Marketing Analysis : Anabel 's Grocery

Did you know in 2014, 48.1 million households in the United States were food insecure? (Feeding America, 2016) Additionally, household with children reported higher rates of food insecurity compared to households without children. According to new research, a great proportion of college students are suffering from food insecurity (Hughes et al., 2011; Patton-Lopez et al., 2014). According to the United States Department of Agriculture, food insecurity is defined by “the state of being without reliable access to sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food” (2015). Since 2006, the USDA introduced new terms to categorize food insecurity ranges. Marginal food security is described as “anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. Little or no change in diet” (Gaines et al., n.d.). Low food security “reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet without reduced food intake. Very low food security “disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.”

The second major issue that contributes to the food insecurity in the District and the United States collectively is the lack of available jobs and jobs that do not provide a living wage; one that is enough that can cover all living costs. This is why many working adults are forced to work more than one job, take odd jobs for some extra cash, and even why students drop out of high school early; so they too can join the workforce to support their family or

“Food insecurity isn’t a measure of hunger; it is based on the measure of a person’s financial circumstances and their perception of how much food they can afford to buy.” It is estimated that 31 million people in the United States have experienced either food insecurity or actual hunger (George, 1). Roughly a third of food insecure households have  “very low food security.” And the number of people going hungry has grown dramatically in the U.S. “increasing to 48 million by 2012 (McMillan,1) has caused one in five children to grow up in poverty which has affected academic performance and social skills”. “In 1980 there were

This body of research has also examined food insecurity among community college students. For example, a study conducted by Maroto, Snelling, & Link (2014) examined food insecurity among students at two community colleges in Maryland; one located in a low-income urban community and the other in a wealthy suburban community. The researchers found that there is an astounding number of students who are faced with the challenge of adequately and healthfully feeding themselves. Their findings also revealed that 53% of the students in the urban community compared with 59% in the suburban community were said to be food insecure. Additional results found food insecurity was significantly associated with lower self-reported GPA in the overall student sample and at the suburban college, but not at the urban college (Maroto et al., 2014). A more recent study found that 12.2% of students at community colleges in California are food insecure (Wood, Harris, & Delgado, 2016). The study called for measures to close the inequitable gaps in the number of students of color who had rates of insecurity above the rate of the overall community

Feeding America Organization in its 2016 “Meal Gap” brief estimated that there were at least 760,300 food insecure people living in the state of Maryland, of which 148, 280 resided in Baltimore City (Gundersen, Dewey, Crumbaugh, Kato, & Engelhard, 2016). Despite not having campus research data as evidence, these alarming numbers of food insecure people include students attending MSU and their families. The reality is that many college students, regardless of geographical region, struggle to pay for attendance, books, supplies, housing and

An estimated 12.3 percent of American households were food insecure at least sometime during the year in 2016 (Coleman-Jensen, Rabbitt, Gregory, & Singh, 2018). In a paper titled “Assessing Food Insecurity on Campus written by Blagg, Gundersen, Schanzenbach, & Ziliak a study was done to understand food insecurity among college students enrolled in a two-year college, four-year college and vocational education. The findings indicated that “food insecurity for households with students enrolled in two-year colleges was 13.3 percent. This is an indication that nearly one in five two-year College students were identified as food insecure. By contrast, for households with students attending four-year colleges, the rate of food insecurity rate

A medium term objective is to expand the outreach of the cooking classes to other state food pantries, with the support of the NH Food Bank. A second object is to have at least 10% of graduates who have partaken in the program later serve as paid assistants in future classes. Lastly, the program will work to obtain funding through the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services to finance public gardens and supply the ongoing community nutrition classes. Classes will be held weekly in six-week sessions, and will consist of a lesson plan regarding a nutritional topic as well as an interactive cooking demonstration where the participants will cook alongside the instructors. This program is free to participants and all materials including equipment and food items will be supplied by the program each

