Specialty Food: tuesdays are for stores

This article was contributed by Jon Seltzer, of the Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota

Looking to sell food products in U.S. supermarkets --- hopefully you will dedicate several days to going to supermarkets to see how your product would be displayed, look at competitive products and talk to store employees -- Tuesdays are the day you want to visit the store.

Most high volume stores do fifty-percent of their weekly volume in the forty-eight hours beginning Friday at 5:00 PM. To put it mildly, the weekends are a great time to watch consumers shop. What else do they have in their cart (basket or trolley) besides your product? What do they seem to be looking for? And how do they shop the store? Store employees are not going to talk with you on the weekends.

Monday, the store is “recovering” and getting set for the week. Store sets are changing in response to a new add / or promotion. Direct-Store-Delivery (DSD) vendors are in; both to re-stock and re-set. Repairs, corporate initiatives and other activities are well underway.

Wednesdays is most often the manager’s day-off, most retailers will work Saturday or Sunday and then have their second off-day on Wednesdays.

Thursday is the sprint to get ready for the weekend and Friday it starts again.

So, if you really want to talk to store personnel... Tuesdays are for stores.

Jon Seltzer

Jon began working with the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota in 1997, and he is currently working with The Food Industry Center on three case studies, funded by the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, documenting the supply chain for recalled food products. Find out more about Jon’s career here.