Natural Foods Industry Research: June, 1998
Synopsis:
"Natural foods" is the Library
of Congress' listing that includes organically grown foods (foods grown
without the use of synthetic--and sometimes cancer-causing pesticides).
Increasing popularity in the natural foods industry
and in personal health in the U.S.--and the lack of mainstream products
created with an individual's personal health in mind--has peaked my interest
in learning more about the natural foods industry.
The internet is amazingly useful in gathering information--gathering
information can be done in a fraction of the time of what it would take
to gather information without the internet. With the net, gone is
the time of having to search vast volumes of The Reader's Guide and card
catalogs for recently published articles. Then, hunting for the actual
bound periodical (if the library carried the one in which you were interested)
was another time-consuming step towards attaining the information.
With hyperlinks, information that could have taken hours to locate, can
be accessed in a matter of seconds. The internet is a truly wonderful tool.
World Wide Web Sources:
"Whole Foods sales top $1 billion," Infoseek
<http://www.austin360.com/news/11nov/12/12whole.htm>
[Accessed 11 June 1998].
A useful article for anyone interested with an accounting
of a financial success in the distribution and retail sales of natural
foods. Published November 12, 1997, this article traces the history
of the Austin-based chain of natural food supermarkets that has grown from
one small store to 76 stores in 17 states and the District of Columbia,
and how it is considered the category star in its niche. The author
states, "Growth of its private-label brands, several successful acquisitions,
rising sales at its existing stores and increased demand and awareness
of natural foods pushed sales for the year to $1.1 billion, up 20 percent
from fiscal 1996 sales of $946.3 million."
"Cascadian Farms Website," Infoseek
<http://www.cfarm.com/index.asp>
[Accessed 11 June 1998].
A useful website for anyone who wants to be informed
about a top manufacturer and distributor of organically grown foods.
The site contains a detailed history of the company with text and color
photographs, as well as information answering the question of, "Why go
organic?" The site also informs the viewer about the companies products
and gives store locations--as well as offering "free stuff."
Other Reference Sources:
Shapiro, Laura. "Is Organic Better?" Newsweek, v131n22, 01 June 1998, pp54-57.
This is a well-researched article that documents
recent research on organically grown food. The author cites Consumer
Reports' (a consumer's union) recent testing, Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman, National Cancer Institute findings, the USDA, the EPA, food toxicologists
and others related to the subject for the most current findings as well
as the status of the current legislation to regulate the industry.
Loftus, Mary, and Marcus, Mary Brophy. "Hold the chemicals: chefs and grocers sell more organic food: defining it is tricky." U.S. News and World Report, v124n19, 18 May 1998, p74(3).
This article is also well-researched and covers the organic food industry from several angles: the number$ the industry is claiming in earnings ($3.5B in 1996 and expected to double by the end of 1999), the trend and thought involved in many restaurateurs, chefs, producers, and grocers. The benefits of growing organic produce and raising livestock on the same organic diet as their 18th century ancestors. The authors also mention current mainstream large-scale food manufacturers' test products, as well as the current USDA regulation happenings.
------------- "U.S. to Set Strict Curbs on Use of 'Organic' Label." Wall Street Journal, 11 May 1998, p B, 10:4.
A brief article that sums up what has been called "The Big Three" consumer expectations of government regulation relating to the "organically grown" label. Over 200,000 U.S. citizens bombarded the federal government to voice their wants which the federal government respected: "The growing number of people who seek out naturally produced food won't have to worry that items labeled 'organic' have been irradiated, genetically engineered or grown in sewage-sludge fertilizer. The article cites Agricultural Secretary Dan Glickman.
Thompson, Stephanie. "Food for what ails you." Brandweek, v39n18, 4 May 1998, pp 36-42.
This articles deals more with many mainstream food producers' jumping on the bandwagon to develop product lines of food that are known for their healing qualities--or touting food for it's healing and medicinal qualities. The author has researched the product development going on in many of the big food producing companies. "Food as medicine" tends to be the trend about which this author is writing.
Eirinberg, Howard. "Marketers, heal thy shelves." Brandweek, v39n9, 2 March 1998, p17.
This article is important because it addresses the importance of distribution equity and the importance of this for businesses with products that rely upon DSD (direct store distribution). The author states that "as this county moves toward more fresher, more natural foods...distribution equity will gain in importance." He demonstrates the importance of distribution equity by his first-hand experience of developing an ice cream business and the challenges he encountered with it after leaving brand management at Quaker Oats.
General comments: Web vs. Printed Sources
For this topic, I enjoyed retrieving information via the web due to its massive amount of information and the ease with which I was able to access the information.
All the printed sources that I found relevant were also available in full text on the internet.
If I were researching another topic, or another facet of my topic, I may have to rely on printed materials such as books and articles that are not available on the web. However, the web, I think, is still in its embryonic state and at sometime in the future (probably more sooner than later) even older, random books and articles will be available via the web so that all printed sources will be available in both hard and soft copy.
With my particular topic, because I am more interested in the current thoughts on this topic (which also touch on the topic's history), if I were to collect more information, I would continue to use a combination of both online and printed source--since all printed source is not available online yet.
This page was authored by John Collias.