In Bushwick, health food options are erupting around every block. The Owl Juice Pub offers 20oz. of quickly digestible vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Garden of Eve CSA program delivers locally-grown fruits and vegetables to the corner of Flushing and Knickerbocker Avenue every Wednesday for pick-up. Brooklyn Natural Foods provides an all organic selection fill with wholesome alternatives to junk food favorites. Yet, these store’s prices are not targeted towards Bushwick’s majority demographic but towards the wealthy newcomers. That cup of juice that can help one reach the recommended eight servings of vegetables and fruits a day is sold for $7. Memberships to that CSA program cost $655 bi-annually plus

As tuition and the accompanying expenses and rise so do the rates of food insecurity on college campuses. In a study of 410 students was conducted at the University of Hawai’i at Ma¯noa in Honolulu, Hawai’i to evaluate food insecurity. The results exhibited 21 percent, approximately 86 out of 410, of students qualified to be food insecure with 24 percent, 98 out of 410 being at risk for food insecurity (Chaparro, Zaghloul, Holck, and Dobbs). It was also reported that out of the 410, only eight students used food stamps (Chaparro, Zaghloul, Holck, and Dobbs). This is reflective of most U.S. college campuses including that of Arizona State University, with food insecurity of 34 percent, 14 percent at the University of Alabama, and 24 percent

Another student briefly described that one of the main suppliers for the food bank was the Round Table Organization and the community with generous donations. The volunteer student continued the small tour showing me the different food items, focusing on the foods that the consumers favored and did not favor as much. We noticed that the vegetable section was fully stocked; the volunteer stated that most of the consumers seemed to skip that area. Once my partner and I finished the tour, we set up our display consisting of fruits, budgeting and food/beverage selection handouts, and the interview questionnaire. We chose to conduct our visit in the food items pick up area so that we could be more engaged with the consumers, being able to converse with them as they make their food

Stability – The Company has developed a five year plan and on that plan they projected growth from 2014 through 2016. Whole Foods Market has had store growth and development in urban centers as well as a continued presence in organic health foods industry is steadily growing. With the continual industry growth in larger food chain stores, the desired company growth projection may become skewed if consumers choose lower priced organic foods at larger stores like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, and this would affect the overall stability of Whole Foods Market growth. Whole Foods Market uses a premium pricing strategy. Majority of their products have higher prices when compared to alternatives organic and natural products

Today my daughter, and I visited the LeeLee international supermarket, on 2025 N. Dobson Road in Chandler, Arizona. This market specialized in selling ethnic foods from several regions around the world. This broad selection of food and products are sold to accommodate the needs of various ethnic customers and restaurants in the Phoenix area at a reasonable price. Based on a person’s experience at an international supermarket, may it change their perspective or modify their preference on where to grocery shop? When factoring a change in an individual’s comfort zone, inability to understand written verbiage on packages or labels, and the unfamiliar products from other cultures sold in a store differently than their local grocery stores.

M., Smith, S., Davis, J., & Null, D. B. (2016). The Prevalence of Food Security and Insecurity Among Illinois University Students. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 48(6). doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2016.03.013

Melissa and I were given the opportunity to give two tops grocery tours at the end of the semester. These tours were given through Cooking Matters and Cooperative extension. Each tour we gave had between one and 6 Ithaca college students of varying nutrition education levels. Through the tour knowledge was gained from both the giving and taking the tour.

Food insecurity, defined as insufficient access to nutritionally adequate foods, has been a fast growing concern among college students who have been under increasing financial pressure due to the escalating costs of tuition and educational resources. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of food insecurity among a sample of college students at Lehman College. A self-administered survey consisting of 12 questions pertaining to food insecurity, as well as demographic and academic attributes, was completed by 180 students at different sites on campus. Food insecurity affected 15.5% of respondents. Nearly one quarter (25%) of students reported being unable to eat balanced or nutritious meals due to a lack of money, while 13% had to decrease the size of their meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food. Students who reported poor or fair health status, GPA lower than 3.0, and participation in food assistance programs were more likely to be food insecure. These findings suggest that students are at increased risk for food insecurity. Implementation of a sustainable on-campus food bank, along with increasing the availability of nutritious foods from edible gardens, can be major stepping stones toward food security in this often neglected population.