimulates the immune system. And duck fat, the darling of the culinary world for its ability to make any dish taste sublime, contains a high percentage of mono-unsaturated fat and is closer in composition to olive oil than butter or lard. Key Take-away #3: Highlighting and encouraging the consumption of good fat is on trend: Farmers' markets, specialty retailers and trendy restaurants continue to feature products and dishes containing novel fats. Expect the public discourse around fat to turn from “healthy fat” to quality fat. From coconut and lard to beef tallow, as long as the fat is well sourced, it’s all good, and in small doses, believed by consumers to be good for you.Pillar 4: Nutrient Dense
Nutrient Dense – Choose foods that are rich in nutrients when compared to their total caloric content. Build menus around plant-based foods to emphasize nutrient-rich meals containing a variety of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants.
The WFM initiative that corresponds most to this 4th pillar is its new ANDI scoring system, the "Aggregate Nutrient Density Index" which scores a food’s nutrient density from 1 to 1,000 based on a range of health properties. However, the ANDI system may be one of the “weakest” legs of the Health Starts Here program, in our opinion. During ethnographic research for our 2010 Health + Wellness study, we got a sneak peek at this program in action and got real-time consumer reactions to it. Like many other nutrition information programs in various stores (e.g., GMA/FMI Nutrition Keys), the ANDI system fails to resonate for a variety of reasons, perhaps the most important of which is that most consumers barely notice the call outs or reduce them to “white noise.” But beyond that, we’ve noted several observations that apply to ANDI and various other nutrition informational programs:- Consumers have to know what the system is in order for it to have value:
- Our ethnography reveals that consumers do not take the time to investigate scoring systems (nor wish to). Add to that, the fact that consumers often shop at least a few different stores with different or competing scoring systems—leading to the inevitable question, “Which one to follow?”
- Even if the system is noticed, it’s likely to be ignored: Consumers are likely to filter out messaging they do not immediately understand.
- Such programs have limited educational value:
- Health-conscious consumers already know the “best in class” ingredients and are looking to the product label for ingredients and nutritional information anyway.
- Such programs typically fly over the heads of less health-involved consumers who are simply looking to avoid a few negatives and aren’t particularly vigilant or knowledgeable.
- Such a system often scores items that consumers intuitively associate with health—green vegetables, fresh fruit, natural cheeses, etc.
- In produce departments in particular, consumers feel everything there is healthy. It’s simply a matter of achieving variety and balance within those sections.
- Systems like ANDI, which have a positive spin by accentuating “what’s good,” aren’t likely to persuade or dissuade purchase of something the shopper already wants. On a positive note, though, it might encourage experimentation. For all intents and purposes, most nutritional scoring systems (especially in fresh departments of the store) are simply highlighting the “best” among what’s already good. And in such cases, a few simple rules of thumb that we’ve heard from diverse shoppers seem to resonate fully today:
- “All vegetables, especially leafy green ones, are awesome for you. Eat as many as you can stand.”
- “Berries are the crown jewels of the fruit family, they’re both tasty and cancer fighters.”
- “A handful of seeds and/or nuts is an ideal snack, plus they give you those good fats we hear a lot about.”
- “We all love cheese and dairy products, and though they’re healthy, be careful not to overdo it.”
