Bag Designed in Vegas Won't Stay Only in Vegas: Tonya Jacobsen Wins Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Design-A-Bag Contest

Contest winner Tanya Jacobsen [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

The 'Art' of (and in) Food and Grocery Retailing
News/Analysis/Commentary

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market today announced that Tonya Jacobsen of Las Vegas is the first place winner of the 176-store fresh food and grocery chain's 2011 reusable shopping bag design contest.

In addition to taking home first place honors, the Las Vegas resident will also have all or most of her food and grocery purchases at Fresh & Easy for the rest of the year paid for because she received $5,000 worth of store gift cards from the grocer for her winning bag design.

Fresh fruit theme, vibrant colors

Jacobsen's fresh fruit-themed design was chosen as first place in Fresh & Easy's recently-ended Design-a-Bag contest by members of the grocery chain's "friends of fresh & easy" e-mail-based marketing and quasi-loyalty program, who voted on ten finalist designs out of 800 submissions, from June 27-to-July 10. The contest was launched on April 5 of this year.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market says 30,000 members of "friends of fresh & easy" voted in the contest. The e-mail-based program has about 350,000 members, according to the grocer.

Jacobsen, who says she's originally from Idaho and moved to Vegas three years ago, and who paints as an avocation - which is evident in the vibrant use of colors featured in her painted design - said about hearing she won first place in the contest, "I wanted my design to be bright and fun so it could capture the feeling I get when I visit my local store. It’s been a really great experience, and I thank everyone who supported my design."

She also expressed surprise in winning first place, saying about the win, "I was so surprised. I didn’t even tell anybody that I initially submitted it. I was stunned when I got the call that I was a finalist. Then to find out that I won was a huge shock. My boyfriend's family was going nuts. All of my family in Idaho was really excited for me too."

Bag designed in Vegas won't stay only in Vegas

Along with the personal pride of winning first place and the $5,000 prize, Jacobsen's design will be turned into a reusable shopping bag and sold in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's stores in California (127 units), metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada (21 units) and metro Phoenix, Arizona (28 units) beginning later this year.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has been selling a reusable bag featuring last year's winning design by Josephine Close in its stores all year. The bag sells for 99-cents.

We like the Vegas resident's design, particularly because of its use of fresh fruits and vibrant colors. In fact, it was one of our three favorites in the contest.

Artwork in the stores

We think Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which has borrowed numerous operations and merchandising concepts from competitiors Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market, should borrow another one from the two grocers and offer Tonya Jacobsen a full or part time job creating artwork for the Fresh & Easy stores, starting with the produce departments, which could use some brightening up, say starting with a few fresh fruit and vegetable-themed murals, which the fresh food and grocery chain can hang on the walls or display on easels - or both. Notice, for example, how her artwork brightens up the store in the photo at top.

Whole Foods Market, for example, employs full time artists in all its stores in New York City, while Trader Joe's has full time chalkboard artists in all its grocery markets in the U.S, who create the colorful chalkboard art and signage that's become an iconic part of the TJ's shopping experience. [See - June 21, 2011: The 'Art' in Food Retailing On the First Day of Summer at Whole Foods Market in New York City's Chelsea District.]

Having in-store artwork painted by a customer and the winner of the Design-A-Bag contest would also be a great story for the grocer to be able to tell: "Customer/painter/bag design contest winner creates fresh produce-inspired paintings for Fresh & Easy stores."

And Jacobsen doesn't have to be limited to the fresh produce theme either. Creativity and inspiration are two key elements of art. And there's more to the stores than produce.

For example, there could be prepared foods'-themed art, along with numerous other in-store and neighborhood-oriented themes, all based on what inspires the artist and store employees, all of which Fresh & Easy could use in the stores and rotate in-and-out periodically.

The artwork could be localized as well - Vegas themes in Las Vegas; urban themes in Los Angeles and San Francisco; agricultural themes in Fresno and Bakersfield in California's Central Valley; and so on.

As an example, we would turn the already completed design pictured at the top here, which is from one of the ten contest finalists, Janeil Lim of Los Angeles, into a mural and use it in Fresh & Easy stores in neighborhoods which have a high degree of ethnic diversity, such as south Los Angeles and others.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market could start this art-in-the-stores process by simply turning Jacobsen's colorful fresh fruit-themed bag design painting (pictured above) into a large wall mural.

We would start by putting a mural on the wall in the produce section, or on an easel there, in each of the 21 Las Vegas metropolitan area Fresh & Easy grocery markets, say about a week before her bag debut for sale in all 176 stores. In-store artwork by a Las Vegas resident, a nice local angle.

Food and grocery retailing-merchandising is an art.

And a great way to enhance that art is with some real artwork in-store. Therefore since, as we were the first publication to report, Tesco is in the process of making numerous changes inside its Fresh & Easy stores, the timing is perfect for some in-store art, the cost of which would be significanty less than most of the major changes we've reported the grocer is making to the stores. (See the linked stories at the bottom of this piece.)

After all, sometimes it's much smarter for a grocer to pick the low hanging fruit first. And often it's starring you right in the eyes.

Related Stories

June 27, 2011: Voting Starts in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 2011 'Design-A-Bag' Contest

April 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Launch Reusable Bag Design Contest Tomorrow

January 19, 2011: Customer-Designed Reusable Shopping Bag Now On Sale At Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores

July 27, 2010: The Winner of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Reusable Bag Design Contest Is...

June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

Also: Click here for a complete selection of stories fom Fresh & Easy Buzz on the reusable shopping bag topic and issue.

Changes at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

June 30, 2011Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Developing Loyalty Card Program it's Planning to Launch This Year

May 18, 2011: Major Changes Coming to Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores

May 3, 2011: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launching 'Clip-Strip' Cross-Merchandising Program in Stores

April 12, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Shrink Health & Body Care Sections in Stores; Add Candy and Snack Items

Voting Starts in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 2011 'Design-A-Bag' Contest

One of the 10 finalists in Fresh & Easy's reusable bag design contest is the design (above) by Janeil Lim, of Los Angeles, California. 

Lim says this about the inspiration behind the bag's design: "I wanted to represent the diversity and colors that abound in modern day America. I wanted to also highlight through my own creative style the fun and excitement that me and my partner feel whenever we come to fresh&easy and the joy it has brought to our neighborhood. I wanted to create something striking and engaging that makes everyone smile."

We think Janeil Lim achieved all she set out to, based on the inspiration she describes above. And if the design doesn't win first place in the contest, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would be smart to create a reusable shopping bag using it, which it can sell in its stores.

Why? Because the multi-culture theme of the design, along with the excellent use of color, depicts the ethnic melting pot that is Southern California, where Tesco's Fresh & Easy is headquartered and where 101 of its 176 stores are located. That's a communications and marketing message the grocer would be wise to associate with its stores, via Janeil Lim's multi-ethnic-themed and colorful reusable bag design.

