Compass Coffee Talk Episode 24 - David Bronner Leads Conversation on Sustainable Supply Chains, Psychedelics, and Hemp
David Bronner Leads Conversation on Sustainable Supply Chains, Psychedelics, and Hemp
Popular podcast Compass Coffee Talk focuses on Dr. Bronner’s “All-One” legacy, the company’s commitment to regenerative organic agriculture, and the potential of psychedelics.
Wednesday, May 18, 12:00pm – 12:30pm EST
Zoom, Admission is Free
David Bronner, Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO), Dr. Bronner's
David Bronner, the Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO) of Dr. Bronner's, North America’s top-selling natural brand of soaps and creators of organic body care and food products, joins Compass Coffee Talk on May 18 for a conversation about legacy, sustainability, and successfully pushing the boundaries in business.
Under David’s guidance, the company is driven by six cosmic principles inspired by founder Emanuel’s “All-One” philosophy: “Work hard and grow; do right by customers; treat employees like family; be fair to suppliers; treat the earth like home; and fund & fight for what’s right!”
David led sustainability in the natural products industry by making Dr. Bronner’s one of the first body-care brands to formulate with hemp seed oil in 1999. Dr. Bronner’s continues to push the hemp industry forward as a purchaser of hemp seed oil grown in North America.
Today, David is a champion of the Regenerative Organic Certified™ standard that addresses soil health, animal welfare and fair labor practices to advance sustainable and ecological alternatives to industrial agriculture. Dr. Bronner’s donates at least ⅓ of profits annually in support of charitable and activist projects around the world with a focus on their core causes: Regenerative Organic Agriculture, Animal Advocacy, Community Betterment, Criminal Justice Reform, Drug Policy Reform, and Fair Pay & Fair Trade.
About David Bronner
David Bronner is Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO) of Dr. Bronner’s, the top-selling natural brand of soap in North America and producer of a range of organic body care and food products. Under David’s leadership, Dr. Bronner’s holds the status of second highest scoring B Corp in the world among companies dedicated to positive social and environmental impact over the profit motive. David was born in Los Angeles, California in 1973 and earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard University. He is a dedicated vegan and enjoys surfing and dancing late into the night. He currently lives in Encinitas, California.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
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As Supply Chain Problems Persist, Grocery CEO Predicts Food Prices Will Surge 10% in Next 60 Days; Meanwhile, Conventional Food Prices Are Catching Up to Organic
Photo: Pexels
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s November 2021 Industry Newsletter
By Steven Hoffman
As the backlog of shipping containers at U.S. ports continues, Americans could see shortages of products across the country that will persist into the holidays, analysts are cautioning. Adding to the backup at the ports are driver and labor shortages across all channels of distribution. As a result, shoppers are again facing empty shelves, with pet food, diapers, frozen dinners, spices, chicken and other items listed as being in short supply in the nation’s grocery stores.
In addition to product shortages, food prices could increase 10% in the next two months, predicted John Catsimatidis, president and owner of the supermarket chains Gristedes and D’Agostino Foods.
The billionaire grocer told Fox Business that leading food companies will begin to prioritize products and raise prices. “I see food prices going up tremendously,” he told Maria Bartiromo on Mornings with Maria. “[CEOs] want to be ahead of the curve and the way they’re doing it is they’re dropping all promotions. They are dropping their low-moving items.”
Projecting a 10% price increase in the coming weeks, Catsimatidis said the trend won’t be ending “anytime soon,” as companies make more profits. “Why give away something when you don’t have to give it away and you make more margin?” he asked rhetorically. “So, I think that now these companies are going to have record profits in the third quarter,” he told Bartiromo.
According to the New York Times, Thanksgiving 2021 “could be the most expensive meal in the history of the holiday…Nearly every component of the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, from the disposable aluminum turkey roasting pan to the coffee and pie, will cost more this year, according to agricultural economists, farmers and grocery executives,” writes food reporter Kim Severson. “Major food companies like Nestlé and Procter & Gamble have already warned consumers to brace for more price increases,” she reported.
Organic Food Prices Holding the Line More than Conventional…for Now
Meanwhile, researchers at Magnify Money, a division of Lending Tree, reported that conventional food prices are rising at a “much faster rate than organic costs.” According to its research, since 2019, prices for select conventional meats, dairy items, fruits and vegetables have increased by an average of 13.9% – 12 percentage points higher than the reported 1.6% growth in costs for comparable organic items.
Despite rising conventional food prices, organic foods on average remain more expensive, the Magnify Money researchers pointed out. However, they said, “For those organic-preferring shoppers, the good news is the costs of organic produce, dairy and meats are rising slower than conventional foods.”
