Now playing on the World Wide Web—and at your local grocery—”Store Wars,” an organic documentary in which Cuke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Cannoli (assisted by the speech-challenged ChewBroccoli) battle Darth Tater for the ultimate prize: consumer loyalty. (I kid you not—watch the movie.)
If talking vegetables with light sabers aren’t totally believable, consider that a real market battle for consumer dollars has been underway in the grocery world for quite some time. Unlike the epic sci-fi saga, however, this battle need not result in total annihilation of the opposing side. In fact, the growing (no pun here) popularity of natural and organic foods has provided a boost to stores like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, but it is also pumping up sales at traditional chains like Kroger and Harris Teeter.
Retail sales of organic products in the United States have increased more than 20 percent annually over the past ten years, compared to 1 percent annually, or less, for the rest of the food industry during that time. In 2001, organic food sales amounted to $9.3 billion. This year, organic and natural food sales will reach around $14 billion, about 2 percent of total grocery sales.
Many of the once-upon-a-time food co-ops, ones that featured bulk whole grains, dairy, produce, and natural foods—and required that you actually contribute co-op labor—have evolved from their ex-hippie, Mother Earth origins into upscale gourmet groceries. Gone is the sweat-equity route to cheap provisions. The new-style natural markets feature boutique foods and coffees, desserts and sweets, organic meats, vegan foods and convenience products, specialty cookware, New Age wares, and full-service deli and bakery counters. Birkenstocks are welcome (they’re upscale, too, now), but you can shop in pearls and Lilly Pulitzer, if you like, since you won’t be hefting sacks of whole oats to defray the cost of your purchases. These merchants accept Master Card, Visa, Discover, and American Express, in addition to your debit card.
The effect of natural foods’ popularity on regular grocery stores has been subtle but real. While the natural and organic food stores were becoming more “bourgeois,” large grocery chains began competing by offering some natural and organic products themselves. It is no longer necessary to shop at Whole Foods for organic butter or meat, for example, nor for a host of other items made popular by pioneering merchants. The result: a perceptible shift of traditional and organic food stores into each others’ primary market. Consumer benefits include wider access to natural and organic goods, and lower prices due to competition. The power of volume purchasing at wholesale may even give the traditional stores an edge—they already distribute the majority of some organic products, like organic milk, as compared to natural food stores.
What is organic vs. natural food? They aren’t the same. The differences hinge on definitions that address content and cultivation, as well as processing. The US Department of Agriculture certifies levels of organic content in foods that carry the organic label, but abstains from making any claim about the nutritional value of organic vs. non-organic food.
“Store Wars,” of course, would beg to differ. But given the USDA definition of organic, it seems clear that a saber-wielding cucumber wearing a blond wig would not pass either the all-natural or the organic test. Ditto for the little green mentor called Yogurt. I think they may have their movies confused, but their advice to the natural foods consumer: Don’t Panic.