'Green' Food & Grocery Retailing

El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Design-A-Bag reusable shopping bag design contest has ended, and the grocer is asking members of its "friends of fresh & easy" e-mail marketing- loyalty program to vote for their favorite bag, out of 10 finalists it's chosen from the 800 designs submitted in the contest, which began April 5. [See our April 4, 2011 story: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Launch Reusable Bag Design Contest Tomorrow.]

Non-members of "friends of fresh & easy" can vote for their favorite bag designs by signing up for the program, something the grocer hopes people will do so it can add new members to its data base.

This is the second year United Kingdom-based Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has conducted the reusable shopping bag design contest, which it kicks off in April, to tie into Earth Month and Earth Day.

Interestingly, 500-fewer (800) bag designers entered this year's contest, compared to last year, when, according to Fresh & Easy, there were 1,300 submissions.This is despite the fact this year the grocery chain opened the contest to teenagers 13-17. Last year, contestants had to be 18-years-old and above to enter.

Being a legal resident of the U.S. is also required in order to enter.

One theme that resonates among nearly all of this year's 10 designer-finalists is ... using color as an inspiration.

As you can below and see here, many of the finalists' reusable bag designs make ample use of color as part of their respective design elements. Also see Janeil Lim's bag design pictured at top for a good example of using color as part of her multi-cultural-themed bag.

There are some excellent bag designs among the 10 finalists, which should make the choice by the "friends of fresh & easy" members a tough one.

Voting for the contest ends July 10. Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market says it will announce the winner and finalists July 26.

The first place winner - last year it was Josephine Close of Southern California - receives $5,000 in multiple Fresh  Easy gift cards, which the grocer says represents one-year's worth of groceries. The nine semi- finalists each receive a $100 gift card.

The winner's design will also be turned into a reusable shopping bag by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which it will offer for sale in its stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, beginning later this year, a spokesperson for the grocery chain says.

Josephine Close's winning bag from last year is currently on sale at the 176 Fresh & Easy stores for 79-cents. [See our January 19, 2011 story - January 19, 2011: Customer-Designed Reusable Shopping Bag Now On Sale At Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores. The bag is pictured in the story as well.

Which bag design from these 10 finalists is your favorite? Predictions on which designer will win are welcomed in the comments section.

Related Stories

April 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Launch Reusable Bag Design Contest Tomorrow

January 19, 2011: Customer-Designed Reusable Shopping Bag Now On Sale At Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores

July 27, 2010: The Winner of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Reusable Bag Design Contest Is...

June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

Also: Click here for a complete selection of stories fom Fresh & Easy Buzz on the reusable shopping bag topic and issue

Kroger Co. Aiming to Raise $5 Million For Hunger Programs With Promotion and Campaign

Grocers Doing Good

Food and Grocery retailing company Kroger's two- week Bringing Hope to the Table chain-wide promotion and fundraising campaign to raise millions of dollars for Feeding America food banks across America is into its second week. The program started May 29 and ends June 11.

Kroger Co., which is the second-largest retailer of food and groceries in the U.S. after Walmart Stores, Inc., says its goal in the two-week campaign is to generate a whopping $4.5-$5 million worth of financial and food product donations for over 80 Feeding America food banks in regions and cities where its numerous grocery chains are located, including in California, Nevada and Arizona, where Tesco has its 175 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores.

All of the retailer's grocery chains in California - Ralphs and Food 4 Less in Southern and Central California; Foods Co. in Northern California - Arizona - Fry's Food Stores - and Nevada - Smith's and Food 4 Less - are participating in the program and promotion, along with all its other divisions and chains located throughout the U.S. (Kroger's Los Angeles-based Food 4 Less chain also has stores in Illinois and Indiana.)

Vendor Partners

The May 29-June 11 promotion is a partnership between Kroger and a number of its vendors, including Kraft Foods, General Mills, Pepsi/Frito-Lay, Clorox Co. and others, including the brands and products pictured above.

How it works: Products from these consumer packaged goods companies are identified on shelves throughout the stores with the Bringing Hope to the Table yellow shelf talkers pictured below. When shoppers purchase these brands and items, the companies make a donation as part of Kroger's campaign to raise money for Feeding America and its local food banks.

Additionally, the participating vendors are also supporting the Kroger campaign financially by giving money when shoppers download certain digital coupons from Kroger's website, as you can see here.

Kroger Co. has also set up a special website (here) where individuals can locate and make a donation to their local Feeding America food bank, using the form on this page.

The two-week Bringing Hope to the Table promotion is part of Kroger's (and its associates) on-going campaign and commitment to raising money and food donations for Feeding America and it food bank network.

For example, in Southern California employees of Kroger's Ralphs' chain visit a local Feeding America food bank in San Diego twice each month to fill bags of food for the BackPacks program for children. The kids take the free backpacks filled with food home with them as a way to ensure there's enough food on the table, not only to bring them hope but to fill their stomachs and help keep them alert at school.

Additionally, each year on the weekend before the famous Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California, employees of Kroger's Ralphs' and Food 4 Less chains in Southern California participate in  "Operation Gobble Gobble," which is the city of Pasadena's annual holiday hunger outreach project.

The program annually provides full holiday meals for about 400 local families. The Ralphs' and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California donate turkeys, stuffing mix, vegetables and pumpkin pies for each of the meals. In addition, numerous associates volunteer their time along with other community members to fill the food boxes and distribute them to the participating food banks and pantries.

Employees at a number of Kroger's other U.S. grocery chains are donating their time to help the hungry just like the associates in Southern California are.

Ralphs' president Mike Donnelly says the Southern California food banks benefiting from the Bringing Hope to the Table campaign are: Feeding America San Diego; FIND (Indio); Food Bank of Santa Barbara County; Food Share (Oxnard); Los Angeles Regional Foodbank; Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County; and Second Harvest Food Bank Serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

Last year Ralphs-Food 4 Less combined provided over $4 million in financial and food assistance to local food banks in the states and regions where its stores operate, according to Donnelly.

According to Kroger Co., all its chains combined provided about $11.5 million in financial assistance and more than 65 million pounds of food to local food banks in 2010.

Kroger Co. has also been operating a food rescue program since 2008, called the Perishable Donations Partnership (PDP). Under the program, the retailer's supermarket chains can donate fresh meat, produce, dairy and bakery items that can no longer be sold to local food banks.

Last year the PDP program resulted in millions of pounds of perishable food that otherwise would have been thrown away being donated by Kroger-owned chains to the food banks.

