Supermarket Perimeter - January 2022 - 3

Editor's note
Editorial
JOHN UNREIN
Editor
ANDY NELSON
Managing Editor
Publishing
TROY ASHBY
Publisher
GRETCHEN WAGNER
National Account Executive
LILY ALVAREZ
National Account Executive
WHITNEY HARTMAN
Sales Enablement Specialist
MICHAEL BARBEE
Audience Development Director
DUSTIN PICKMAN
Audience Development Analyst
HANNAH CARNEY
Audience Database Specialist
LAUREN JULIANA
Audience Development
Coordinator
JON HALL
Director of Digital Media
CARRIE FLUEGGE
Digital Advertising Manager
NORA WAGES
Advertising Manager
ANNIE FOURNIER
Advertising Coordinator
ELISABETH SPILLMAN
Design Services Manager
MARJ POTTS
Production Specialist
BECKY WHITE
Senior Design Consultant
FIONA DANKER
Senior Graphic Designer
KATELYN BETZ
Graphic Designer
JIM WHITE
Promotions Manager
ABBY CHRONISTER
Promotions Media Designer
Corporate
CHARLES S. SOSLAND
Chairman and CEO
L. JOSHUA SOSLAND
President
STACI GRECO
Chief Financial and
Administrative Officer
MEYER SOSLAND
Chief Operating Officer
and Executive Editor
JIM SALADIN
Chief Marketing Officer
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supermarketperimeter.com
JANUARY 2022 - 3
ANDY NELSON
anelson@sosland.com
Prime demand
Silver linings.
It seems like that's the best we can hope for these days, doesn't it? As the end of the
pandemic tunnel seems to get closer, then recedes yet again, we have to hold on to the
good things that happen along the journey.
In the retail food world, one of those silver linings has been the performance of fresh
meat and poultry departments in grocery stores around the country.
When people started hunkering down at home, they turned to comfort foods and foods
they knew they could afford to keep their families fed. Along the way, many developed a
new interest in cooking, broadened their horizons and began experimenting with cuts and
varieties of meats that maybe they'd only tried before in a restaurant.
It dawned on them: One, I can cook this; and two, when I cook it, it's a lot cheaper than
getting it at the restaurant.
After breaking records for retail meat sales in Year One of COVID, most experts thought
those numbers would never be topped, said Anne-Marie Roerink, president of San Antoniobased
210 Analytics.
Then came Year Two.
" While there was no way sales were going to beat the March 2020 peaks that jumped to
+90% two weeks in a row, it didn't take long for 2021 to rebound to close to 2020 levels. "
Sure, inflation has played a role in that. But that doesn't account for all the gains in 2021.
Even without inflation, the 2021 numbers would still make retailers and their supplier
partners rub their eyes in wonder.
Those pandemic behaviors won't likely recede once we finally settle into something
resembling " normal. " Once you discover you can do something in the kitchen you used
to think you couldn't -with much less hit to your pocketbook -you're probably not
going back.
That's something the retail meat industry can hang its hat on for years to come.

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Supermarket Perimeter - January 2022

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