Dive Brief:
- The Specialty Food Association and Food Marketing Institute launched a strategic partnership aimed at the $127 billion specialty food category, according to a news release. The partnership is focused on bringing members from both groups together to strengthen business development, engage in food safety training and better understand the growing specialty food industry.
- The launch for the partnership will occur at the SFA's Summer Fancy Food Show in New York June 25-27.
- "Specialty foods outpace their non-specialty counterparts in nearly every category, presenting a unique opportunity for a wide variety of retailers and foodservice operators to increase sales," SFA President Phil Kafarakis said. "SFA looks forward to partnering with FMI in business-building programs with our respective members. We believe this strategic partnership will have a positive impact throughout the industry."
Dive Insight:
The partnership between these two powerful industry groups is expected to be beneficial to both retailers and manufacturers. FMI hopes that the new business relationship will bring more awareness to its Safe Quality Foods Institute Certification programs for manufacturers and the FMI SafeMark for retailers.
Both of these programs will cater to consumer demand for increased transparency in food labeling and greater food safety, two of the biggest trends in today's food space.
Manufacturers have been beefing up traceability capabilities and developing technology that can better help consumers understand exactly where their food comes from and how it is made. This includes information about sustainable ingredient sourcing, fair trade policies, ethical employment and animal welfare. Trust is a major building block to customer loyalty for both manufacturers and retailers, and this kind of transparency strengthens relationships between supplier and consumer.
The groups are also partnering to create a customized buyers program before the Summer Fancy Food Show, matching buyers with sellers for one-on-one meetings to create tailored sales opportunities. This is a win-win opportunity, creating critical exposure for the smaller companies and introducing retailers who are trying to stay competitive to some of the trendy products that can attract more consumers to their stores.
Specialty foods are another trending space, fueled by consumer interest in natural offerings and exotic flavor profiles. This partnership between FMI and and SFA should help manufacturers and retailers position themselves in ways that leverage both transparency and the premium quality of their products.