Last year, Kroger raised about $4 million - $3 million in cash and $1 million in food product donations - in its two-week Bringing Hope to the Table promotion and campaign. [Read our June 10, 2010 story here: Kroger Co. Launches Two-Week 'Bringing Hope to the Table' Campaign; Commits $4 Million to 'Feeding America'.]

Over the last decade Kroger Co. says it has donated the equivalent of 560 milon meals to food banks in the parts of the U.S. were its supermarket chains and stores operate.

That, and all the above, is an example of a "Grocer Doing Good" on a significant and meaningful scale.

Click here to learn more about Kroger's Bringing Hope to the Table campaign.

Below are a few facts about hunger and food insecurity in America from Feeding America:

>37 million American's don’t know where they'll get their next meal.
>14 million of them are children
>3 million of them are senior citizens.
>36% of these households have one or more working adults.
>48% of these households are in rural and suburban areas.

 Click here to learn more at Feeding America's website.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Launch Reusable Bag Design Contest Tomorrow

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market will launch its second-annual reusable shopping bag design contest tomorrow, themed to Earth Month (April) and Earth Day 2011, which is on April 22.

This year's Design-A-Bag contest runs From April 5 -to- May 15, 2011.

Fresh & Easy has broadened the contestant universe this year, allowing people 13-years of age or older to enter, compared to last year when contestants had to be age 18 or older. Adults beware: The kids just might show you up this year.

Like with last year's Design-A-Bag contest, this year's designers, inclding those creative 13-17-year old first-timers, can enter the contest by submitting their respective designs online to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market here.

Also like last year's reusable bag design contest, which generated 1,300 submissions from customers of Tesco's Fresh & Easy and others, according to the grocer, this year's submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges chosen by the retailer. The judging panel will choose up to 10 finalists, who's bag designs will be voted on by members of "friends of fresh&easy," which is the grocery chain's e-mail-based communications program that it uses to communicate promotions and other information to consumers who sign up for the service.

Last year, 24,000 members of the "friends of fresh&easy" group voted for the first-place winning bag and the runner-up designs, according to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Members of "friends of fresh&easy" will vote on the winners of this year's Design-A-Bag contest beginning on June 21st and through July 10th, 2011.

The grand prize winner in the contest receives $5,000 worth of Fresh & Easy store gift cards. The runners-up each receive a $100 store gift card.

The first-place winner of last year's reusable bag design contest was Los Angeles, California resident Josephine Close, who took home $5,000 in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market gift cards, as you can see in the photograph pictured in the story here.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has been selling her award-winning reusable shopping bag (pictured at top) in its 171 fresh food and grocery stores in California, Nevada and Arizona since the first of the year. Ms. Close's reusable work of art sells for 79-cents per-bag in the stores.

This year's winning design will also be sold in the stores, according to Roberto Munoz, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's director of neighborhood affairs.

Beginning tomorrow through April 22, Fresh & Easy will also be offering shoppers one of its Fresh & Easy canvas shopping bags (at left) for free with purchases of $20 or more in the stores. The bags sell regularly for 99-cents each. Coupons for the bags are available on the grocer's website and Facebook page. Like the Design-A-Bag contest, the reusable bag promotion is part of the grocery chain's Earth Month and Earth Day promotional activities.

Fresh & Easy, which is owned by United Kingdom-based Tesco, offers single-use plastic carrier bags for free in its stores but no paper grocery sacks. It also offers a variety of reusable bag options at different price points, ranging from its "bag for life," a synthetic plastic-like carrier bag which it sells for 20-cents each, to the 99-cent canvas bag, along with a higher-end canvas bag made out of 100% organic material.

Related Stories

January 19, 2010: Customer-Designed Reusable Shopping Bag Now On Sale At Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores

July 27, 2010: The Winner of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Reusable Bag Design Contest Is...

June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

Fry's Food Stores Brings Back 'Competitor Coupon Match' Promotion; Accepting Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Coupons in Arizona

Fry's is turning up the heat, touting low prices at its Arizona stores on billboards like the one above in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, as well as through promotions like its "competitor coupon match" program. The text on the billboard says: "For two years running, retail independent services have ranked Fry's #1 in low prices of traditional grocers in Arizona." Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Metro Phoenix, Arizona Market region
News/Analysis

Kroger Co.-owned Fry's Food Stores didn't wait long to bring back its "competitor take-all" "coupon match" program in the white-hot-competitive metro Phoenix, Arizona food and grocery retailing market.

We last wrote about Fry's extremely successful coupon promotion, in which it accepts the store coupons issued by all of its major competitors, along with doubling the value of all manufacturers' cents-off coupons up to a dollar, in a November 2010 piece - November 19, 2010: Kroger-Owned Fry's Store Coupon Jujitsu Ensnares Tesco-Owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Arizona.

Fry's ended the "competitor coupon match" promotion in late December 2010. But the Kroger-owned grocery chain has brought it back for 2011, beginning this week, on January 26, and running until the grocer gives further notice. The promotion is good in all of the grocer's 120-plus Arizona stores. Metro Phoenix, where most of the states residents live, is where the majority of food and grocery dollars are spent in Arizona.

Under the promotion, Fry's is accepting store coupons issued by the following grocery chains doing business in Arizona: Albertsons, Safeway Stores, Bashas', Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Sunflower Farmers Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Walmart Marketside, Walmart Neighborhood Market, Whole Foods, Target, AJ’s, Trader Joe's, Food City and Pro's Ranch Market.

As we've said in past stories about the Fry's promotion, the default target of the store coupon aspect of the promotion ends up being Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, because out of all the grocers listed above, its the only chain that issues discount store vouchers on a regular basis. These are the Fresh & Easy $5-off purchases of $20 or more; $6-off-$30; $10-off-$50 and the like store coupons the grocer has in distribution at virtually all times, as we written about extensively in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

If you're skeptical about our analysis that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is the default target (meaning the program isn't specifically aimed at Fresh & Easy exclusively but it's the competitor most affected anyway) of Fry's "coupon match" promotion, take a look here.

Additionally, take a look at what Fry's shoppers are saying about the return of the grocery chain's "coupon match" program here and here.

A few of Fry's other major competitors, like Albertsons, Bashas' and Safeway and a couple others, issue store coupons - such as $10-off-$50 and $25-off-$100 versions. But they do so on a sporadic basis, compared to Fresh & Easy's regular use of the discount vouchers. Fry's issues its own store coupons on occasion, such as a $5-off purchases of $35 or more voucher and a $10-off purchases of $100 or more version.

Another reason Fry's promotion targets Tesco's Fresh & Easy most directly, although as we've said that's not the strategy behind it for the Kroger chain, is because the Fresh & Easy neighborhood Market stores don't take manufacturers' cents-off coupons as a matter of policy.

