FOOD TRENDS
Apps for Independent Grocers
Home Chefs Turn to
Culinary Alchemy
R
etailers may want to start stocking ingredients like sodium alginate and calcium chloride next to
the salt and pepper. According
to the Associated Press, at least
half a dozen companies now sell
obscure ingredients essential to modernist cuisine, and these items
are amounting to big sales. Online culinary retailer Chef Rubber
reports that its modernist offerings account for 30 percent of its business. Other online retailers are signing on: LeSanctuaire has added
an exclusive "molecular" line called 4mulocr, which includes items
from acidifiers to spherifiers, to its other high-end ingredients and
tools. WillPowder is selling large quantities of ingredients like sodium
alginate, methylcellulose and glycerin flakes. For home cooks who
want to test the waters before making room in their spice racks,
Montreal-based Molecule-R offers do-it-yourself kits.
W
ith smartphone usage among grocery shoppers now
near 49 percent, it's time for independent grocers to
cash in on a new way of doing business. The larger national
chain grocers have gone mobile, offering shoppers a mix of
digital features like shopping-list creation, mobile ads and
coupons, in-aisle recipe browsing and more. Gourmet Apps
aims to help small and midsize independent grocers and
small grocery chains increase customer loyalty with useful
features for shoppers and advanced mobile analytics for
retailers that produces shopper data unique to each retail
location. "Mobile marketing is as important—or maybe more
important—as having a website," says Alexa Davis, CEO
of Gourmet Apps. "Reaching shoppers on their phone with
weekly specials and allowing them to place a deli order
on their phone before they get to the store actually boosts
revenue." Sea Side Market in Cardiff, Calif., has seen these
positive results, says store manager Adam Zack. "It's been an
awesome promotional tool," he adds.
Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine.
Mix It
Up!
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www.stickyfingersbakeries.com
1.800.458.5826
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