However, while organic prices may not be rising as fast as conventional products, the $56 billion organic food industry also is grappling with a shortage of shipping containers and a tight labor market. One organic commodity being affected by the backup at U.S. ports is organic soybeans, much of which is imported into the U.S. in shipping containers, reported Reuters. Costly organic soybeans and higher priced organic products are fueling food inflation “at a time consumers are eager to eat better and focus on health during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Reuters reported.
Bell & Evans – a 127 year old chicken producer based in Pennsylvania – feeds 500,000 to 600,000 organically raised chickens each week, and must compete for soybeans with other buyers that formerly relied on imports, owner Scott Sechler said. The company raised all chicken prices in July and will likely need to raise organic prices again, he told Reuters. "We're in the most challenging time since the organic world started when it comes to feeding animals and selling an organic animal protein. It's a madhouse now. There's not enough in America to replace all the imported organic grain," Sechler said.
U.S. sales of organic food jumped by 12.8% in 2020 to $56.5 billion, compared with a 4.6% increase in 2019, according to the Organic Trade Association. Organic accounted for 5.8% of food sales in 2020 as the pandemic motivated consumers to eat more meals at home and focus on products perceived to be healthful, OTA said.
Retailers, Consumers and Manufacturers Are Beginning to Hoard Products…Again
While food and consumer product shortages are not as acute as they were in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, industry analysts are reporting that shoppers are beginning to hoard products, again. That, combined with ongoing supply chain problems, and retailers and food producers alike are planning for shortages to last into the near future.
In an interview with Spectrum News’ Bay News9 in Clearwater, FL, natural foods retailer Nature’s Food Patch General Manager Sean Balsley said some products have been hard to find, so when items in demand for the holidays are available, he buys extra. “You got to take it when you can get it,” he said, noting that some popular items for Thanksgiving have been difficult to order.
Adnan Durrani, CEO and founder of Saffron Road, producer of a popular line of natural frozen and shelf-stable foods, told Bloomberg that the company is holding onto extra inventory, keeping four months of supply in stock instead of one or two months of inventory normally held in past years. “People are hoarding,” Durrani told Bloomberg. “What I think you’ll see over the next six months, all prices will go higher.”
Food Prices Increased 4.5% in September Alone, Compared to 2020
Prices for food consumed in the home increased 4.5% in the month of September 2021 alone, compared with prices in the same month in 2020, as input costs continue to rise and more companies pass these costs on to consumers, reported The Food Institute. The question, the Institute asked, is how far can major brands push shoppers on price before they choose cheaper alternatives, search for lower cost brands, or reduce the number of items they purchase.
According to data from the Consumer Price Index, Fox11 News in Los Angeles reported that food prices increased 4.6% in the year since September 2020. Meat prices rose 12.6%, seafood prices increased 10.7% and categories including fruit, vegetables, cereals, bakery items and non-alcoholic beverages all charted significant prices increases in the past year.
Labor shortages in the supply chain are greatly responsible for price hikes, claimed Nate Rose, Senior Director of Communications for the California Grocers Association, in an interview with Fox11 News. Rose noted that labor shortages lead to reduced supply and increased prices. “People are seeing some more significant upticks in their food costs, especially around meat, year over year…It’s a tough one because demand is strong and right now producers are struggling to meet the demand because of short labor,” he said. “There’s been a lot of coverage of the situation at the ports but it’s also the shortage of truck drivers and people at the distribution centers. It’s tough to see these prices climb continually and I know people are feeling that in their pocket books,” Rose said.
In an interview with ABC Eyewitness News, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged the shortage of truck drivers, exacerbated by the fact that many drivers are older and few young people want to enter the field. He said the Biden administration is taking steps to streamline the process by which prospective drivers can obtain commercial vehicle licenses.
"The more red tape we can cut out of the process of getting those (commercial driver licenses), the more we can get drivers on the road, and make it possible for them to add to our supply capacity," Buttigieg told ABC. "But I should also be blunt: truck driving needs to be a more well-compensated and more respected profession. Look at the turnover margins in trucking. In large companies it can be 90% turnover per year,” he said.
Inflation Approaching a “Tipping Point at the Grocery Store”
Heading into the holidays, product shortages and purchase limits from major food and consumer product manufacturers "will be a challenge in the grocery industry" in the final months of the year, Steve Howard, VP of Merchandising for Bristol Farms, a leading California-based specialty grocery chain, told CNN. Suppliers are warning the retail chain of "potential shortages" of food products, glass jars and packaging containers, he said.
CNN reported that approximately 18% of beverages, 15% of frozen foods, 16% of snacks, 15% of candy and 18% of bakery items were out of stock at stores during the week ending Oct. 3, 2021, according to data from market research firm IRI, which tracks in-stock levels at leading U.S. grocery chains, big box stores, pharmacies and wholesale clubs. Before the pandemic, IRI reported that 7% to 10% of products were typically out of stock on shelves, according to CNN.