In the program, Fry's Food Stores allows shoppers to combine the use of one of these store coupons, such as a $6-off-$30 voucher from Fresh & Easy, with their manufacturers' coupons, deducting both types from customers' total grocery order purchases at checkout.

For example, suppose mom or dad head off to a Fry's supermarket with a grocery list, a $6-off purchases of $30 or more Fresh & Easy store coupon, and a stack of manufacturers' cents-off coupons, each having a face-value of 50 cents and over.

Once at the store, our grocery shopper then fills his or her cart with an assortment of food and grocery items - ranging from milk and bread, to packaged snacks, household cleaners, breakfast cereals and more.

At the checkout lane our shoppers hands the grocery checker the coupons, then braces herself for the total, as the Fry's clerk scans the items.

The pre-coupon deduction total just so happens to end up being $50, right on the button.

Smiling, the friendly Fry's checker says..."Let me deduct the coupons for you." Scanning each coupon, there are 10, all with a value of 50 cents or higher, our shoppers $50 market basket purchase now drops down to $40. But there's more to come. Lastly, the checker scans the $6-off Fresh & Easy store coupon (the manufacturers' cents-off coupons are deducted first) and announces..."That will be...$34, please.

Not bad, $16 off a total grocery order of $50, thanks to the doubling of the manufacturers' cents-off coupons and the Fresh & Easy $6-off store coupon combination. Fry's allows shoppers to use only one coupon per retailer, per order. However, if a customer has a store coupon from Fresh & Easy, say a $6 off, and one from Albertsons, for example, such as a $10-off-$50 voucher, they can then use both on a single order. Therefore, in our example, the customer order would drop to $24, if he or she used both the Fresh & Easy and Albertsons' store coupons, in this particular example.

Well, we should note that "it's not bad for the shopper." But it's less than good for Fry's gross margin on that particular order and any others like it. Why? The chain gets reimbursed for the face value of the manufacturers' coupons, plus a carrying charge of a few pennies for each coupon, but has to eat the rest of the deduction it gives, up to that dollar, along with eating the entire value of the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store coupon or those from any other competitor.

If Fry's wasn't owned by Kroger, the second-largest retailer of food and groceries in the U.S. after Walmart Stores, it wouldn't be able to sustain such a margin hit. But since Fry's is just one of Kroger's many chains, the mega-retailer can sustain the margin hit better than a smaller chain because it can spread it out over many chains and stores throughout the U.S.

And Fry's, which is the number two market share leader in Arizona after Walmart Stores, Inc., believes the added sales it gains from the coupon promotion in the hyper-competitive metro Phoenix market is worth taking this margin hit. If not, the chain wouldn't have brought the "coupon match" promotion back so soon in 2011, after doing it for more than half of 2010.

Meanwhile, the fact Fry's is accepting store coupons, along with doubling manufactures' cents-off coupons, is a tough nut for Tesco's Fresh & Easy in metro Phoenix, where the grocer has 28 stores, after closing six markets in November of last year.

The deep-discount store coupons are Fresh & Easy's primary promotional tool, in addition to its weekly advertising circular. It issues the vouchers regularly, nearly always having at least one version, and often times two or three versions, in circulation.

Based on our research and reporting - which you can see at the stories linked at the end of this piece - the Arizona Fresh & Easy stores experience a significant drop in sales, which is something Tesco can't afford, whenever Fry's runs its "competitor match" coupon promotion. Further, the fact Fry's kicked-off the promotion on Wednesday without issuing an end-date, could mean the Kroger-owned chain plans to run it non-stop over the next few months, which is something it did in 2010.

If that's the case, which sources tell us it is, the increased competition from the region's number two food retailer, Fry's, comes at a very bad time for Tesco's Fresh & Easy, which not only is trying to grow its same-store-sales considerably, but also must significantly increase its overall margin, which currently sits at a negative-38%.

After California, where Tesco has 107 of its 156 small-format fresh food and grocery stores, metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona has the second-highest number of stores, at 28, followed by 21 units in metro Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although the Arizona store-count is much lower than in California, Tesco needs to grow same-store sales in all of its Fresh & Easy units, not just those in one market region or another. And the more competition, which equals price pressure, means the harder it is for Fresh & Easy to move that gross margin up into the positive sphere.

Metro Phoenix, with Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons and Bashas' - the top five in market share (in that order) battling against each other, along with niche players like Sprouts, Sunflower, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Fresh & Easy and others doing the same (and with WinCo Foods on the way in 2012) - is already arguably the most-competitive grocery retailing market in the U.S., as we've said in Fresh & Easy Buzz for over three years.

Blazing hot, price-competitive promotions like Fry's "coupon match" just add additional heat to that already burning competition. And because Fry's program is coupon-based, much of that competitive promotional heat is directed at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's metro Phoenix, Arizona operations and 28 stores.

Related Stories

January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program

November 19, 2010: Kroger-Owned Fry's Store Coupon Jujitsu Ensnares Tesco-Owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Arizona

February 3, 2009: Competitor News: 'Grocer-Gone-Wild:' Arizona's Fry's and its 'Bring it On' 'Take All Competitors' (Including Tesco's Fresh & Easy) Store Coupon Move

May 20, 2009: Breaking Buzz: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Issues Another New Discount Store Coupon ($10-off $50 Though); We Told You the Coupons Would 'Be Back'

Plus, see (click on) the following links - deep discount coupons, store discount coupons, manufacturers cents off coupons, manufacturers coupons, Fry's Food Stores Arizona, Metro Phoenix Arizona market and Arizona Market Region Report - for additional related stories.

What Happens in Vegas Ends Up in Fresh & Easy Buzz: Las Vegas Shopper Wins Kroger's 2010 Reusable Bag Design Contest

Food and grocery retail company Kroger Co. has named a grand prize winner, four finalists and five runner-up category winners in its 2010 reusable shopping bag design contest.

The grand prize winner in this years bag design contest is Jamie H., from Las Vegas, Nevada. The award winning design (pictured at the end of the story) is very minimalist in design, using black (on a white bag background) text only, with the exception of a small blue and green globe at the end of the text. You can view the grand prize bag here, along with all of the finalist and runner-up bags.

As the grand prize winner, Jamie H, who shops at Kroger's Smith's Food & Drug chain in Las Vegas, gets a $1,000 Kroger gift card. Additionally, the four finalists each receive a $250 Kroger gift card, and the five runners-up each get a $100 gift card.

Who says 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?' It's certainly not the case when it comes to Jamie H, or else Fresh & Easy Buzz wouldn't be telling the tale in our widely-read blog. And forget Vegas secrets: The grand prize-winning reusable bag is set to be sold in select Kroger Co.-owned chains and stores, including at the Smith's Food & Drug stores in Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada, according to the company.

