Healthy Margins
By Susan Eubanks, Organic Valley, Organic Prairie, and Mighty Organic Brands
Today’s consumers get the connection between food quality and health. At home, they choose organic in overwhelming numbers, but most important to food professionals, consumers now look for organic ingredients in away-from-home meals and snacks, whether that’s at a micro-mart, hospital cafeteria or a fine dining establishment.
Who are these consumers?
They are business travelers looking for good food when they’re away from home, busy professionals, and young people starting families, a.k.a. millennial’s. In fact, millennial organic consumers exceed non-users 42% vs. 25%.
In retail channels, nearly 50% of Americans regularly purchase organic. As a matter of fact, the growth of organic food in retail has grown 10% a year for the last five years, while non-organic food sales have averaged about 3% growth.
Organic food costs more because it is more expensive to produce food in an environmentally responsible way than conventional food products. Consumers are willing to pay more for organic food because it supports their values. It’s about values over cost, and what’s best for human, environmental and animal health.
And consumers expect their food service purchasing decision-makers to choose products on the same basis. By providing organic options for the consumers who bought nearly $50 billion in organic products in 2017 at the grocery store will increase your traffic and your margins. As familiarity continues to drive interest among new consumer segments, it will become increasingly important to offer natural and organic options in more foodservice channels and in a wider variety of products. Within the next five years, offering at least some natural and organic options on the menu will likely become the standard for most foodservice operators.
SIDE BAR
What does “Certified Organic” Mean?
What is organic? Even if most people don’t understand the nuts and bolts of how to raise and grow food organically, they definitely understand this: Organic matters to today’s consumers.
Organic 101: Trust the USDA Organic seal!
It’s the only food label that is regulated by an act of Congress. No “bads” are allowed in organic:
No antibiotics
No synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or hormones
No GMOs
Organic Bachelor’s Degree: Since no pesticide or herbicides are used on organic farms, no toxic insecticide sprays drift onto neighborhood lawns and the children who play there. No chemicals seep into community water supplies. We are not forced to consume unnecessary antibiotics that have given rise to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Organic PhD: Healthy, chemical-free soil is the foundation of organic farms, and that is the critical foundation of animal and human health and well-being. For example, whole milk from organic dairy cows grazing healthy, organic pasture grasses contains 63% more nutritious omega 3 fatty acids than non-organic milk. And for seriously eye-opening info on what industrial agriculture does to our soil and water, watch these brief, five-minute videos.