In response to a tighter supply as the country heads into Thanksgiving, Howard told CNN that Bristol Farms is working to bring in inventory "earlier than any other holiday ever," he said.
Noting that inflation may be “approaching a tipping point at the grocery store,” the Wall Street Journal reported that, as a rule of thumb, price increases above 5% are difficult to implement without resulting in changing consumer buying patterns.
Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, shared people’s concerns about across-the-board price surges. In a Fox11 News interview, she said, “The price of everything we need is up. The gas, the food, and the reality is we don’t know if it’s going to be short term or long term.”
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Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural, providing brand marketing, PR, social media, and strategic business development services to natural, organic, sustainable and hemp/CBD products businesses. Compass Natural serves in PR and programming for NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo, and Hoffman serves as Editor of the weekly Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, published by We are for Better Alternatives. Contact steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
Is Organized Crime Responsible for Shrinking Retail Margins and Higher Prices?
Photo: Pexels
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s October 2021 Industry Newsletter
By Steve Hoffman
The answer is yes, according to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen. McMullen told investors in a quarterly results call on September 10 that its gross margins decreased by 0.6% – and that approximately 25% of that decline was due in part to loss of inventory, or what retailers refer to as shrink. “That's heavily driven by organized crime or at least it appears to be,” McMullen said of the shrink factor, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. “And I know Congress and other groups are starting to spend more time on understanding what's driving that and what's behind it and what's the distribution channels for the stolen products, as well, and trying to manage that,” McMullen said.
As a result of rising levels of theft, higher supply chain costs and increasing food prices overall, McMullen shared that the grocery chain will raise food prices 2% to 3% this year.
Mark Matthews, VP of Research, Development and Industry Analysis for the National Retail Federation (NRF) told the Cincinnati Business Courier that the organized crime Kroger referred to is not necessarily something involving the “mafia,” but instead comprises organized gangs of people stealing from stores, delivery trucks, warehouses and elsewhere for cash, and it’s a growing trend, he said.
According to NRF’s most recent security survey, 69% of retailers responded that they has seen an increase in organized retail crime. Earlier this year, Home Depot reported that it is using technology to try to curb what it said has become a crime problem as the cost of lumber skyrocketed during the pandemic. Kroger said it is working with trade associations to try to fight the amount of product theft the company is currently seeing.
Tackling food fraud, estimated to cost the food industry as much as $40 billion a year in lost sales, product recalls and legal bills, especially during the pandemic, has been challenging because of complex supply chains and the fact that products can change hands numerous times before they reach supermarket shelves, reported Bloomberg. Cases tagged as fraud, adulteration or authenticity-based jumped 38% in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to the previous year, reported U.K.-based Food Forensics.
The pandemic has complicated efforts to crack down on such criminal activity, as police resources have been diverted and online marketplaces and delivery platforms are creating more opportunities for illegal goods to be sold, Kimberly Carey Coffin, Global Technical Director at Lloyd’s Register, shared with Bloomberg.
“We are as busy as we have ever been, particularly with white flaky fish, tomatoes, rice and other core commodities that are usually vulnerable to fraud,” Rick Sanderson, Business Development Director of Food Forensics, told Bloomberg.
In examples of the growing problem, the Associated Press (AP) reported in mid-September that four people were arrested on suspicion of stealing nearly $2 million worth of retail products from 43 different stores across California. Investigators found the merchandise the theft ring had stolen stacked “floor to ceiling” inside a mobile home and multiple storage units. In April 2021, police arrested two men and recovered nearly $1 million in goods stolen from grocery stores, AP reported.
ePallet Offers Innovative Online Platform for Wholesale Buyers
This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s June 2021 Newsletter
Utilizing a proprietary, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, web-based platform, ePallet is disrupting the traditional wholesale business model by providing customers with user friendly, direct access to what it claims is a more efficient and cost-effective way to buy and sell food and consumables in full-pallet increments.
Think of it perhaps as the “Amazon for wholesale buyers,” serving foodservice operators in hospitality, restaurants, healthcare, corporate and institutional kitchens, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, retailers and grocers, manufacturers, and others — and helping businesses and organizations in North America secure their supply chain from a wider range of sources, said ePallet cofounder and CEO James Kwon.
Working under the slogan “True Wholesale,” ePallet’s business model provides a single-source platform for buyers to purchase affordable, quality food, grocery and foodservice products from a diverse range of trusted global and local brands, including a wide array of natural and organic products, with no hidden costs, said Kwon.
“ePallet offers an innovative approach that disrupts the traditional supply chain where layers of middlemen typically add markups of 10% to 40%,” Kwon noted. “With ePallet's machine-learning platform, customers benefit from real-time, net-net delivered pricing in full-pallet increments.” ePallet also offers wholesale customers the option to build mixed-pallet orders from vendors. The company is open to working with vendors, retailers and foodservice operators in the natural products channel. Visit www.ePallet.com.