Kroger Co. holds the chain-wide reusable bag design contest annually, and has been doing so for a number of years. The contest is part of the retailer's overall sustainability strategy and project. [See: www.kroger.com/green.]

This year, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which has 27 of its 159 small-format fresh food and grocery stores in Metro Las Vegas, Nevada (98 in California; 34 in Metro Phoenix, Arizona) followed Kroger's lead and held a reusable shopping bag design contest of its own. [Read our story on the winner: July 27, 2010: The Winner of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Reusable Bag Design Contest Is... Also see: June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30 and April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest.]

Kroger Co., which is the leading supermarket chain and the second-largest retailer of food and groceries in the U.S., after Walmart Stores, Inc., is examining its offering of single-use plastic carrier bags closely. For example, Kroger's Fred Meyer chain, which is headquartered in Oregon and has stores throughout the Pacific Northwest, the Inter-Mountain region and in Alaska, on August 1 eliminated single-use plastic carrier bags at 10 of its stores in Portland, Oregon as a test.

On July 28 of this year, the Portland City Council passed a single-use plastic carrier bag ban. The new city ordinance bans the use of plastic or non-recycled paper carrier bags at grocery stores and pharmacies and requires stores to charge a minimum 5 cent fee for each recycled paper or compostable plastic bag it gives out. Stores are also required to provide free reusable bags to seniors and low-income residents.

The city has put the law on hold pending the vote by the Oregon State Legislature on a similar statewide ban. Portland Mayor Sam Adams said when announcing the hold on the new law that if the statewide plastic bag ban bill doesn't pass, the city will enact its ban, which would become law in 2012.

Ironically, legislation almost identical to the passed City of Portland bag ban law, and Oregon statewide bill yet to be voted on, failed in California on August 31, as we reported - August 31, 2010: Breaking Buzz: California's Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Bill Fails. Also see: September 3, 2010: How the California Grocers Association and its Members Can Snatch Victory From the Jaws of the Defeat of California's Plastic Bag Ban.

Meanwhile, reusable bag design contests like those held by Kroger and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, serve to elevate the concept of using reuseable bags, along with injecting an element of excitement and shopper participation into the process.

Despite considerable education and publicity about reusable bags, and regular giveaways by grocers and others of free bags, the use of the bags remains very low in the U.S. Some studies say only 5% of grocery shoppers overall bring their own bags to the store.

Bottom line: Personal responsibility and initiative by consumers is key to solving the disposable bag issue and increasing the use of reusable bags.

Above: The grand prize winning bag design

Reader Resources:

[Fresh & Easy Buzz has been reporting on, writing about, and offering analysis and opinion on the reusable shopping bag, single-use plastic carrier bag and related topics and issues since early 2008. Click here, here, here and here to read a selection of those posts.]

The Winner of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Reusable Bag Design Contest Is...

Josephine Close with her $5,000 Fresh & Easy Gift Card and first place-winning reusable bag design. [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced today that Los Angeles resident Josephine Close is the winner of the El Segundo, (Southern) California-based fresh food and grocery chain's reusable grocery bag design contest.

Ms. Close's reusable bag (pictured below), which was one of the three-out-of-eight finalists in the contest we featured in a June 17, 2010 story - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30 - was chosen as the grand prize winner by members of Fresh & Easy's 'Friends of Fresh & Easy' e-mail marketing program, according to the grocer's announcement today.

"I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that I won the bag design contest and want to thank Fresh & Easy's customers for voting for my design," Josephine Close says in the announcement. "I wanted to create a piece of art versus another bag with a lot of branding. Instead of drawing fruits and vegetables, I used their naturally-occurring colors to represent them in what I thought was a very abstract and unique way."

You can read Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's announcement about the winner here.

Bag design maven Josephine Close will have plenty of free groceries to cart home in her winning reusable shopping bag, since her prize is a gift card from Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market worth $5,000.

The winning bag design will be featured on a bag that will be offered for sale in all of the Fresh & Easy stores by the end of this year, allowing Josephine Close to see her design offered for sale in over 159 grocery markets in California, Nevada and Arizona, in the form of a Fresh & Easy reusable shopping bag.

A reusable shopping bag design star just might be born. Could there be a reality show in the future: "The Next Reusable Shopping Bag Design Star," perhaps?

Fresh & Easy's Design-A-Bag contest had more than 1,300 submissions, which were made through its website, according to the grocer. As we reported in our June story, eight bag designs - and designers - were then named as finalists in the contest. Fresh & Easy says in its announcement today that nearly 24,000 votes were cast by the 'Friends of Fresh & Easy' members to choose the first place winner - Josephine Close.

With the California State Senate set to likely approve a bill next month - which the Governor has said he will sign into law - banning single-use plastic carrier bags from being used to pack groceries at grocery and drug stores, along with other format stores over 10,000 square-feet that have a pharmacy, followed by convenience stores 18 months later - the timing of Fresh & Easy's bag design contest winning announcement is good.

Further, If Fresh & Easy can get Ms. Close's bag design out into the California stores very soon after the Governor signs the bag ban bill, which could be as early as September, into law, assuming it passes of course, even the better to gain some favorable "green grocer" publicity, if handled well from a media relations standpoint. [Read: July 20, 2010: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory]

Fresh & Easy Buzz likes Ms. Close's bag design - it's creative and different than the usual designs chosen by professional designers for reusable shopping bags.

In fact, the paisley design evokes a bit of a 1960's look, in our opinion. And that's a look that surely reflects at least California's history, since the state was the epicenter of the counter-cultural, anti-Vietnam War, mod and related movements collectively known as "the 1960's." Remember how hot paisley was in the 1960's and 1970's old-timers?

The 1960's is also when the "green" or environmental movement took off, with California as it's epicenter. Half a century later it's California that still leads - although the state needs to kick it up a notch as others are gaining on it fast - in the modern day "green" movement, including preparing to pass the first single-use plastic carrier bag ban in the nation.

Therefore, Josephine Close's winning reusable shopping bag design for a grocery chain based in California - El Segundo in the Southland - with its 1960's-evoking paisley motif - is sort of a come full-circle experience, in that it invokes the Golden State's "green" roots while ushering in a new era in which California is posed to lead the nation in the use of reusable bags if and when the current single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation is passed and becomes law.

Related Stories:

June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

July 20, 2010: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory

June 19, 2010: 'Paper or Plastic' Likeley to Be Replaced By 'Reusable or Paper' (For a Fee) in California Grocery Stores

June 18, 2010: Kroger's 2010 Reusable Grocery Bag Contest Has Ended; Winners to be Named in July

[Readers: Click here for a complete selection of posts on the reusable shopping bag topic and issue from Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

After Four Years in the High Weeds in Northern & Central California, Kroger Co. is Emerging to Grow its Foods Co Chain

Kroger's Foods Co store in Redwood City, California. Foods Co is a price-impact chain. The format is discount warehouse but has traditional supermarket elements mixed in, making it somewhat of a hybrid. Everyday low-price is the key positioning element.

The Insider: Heard on the Street

After four years of retrenchment in Northern California by Kroger Co., which saw the retailer close its Ralphs Supermarkets division in the region in 2006 - which included selling and closing all of its Ralphs banner supermarkets and beginning to sell off and eventually close all but one (the Cala Foods unit on Hyde Street in San Francisco, which is slated to close soon) of its Cala Foods and Bell Market stores - the second-largest grocery retailer in the U.S. is in the process of making a comeback in the region, focusing on growing its Foods Co discount warehouse store chain. (Note: Harley Delano, the former president of Ralphs' Northern California division, and his son bought five of the Cala Foods/Bell Market stores. The stores - three in San Francisco and two in Marin County - operate today under the Delano's IGA Markets banner.)

Although Kroger closed its Ralphs division in Northern California in 2006, and sold off or closed all of the about 20 Cala Foods and Bell Market supermarkets (except the one) in the market over the following two years, it kept its price-impact Foods Co stores, which today number 11 in Northern California. There are five Foods Co units in the San Francisco Bay Area - two in San Francisco, one in Richmond, one in Pittsburg, and one in Redwood City. There are four Foods Co stores in Sacramento and two units in the south coast region - one in Salinas and another unit in Soledad.

There are 21 Foods Co stores in total. In addition to the 11 above, the remaining units are located as follows below.

Kroger has five Foods Co stores in the Fresno region in the Central Valley - three in Fresno, and one each in nearby Hanford and Tulare. There are also two Foods Co units in Bakersfield and another two stores in the Central Coast region of the state (closer to Southern California like Bakersfield is). Those stores are in Santa Maria and Lompoc.

Only the first 11 listed - the five Foods Co stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, the four in Sacramento, and the Salinas and Soledad units - are considered in the Northern California market proper. Fresno is classified as the Central Valley. Bakersfield and the Central Coast are much farther south. However, all 21 of the stores under the Foods Co banner are operated as an integrated chain by Kroger's Ralphs division, which is headquartered in Southern California.

Kroger Co. inherited most of the 11 Foods Co stores when it acquired the Ralphs/Food 4 Less chain, which was based in Southern California, from Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Company in 1999, in a mega-deal worth $13.5 billion.

In the deal here's what Kroger bought from Burkle: Southern California chains Boys Markets, Hughes Markets and ABC Markets, which were all acquired by Burkle and consolidated over a number of years into Ralphs; Cala Foods/Bell Markets and Foods Co in Northern California; the QFC chain in Washington state; Fred Meyer in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain region; Smitty's in Arizona; and Smith's Food & Drug Co. in Arizona, Nevada and Utah. The deal is what put Kroger where it is today in terms of being the second-largest food and grocery retailer in the U.S.

Yucaipa had named the Northern and Central California discount warehouse stores, which are similar to the Food 4 Less format but a bit more supermarket format looking in design, Foods Co because the Food 4 Less name was already taken in the regions. Food 4 Less started out as a franchise format and banner for independent grocers. There are a number of different independent, multi-store Food 4 Less owners in Northern and Central California today.

With this brief history established, let's look to the future.

After four years of thinking about what if anything to do in the Northern and Central California market regions - a period in which Kroger didn't grow the Foods Co chain much if any - the retailer has now decided to move forward and open numerous new Foods Co stores, which average about 55,000 -to- 72,000 square-feet, in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento regions in Northern California primarily, but also in the other existing regions.

The Foods Co store growth isn't going to be fast and furious. But but if Kroger's strategy goes as planned, based on what I've been able to learn thus far, the Foods Co new store growth program will be significant and substantial over time.

The first two new stores Kroger hopes to build and open are in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland. In a story on July 17, the Oakland Tribune newspaper reported on the development in the city. Kroger has been working with city officials for nearly a year on the two projects. Read the Tribune story here.

Both of the two planned new Foods Co stores (72,000 square-feet each) are at locations in East Oakland, a low income part of the city that's underserved ("food desert") by food and grocery retailers. One unit is slated for 66th Avenue and San Leandro Street. The other store for an area called Foothill Square.

Most of the existing 21 Foods Co stores in Northern and Central California are in low income neighborhoods. As such, "food dessert" neighborhoods aren't new to the chain. For example, two of the top performing Foods Co stores are in low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco that are underserved by grocers. Those two stores are at 1800 Folsom Street and 345 Williams Ave.

Members of the Oakland City Council have been courting grocers, including Safeway Stores, Inc. which is based in Pleasanton near Oakland, for many years, trying to get one or more supermarkets for East Oakland.

Among the other grocers the members of the Oakland City Council and its Redevelopment Agency have talked with over the past three or so years is Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. Tesco has one of its 37 confirmed (and additional 14 Fresh & Easy Buzz has uncovered and reported on) Northern California future store locations in Oakland. (See our Fresh & Easy Northern California store list here). Tesco came close to doing a deal on a second location in Oakland but decided not to go forward for various reasons. The grocery chain continues to look for additional sites in Oakland.

I've known about the Oakland sites for some time, since as I mentioned the city of Oakland has been talking to Kroger representatives for many months. But what makes the development interesting now is that the two new Oakland stores are part of a real stategy by Kroger Co. to build the Foods Co chain in Northern and Central California. There's been speculation for the last four years that Kroger might sell or close Foods Co. Clearly the retailer has decided not to do so.

But Oakland isn't a solo play for Kroger with its Foods Co discount warehouse chain in Northern California and the Central Valley.

Kroger is currently looking for Foods Co sites throughout the nine county Bay Area, with a particular focus on the East Bay Area and the South Bay Area regions. Oakland is in the East Bay. The Pittsburg and Richmond Foods Co stores are in the East Bay. The Redwood City unit, near San Jose, is in the South Bay. It's important to note Kroger isn't limiting its Bay Area site search to just the two regions. But they are the key priorities at present.

Kroger Co. also is looking for future Foods Co store locations in the Sacramento Metropolitan region and north of Sacramento. All four of the current units in the region are in the city of Sacramento.

And although its lower on the agenda list, Kroger is also interested in sites in the Northern Central Valley - the Stockton, Tracy, Manteca, Modesto and Merced Metropolitan regions.

Lastly, the retailer is looking for good sites in the Fresno and Bakersfield Metro regions in the Central Valley, along with in the Central Coast region near where it has the two existing stores, in Lompoc and Santa Maria.

Based on the information I have, the two highest priority regions for new Foods Co store locations at present are in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Metro regions, however.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has been running an ongoing series since March 2010 on the Northern California market. (See the links at the bottom of this post.) Today's column will become part of that series by virtue of its subject matter.

What is clear from what Kroger is up to with Foods Co - and what all of the grocers the blog has written about thus far in the series are up to in various ways vis-a-vis Northern California and the Central Valley - is... growth. They see loads of opportunity in the region even though it's hyper-competitive.

In fact, Northern California, and to a somewhat lessor degree the Central Valley, is rapidly becoming one of the most hyper-competitive regions in the Western U.S. At present I would rate it as being less hyper-competitive than Arizona and Southern California, but right after Metropolitan Denver, Colorado. And Northern California is rapidly gaining on my hyper-competitive rankings list.

In late June of this year at the company's annual shareholders meeting, Kroger Co. CEO David Dillion said the retailer is interested in making selective acquisitions of healthy grocery chains located in or near its existing markets in 31 U.S. states. Kroger recently raised some cash to do just that, by the way.

The CEO said Kroger is being "highly selective" regarding such acquisitions and doesn’t want turnaround projects or "somebody else's problem." That rules out distressed chains I suppose, if Kroger keeps true to Dillion's word at the shareholders meeting last month.

All my good information right now is that Kroger's current focus and strategy in the Northern California and Central Valley, California market regions is on organically growing the number of Foods Co discount warehouse stores it operates in the markets, along with growing the overall sales of the banner.

But let's remember what Kroger Co. CEO Dillion said about "healthy" acquisitions...in or near the various markets the retailer currently operates in. I plan to take up that discussion in my next column, which will be coming soon. Stay tuned.

['The Insider,' a feature column in Fresh & Easy Buzz, runs weekly -to- fortnightly.]

Recent columns by 'The Insider'

~July 18, 2010: When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle

~July 13, 2010: A Few Words on The Life and Death of Veteran Southern California Grocer Roger K. Hughes

~June 27, 2010: The Insider: Will Tesco Acquire Supervalu, Inc. and Change its 'Fresh & Easy' Game in America?

~June 12, 2010: Will Phil Clarke Shake Things up at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA When He Becomes Tesco CEO in 2011?

~May 20, 2010: Welcome to Discountopia USA

~April 29, 2010: Heard on the Street: There's Something About Albertsons ... In Southern California

Kroger's 2010 Reusable Grocery Bag Contest Has Ended; Winners to be Named in July

Leading U.S. food, grocery and general merchandise chain Kroger Co. has ended its 2010 design a grocery shopping bag contest, and will announce the finalists, winner and runners up in July.

Read our April 19, 2010 piece - Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest - for details about the 2010 Kroger contest. Also view first place winning bag in the 2009 contest at the link above.

Kroger holds the contest annually. It's open to all members of the public.

You can view the numerous bag design entries in this year's contest here.

Fresh & Easy Buzz will let you know who the winner and honorable mention designers are when Kroger announces them next month.

Kroger Co. is the largest traditional U.S. supermarket chain by annual sales volume, and the number three retailer of food and groceries in the country, after number one Walmart Stores, Inc. and number two Costco Wholesale.

In Southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona, the three states where Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has its 159 stores, Kroger operates the Ralphs Supermarkets and Food 4 Less chains (Southern California and southern Nevada), Smith's Food & Drug (Nevada), Fry's Supermarkets (Arizona) and FoodsCo (California's Central Valley and Northern California).

Reader Note: Related post: June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30. Also: Click here for a selection of stories in Fresh & Easy Buzz on the paper or plastic and reusable shopping bag topic and issue.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

On April 19, 2010, three days before Earth Day, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market launched a reusable grocery shopping bag design contest open to members of the public in California, southern Nevada and Arizona, where the grocer's 159 fresh food and grocery markets are located.

Read our story here: April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest.

There were 1,300 design submissions made to Fresh & Easy for its Design-A-Bag contest, which has now ended.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has selected eight finalists out of those 1,300 submissions, and is accepting votes from the public on the eight reuseable bag designs on a special page on its website here. The voting ends on June 30, 2010. Interestingly, all eight of the finalists are from sunny and creative Southern California. None are from Nevada or Arizona, which also has its fair share of creative folks.

View all eight reusable bag design contest finalists here.

After viewing the designs, feel free to share with your fellow Fresh & Easy Buzz readers which one (or two) of the eight reusable bag creations is your favorite. Just click the post a comment link at the end of this post.

Note on the bag designs pictured: The reusable bag design pictured above is by Josephine Close, Los Angeles, California. The design pictured in the middle of the post is by Tiffany Birch, Los Angeles. The reusable bag at the very top of this post is by Gina Disney, Temecula, California. They are three of the eight finalists in the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Design-A-Bag competition. All three, along with the other five finalists, describe the "design inspiration" for their respective bags here.

Kroger Co. Launches Two-Week 'Bringing Hope to the Table' Campaign; Commits $4 Million to 'Feeding America'

Food & Grocery Retailing and Society

Although the positive trend towards an improving U.S. economy and job growth continued in May, albeit with a very sluggish private sector job gain of just 41,000, America's food banks continue to see record numbers of people in need of food assistance, including numerous working people who are having a struggle making ends meet because of reduced hours on the job, stagnant wage growth and rising expenses.

For example, in a November 2009 study (its most recent), the The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported that 49 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, are food insecure. That's about 15% of the total U.S. population.

This is an increase of 36 percent over the numbers released in 2008 by the USDA, which found that 36.2 million American were at risk of hunger at that time.

The November 2009 USDA report mirrored the findings in late 2009 of a research study conducted by Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization, reflecting a dramatic increase in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the country. Feeding America was formerly called Second Harvest.

Conducted in September 2009, the Feeding America study shows that its network of food banks throughout the U.S. were experiencing an average increase in need from Americans of nearly 30 percent. In addition, some of Feeding America's 200 U.S. food banks reported increases in requests for food aid of more than 50 percent over a year prior. The same percentage increases have been reported by faith-based and other community food banks and organizations not affiliated with Feeding America.

According to Feeding America, that increase in need has not decreased in 2010. In fact, Feeding America-member food banks and local food pantries throughout the U.S. are currently reaching out to the U.S. food industry, other businesses and groups, and individuals, for added assistance, as requests from unemployed and working Americans alike continues to increase despite the positive signs that the economy might be on the mend. Unemployment remains at near 10% nationally, and in parts of the U.S., like California, Nevada and Arizona, its in the 12% -to- 13% range.
Below are some stark facts as of January 2010, according to the USDA and Feeding America:

For 1 in 6 people across our country, food insecurity and even hunger is a reality.
• 37 million Americans don’t know where they will get their next meal.
• 14 million of them are children.
• 3 million of them are senior citizens.
• 36% of these households have one or more working adults.
• 48% of these households are in rural and suburban areas.

Kroger Co.'s 'Bringing Hope to the Table' campaign

Food, Grocery and general merchandise retailer Kroger Co. said today it's responding to the needs of Feeding America and other local food banks by launching a two-week campaign it's calling "Bringing Hope to the Table," in its 2,468 supermarkets and superstores nationwide, which runs through June 19.

Kroger Co. has pledged to donate $4 million dollars - $3 million in cash and $1 million in product - at the end of the two-week campaign. Feeding America will use the $4 million in cash and food donations from Kroger to assist 80 local food banks in communities where the retailer's customers and associates live and work.

The "Bringing Hope to the Table" campaign is being held in all of Kroger's Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's banner supermarkets and superstores.

Here's how the two-week campaign works, according to Lynn Marmer, Kroger's group vice president of corporate affairs: "Every time customers purchase participating national and corporate brand items in any of Kroger's family of stores through June 19, they will be showing their support for food banks in their own community. Participating items will be marked with yellow shelf tags to indicate their pledge to support 'Bringing Hope to the Table.'"

"Through 'Bringing Hope to the Table,' our customers, associates and vendors can drive funds to food banks that feed hungry people in their own communities," says Marmer. "In 2009, Kroger stores partnered with customers and vendors to donate enough food to serve 40 million meals to feed hungry families in the communities we serve."

Kroger Co. operates the Ralph's Supermarkets chain in Southern California, and in California's Bakersfield and Fresno Metro regions, in the Central Valley. Additionally, it operates the Food 4 Less discount warehouse store chain in Southern California and southern Nevada, Smith's Foods & Drug throughout Nevada, and FoodsCo banner warehouse stores in Northern California. In Arizona the company operates the Fry's chain of supermarkets.

Kroger Co. is the number one traditional supermarket chain in the U.S. and the third-largest overall food and grocery retailer, after leader Walmart and number two Costco Wholesale.

The retailer says it currently employs more than 334,000 associates in 2,468 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 U.S. states under two dozen local banner names including: Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's.

Cincinnati, Ohio-headquartered Kroger Co. also operates 777 convenience stores, 374 fine jewelry stores, 893 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S.

Even if the positive trend of economic improvement holds in the U.S., it's unlikely we'll see much improvement in the jobs picture until at best mid 2011. Additionally, the Federal Reserve and nearly every economic analysts in the country says wages are likely to remain stagnant for at least that long, and probably longer. As a result, its doubtful that America's food banks will see any reduction in requests for food assistance from unemployed and working Americans. In fact, with events like the BP oil spill putting so many additional Americans out of work in the gulf states, we can expect the numbers of those in need of help to increase throughout this year.

Initiatives like Kroger Co.'s "Bringing Hope to the Table" campaign and similar efforts by numerous other grocery chains and food retailers are vital to helping the thousands of local food banks and pantries in the U.S. meet the needs of those needing assistance during these tough economic times. And in a country of food abundance like the U.S., we all should do our fair share to help.

If you want to help Feeding America and its 200 local food banks, go to its website here. Additionally, for more information about Kroger Co.'s efforts in partnership with Feeding America click here.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

The old saying above came to mind earlier today when we discovered Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is launching a Design-A-Bag contest, beginning on April 19, and running until May 31.

The Design-A-Bag contest, which is timed to tie-in with Earth Month (April) and Earth Day(April 22), works this way: Shoppers design a reusable grocery shopping bag for Fresh & Easy as explained here. The chief criteria is the designer's own creativity. Participants then submit their reusable bag design to Tesco's Fresh & Easy by May 31, 2010.

Members of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's "Friends of Fresh & Easy" e-mail group will vote on the finalists, which will be chosen by a panel of judges that's been selected by Fresh & Easy. There will be up to ten finalists, according to Fresh & Easy. The one receiving the most votes from the "Friends of Fresh & Easy" will bag the first place title.

The winning reusable bag will be offered for sale in all the Fresh & Easy stores.

Lastly (but far from least), the winning reusable bag designer will receive free groceries from Fresh & Easy for a year, in the form of $5,000 worth of the grocer's gift cards. The semi-finalists, those chosen by the judging panel but not named the winner by the "Friends of Fresh & Easy" folks, will each get a $100 Fresh & Easy neighborhood Market gift card.

[The full details of Fresh & Easy's bag design contest are here. Sign-up information is here.]

Now for the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" part.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market competitor Kroger Co. - which operates the Ralphs and Food 4 Less chains in Southern and Central California; Fry's in Arizona; and Smith's Food & Drug in Nevada (the three states where Tesco has its Fresh & Easy stores) - has been conducting a shopper 'Design a Reusable Bag' contest for the last three years.

In fact, we wrote about Kroger Co.'s reusable bag design contest last year in Fresh & Easy Buzz. [Story link - May 1, 2010: Competitor News: Kroger Co. Launches Chainwide 'Design Your Own Bag' Contest Promotion; Invites Shoppers to Be 'Part of the Solution']

Kroger's 2010 contest began on April 12, and runs until May 21, at the chains listed above, along with all of its other U.S. banners

The retailer provides this section and complete template and tools on its website for consumers to use in designing their reusable shopping bags.

The winning reusable bag designer gets a $1,000 gift card. In addition, Kroger will sell the winning bag in its stores.

Along with the first place prize, Kroger Co. awards the top four bag design contest finalists a $250 Kroger gift card. Additionally, the five runners-up will receive a $100 Kroger gift card.

All contest participants receive a free electronic coupon for 99 cents, which they can use at any Kroger-owned store to obtain a free reusable shopping bag.

[Full information on how to participate in Kroger's reusable bag design contest is here.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has upped the first-place prize money on Kroger however - $5,000 from Fresh & Easy, compared to $1,000 offered by Kroger Co.

Fresh & Easy Buzz is a proponent of increased consumer usage of reusable shopping bags as a way to decrease the use of single-use plastic and paper grocery bags at retail.

Contests like Kroger's - and now Fresh & Easy's - serve to create greater awareness of the issue of single-use bags and their environmental negatives, and hopefully lead to higher shopper usage of reusable bags.

And when it comes to programs by grocers designed to reduce their respective carbon footprints and improve the environment, imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, it also can have power in numbers.

Pictured above is the first-place winning design in Kroger's 2009 bag design contest. The bag was designed by Sherri N of Columbus, Ohio. Click here to view the first place bag, along with the four finalists and five runners-up in last year's contest

[Readers: Click here for a complete selection of posts on the reusable shopping bag topic and issue from Fresh & Easy Buzz.]